Reintegration guide for school leaders

The reintegration meeting should be seen as the commencement of the reintegration process, and not a complete act. Your reintegration strategy should be regularly reviewed and adapted where necessary throughout the reintegration process in collaboration with the CYP, parents, and other relevant parties.

Key considerations include:

• Review:
  • At least weekly reviews should take place with the CYP and parents to recognise progress being made and raise and address any concerns at an early stage. Using Language Line is helpful when planning a review with EAL families.
  • These don't have to be formal meetings with the CYP - for example, their form tutor could chat with them for 5 minutes at the start of the day. However, some CYPs may benefit from the structure of a regularly scheduled meeting.
• Learning:
  • How will the CYP be supported to learn from their behaviour?
  • Are any protective consequences needed for a period of time?
  • When will educational consequences be implemented?
• Support:
  • Have any additional needs been identified for the CYP, e.g. do they need support in any specific areas of understanding or managing emotions? Is it appropriate to involve any external support agencies?
  • How will other CYPs or staff be supported who may be impacted by the CYP's return? Inform these individuals when the CYP will be returning and plan check ins with them or offer other support as relevant e.g. access to quiet spaces when needed or changes to seating plans.
  • Safeguarding and the wellbeing of all CYPs involved may need to be considered more carefully if the behaviour was harmful towards other children, your DSL should lead on this.
• Positivity!
  • 'Fresh start' approach should be followed by all staff and successes should be celebrated. To enable this, ensure the CYP's targets and relevant plans are shared with the necessary staff e.g. MSAs and support staff.
• Communication:
  • Consider how families will be communicated within the weeks following the reintegration. How will positives be communicated? How will behaviour challenges be communicated? Twinkl has many examples of 'positive postcards' which can be used here.
  • Ensure communication with relevant people e.g. AP providers and external professionals is maintained to support consistency between settings and to share any ongoing concerns.
• Flexibility:
  • It is important to note that the reintegration process may not follow a neat trajectory; being aware of this is important in staying focused on the long-term goal of successful reintegration. The route will be different for each CYP and support may need to be adapted along the way.
  • Use review meetings to check that the reintegration plan is working for the CYP and if it's not, adapt it as necessary.

Tools

• This promoting positive behaviour audit will enable you to review your school provision in supporting the CYP needs.
• Behaviour is a form of communication. To help analyse and understand the behaviour, resources such as ABC behaviour charts or feelings/behaviour trackers may be useful.