How can we best meet the needs of our very diverse students?
The Pyramid of Need gives a snapshot of each child’s internal and external landscape. One school has successfully implemented this assessment and planning tool to provide for the complex needs of all the children in their care.
At Park Community Academy, Hayley Gardener introduced the Pyramid of Need. They adapted the criteria to fit their individual context. Park is a special school, for two to nineteen year old with approximately 280 children on roll with a wide range of learning needs from moderate to severe learning difficulties. Hayley was Head of KS 4 and 5 and wanted to look at how constellated disadvantage affected the learning of the pupils at Park.
To illustrate the impact of the Pyramid of Need at Park, I am going to tell you the story of Eric. In general, he was struggling with friendship and his behaviour was extremely disruptive and attention seeking. As a result he received daily behaviour reports and was frequently requiring physical restraint both inside and outside the classroom. He had no peer friendships and that was affecting his relationship with Mum at home.
Hayley developed the Pyramid of Need to assess all the factors that might impact on a students’ learning for example; incidents of physical control. Serious incidents, attendance, safeguarding issues, Children who were looked after, Free School Meals, Pupil Premium, English as an Additional Language, self harm, family bereavement, low progress in English or maths, Progress towards individualized targets, deprived area post code, outside agencies involved, Ed Psych, Families not engaged with school. Each students received a score depending on how many factors were involved at that point in time. All staff within that students’ key stage were informed and then individual intervention plans were written for those students with a high score.
Eric in 2015/6 was 13 years old. He had a high score under the criteria for the pyramid of need. A plan was prepared and actions put into place. One of the actions involved placing him in a class where he might make successful peer friendships rather than for his academic ability. Further opportunities were sought for him to form positive relationship with peers e.g. lego therapy and after school clubs. In addition he received targeted support to self-manage behaviour – a member of staff who coached him through self-regulation and used social stories in comic form. He was encouraged to take part in the Duke of Edinburgh bronze award to build his resilience and self-reliance and develop further positive relationships. This was particularly successful because he was interested in outdoor activities and so he felt like an expert. All these actions follow the resilient moves from the Resilience Framework.
By 2016/17 Eric’s pyramid of need score had reduced to 7 points as his behaviour and attainment had significantly improved. He was in a new class and had established some positive peer relationships. He was starting to self-manage his behaviour and he was taking more responsibility for himself at home. He was a happier boy
He moved into sixth form in 2017/2018. His pyramid of need score had reduced further to 4 points. Self esteem improved, he was enjoying learning and making expected progress in Maths and English. His mother was delighted. Who could have predicted such a change!
Eric became more mature and his relationship with his mother improved. As a result, his mother gave him more responsibility and freedom outside of school e.g. he was allowed to walk to school and go to the shop on his own and spend time with friends which he had never done before. Eric wants to go into Project Search when he leaves Park. He hopes they will provide the training to enable him to go into Employment. He is optimistic about his future.
The Pyramid of Need has now been rolled out across the whole school into Key Stage 1 to 5. Each child with a high score has a personalised plan. The whole team are involved in developing the plans, which also have input from students and parents. Hayley explains, “It makes you look holistically at the Child and their wider ecology rather than just their learning needs and behaviour. It is about address the root causes of undesirable behaviour and supporting the child to develop resilience to cope with external pressures.” It has been one of the most successful projects we have undertaken.