Moral Purpose

King James I Academy Support Teams are passionate about making a difference to the lives of young people. We believe in teamwork; working with each other, with teachers and colleagues across the Academy with the wider school community and most importantly with the young people in our Academy. We act with determination. Whatever issues our young people, their families and carers, the Academy or the community face, we always support, react and pull together. Finally, we are committed to making a difference; we are not passive players in young people’s lives but active participants who can and do make a real difference. This reflects the Academy’s curriculum intent statement and core values. ‘We are a learning community in which all ages meet to share and develop their talents and to promote mutual respect for all, whatever their age, gender, ability, background and beliefs.

Our moral purpose can therefore be summarised below -

• Leading Change
• Understanding Needs and Safeguarding our young people
• Supporting our Staff, Students, Families and Carers
• Promoting Wellbeing

What Inclusion and Effective Mental Health Interventions Means to Us

• The child stays at the centre of every conversation.
• We prioritise those who need our help most, but we intervene with all.
• When young people are here, we can support and educate them – attendance matters.
• Young people learn best when there are clear rules and simple consequences.
• Staff teach best when there are clear rules and consequences.
• We use evidence-based practice for all our interventions.

Expectations of Each Other

• Notes are kept up to date through Class Charts and CPOMS
• Have read and understood section one of Keeping Young people Safe in Education.
• Make sure you know our behaviour, SEMH, attendance and safeguarding policies and protocols.
• Attend duties to support the wider school community.
• Attend meetings on time and prepared.
• Our work is evidenced based to inform intervention.
• Speak to young people, staff and each other with courtesy, respect and understanding.

Safeguarding

• Safeguarding pupils comes above everything else we do.
• All staff across the school have training annually with reminders throughout the year at briefings, staff meetings and inset days.
• All new staff have safeguarding training as part of their induction.
• All staff at the school recognise that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility, that they should have read and understood section one of Keeping Young people Safe in Education annually and that early intervention is key and that context matters.
• All notes are kept securely.
• The DSL, DDSL are experts in this field supported by the Head Teacher, Senior Safeguarding Lead and SLT.

Attendance

• All staff have a role to play in ensuring each child attends school.
• Attendance officers support students who have poor or low attendance to improve.
• All of the Support Teams work to remove barriers to good school attendance.
• We work together with external agencies to address and remove barriers to school attendance.
• We are passionate about supporting all pupils providing the same support, irrespective of background.
• We follow the protocols which are in place, acknowledging that each child and situation is different and adjusting as required.

Behaviour

• Good behaviour for learning allows for teachers to teach and pupils to learn.
• We have a moral obligation to prepare young people for the rigours of work and life beyond education.
• We are here to educate the whole child, helping with their moral and personal development.
• We apply the protocols for each pupil, acknowledging that each child and situation is different and adjusting as required.
• We are passionate about supporting all pupils providing the same support, irrespective of background.
• We make reasonable adjustments for pupils with special educational needs or vulnerable pupils.
• We have a support-based system; which encourages a restorative approach following a sanction which has taken place due to poor behaviour.
• We involve parents in supporting their child to improve their behaviour.

Pastoral Care / Mental Health

• Pastoral support is driven by our moral purpose.
• We do not give up on pupils and constantly look for ways to support them.
• Our interventions are directed by evidence-based practice.
• Our Support Teams are passionate about becoming experts in their field around pastoral and mental health support.
• We work with numerous external agencies to support our pupils.
• We recognise that early intervention is vital.
• We involve families and carers as appropriate in the support which we put in place.
• Student voice is central to all we do and this is acted upon to deliver best practice.
• The mental health of our pupils and staff is of the highest priority.