Fire Safety in Schools: What Can be Done?
Pupil safety in schools is paramount. From anti-bullying policies to teaching pupils about being safe online, a large portion of a child’s school day revolves around security and protection. This includes fire safety. All education facilities are required by law to implement a stringent fire policy, with alarms, evacuation procedures and risk assessments. But with the tragedy at Grenfell, which subsequently highlighted flammable cladding on a number of schools, many are calling for improvements. But what steps can be taken? And what additional practices should be implemented? Simple Measures Commenting on this issue, and on what improvements could be made, experts at Rocburn stated that the government needs to review fire safety across the board: “The UK recently saw the serious effects of fire damage in Grenfell Tower (sadly leading to the loss of life) and it’s important that the government and fire regulation rules are reviewed in terms of the exterior (and interior) materials used. Long term plans could be simple measures such as, reviewing what materials are not highly flammable and considering how the better design and structure of fire escape routes could potentially improve the process for when people exit a building.” Interior systems are vital in making sure every occupant is aware that there is a potential hazard and frequent drill procedures can help everyone to practice responding to alarms. Our products such as the smoke control system are governed by standards such as BS EN12101 and it’s these checks that make sure our equipment is the best it can be.” Building Improvements While new school buildings have been designed with better fire safety regulations, many older buildings need further development. As such, Labour have recently pledged £14billion to install sprinklers, but what improvements can school leaders make? “Everyone at Rocburn continuously look for ways to keep our smoke ventilation amongst other products the very best. A well-designed smoke control system for schools can not only protect the occupants within the building but improve external efforts from local firefighters and on-site operations. The Education sector has taken cuts over a period of years and that doesn’t just disturb the children’s rights to have the best education, it can affect their safety too. It’s crucial the schools look to attaining the latest and safest smoke ventilation and fire safety equipment.” Education Finally, in addition to updating building safety and procedures, schools also need to put a greater emphasis on education. Although teaching should take precedence, better fire education could help to save lives. While providing this within budget constraints can be difficult, a spokesperson from Rocburn stressed its importance: “A lot of the time, schools have a set budget in which will be split across the departments. Education for the students does come first, in most cases however there could be ways schools could educate children from the offset. This might include fire safety drills more regularly and showing children in education the dangers of how a fire can spread.”
Whole School Framework: a simple approach
Every organisation has an emotional culture and we help schools to reflect on how well their emotional culture supports their ethos, stated aims, values and outcomes for pupil wellbeing. The emotional culture of a school is formed over time by the people working there, who are led by and model their behaviour on their senior leaders. As part of the core business of a school, we offer opportunities for SLTs and Governors to reflect on their unique context and to consider together how policies, practices and behaviours might further enhance an emotionally healthy culture for the whole school. Encompassing programmes from Family Links, Emotional Health at School and Emotional Health at Work, we have 20 years’ experience in developing, delivering and evaluating emotional health approaches. The majority of learning in a school is a result of informal interactions and so real change occurs through developing and maintaining a healthy culture. Hours can be spent writing specific programmes and yet for these programmes to bring the desired outcomes it will be the daily culture of the organization which will deliver in reality. The culture of a school will be what teaches everyone what is acceptable and what is not; this outweighs any list of rules or induction handbooks for staff, pupils or parents. There have been plenty of studies showing the connections between school culture and academic outcomes, staff recruitment and retention, parental engagement and community support; we all learn best when we are feeling safe, contained and able to thrive. Emotional Health at School offers a whole school framework (for staff, pupils, parents) as a pro-active model allowing all members of the school community to develop positive relationships, feelings of competence, agency and self-determination. Wellbeing for All The current challenges in schools in the UK are leading to a new understanding that we need to approach things differently to find ways to equip staff, parents and pupils with the environment they need in order to fulfil their different roles well and sustain their own wellbeing. We know that feelings are the drivers of behaviours; an emotionally healthy culture supports everyone in the community with learning to notice, manage and regulate feelings. This daily experience for pupils can develop internal capabilities to manage life’s ups and downs, risks, opportunities, and support them with making healthy choices for themselves. In these ways, an emotionally healthy culture is also a protective factor for Mental Health. What we offer We offer sessions for all staff (teaching, support, administration) and also a variety of Parent Programmes ranging from our 10 week Nurturing Programme, to workshops on specific topics, to working 1:1 with parents (we train staff to facilitate these programmes). Schools which have embedded these programmes over time have found that having a shared language and approach, focusing in on the feelings behind behaviours, can help the whole school community to develop personal strategies and skills to manage themselves and each other in this increasingly complicated world. It takes time to fully embed a whole-school approach to emotional health and wellbeing. Investing time and resources into developing, establishing and maintaining an emotionally healthy culture produces long term benefits for the emotional health of the whole school community as well as enduring impacts on the pupils’ social, emotional and academic outcomes. We work together with schools to explore their unique context and to put together a package of reflections/workshops/trainings over a year which can meet their needs within an agreed budget for the year. This allows for SLT and Governors to address this core business of leadership and governance in a proactive, “live” way. When something difficult happens in a school community, it is then possible to re-think the most useful response in terms of workshops or trainings, without this affecting the overall budget. In this way, staff, pupils and parents can also be well-supported to manage in times of need. Quotes from teachers: Having a shared language and understanding across our school makes managing challenging situations less stressful. It is really clear to me that we have to work hard to create a learning environment which genuinely feels safe for each individual child. They will only begin their deeper learning when they feel emotionally safe. Having a whole school approach to this is what allows for the development of this deeper learning When parents/carers are allowed into the conversation about our approach, it helps with all of our conversations over the child’s time in the school. Just being reminded on a daily basis that behaviours are driven by feelings makes being a teacher so much less stressful With the responsibility to respond in the best way for so many difficulties, having a clear framework with strategies I can understand and which the children become used to across the school, has allowed me to feel more confident in being able to support children who might have big safeguarding challenges, mental health difficulties or the kind of learning needs which make the classroom a tricky place to be. I have felt so much more confident in managing stressful conversations with parents since the workshop It feels safe for me to learn in this school, so I am able to pass that on to the pupils. Quotes from parents: I have done the 10 week Parent Programme twice! As my eldest child became a teenager, I felt I would really benefit from being together with other parents again each week and refreshing my understanding of how I might respond to the new challenges I was facing, and knowing that others are facing the difficulties too. The teachers had always been very friendly and nice but when I did the 10 week parent programme I really understood that I wasn’t being judged as a parent at all – we are just all there to work together for the best outcomes for the children. Home has become more relaxed too! I still meet up with many of the parents who were in my parent group and we can support
Worry in school on the rise over pupil mental health
Concern for pupils’ mental health has risen by 13% among school leaders over the past year, according to findings released today by The Key, the organisation providing leadership and management support to schools. Eight in 10 (80%) headteachers and other school leaders surveyed by The Key this year are worried about their pupils’ mental health, an increase on two-thirds (67%) of those surveyed in 2015. For the second year running, mental health has topped the list of pupil health and safeguarding concerns for school leaders across both primary and secondary schools and all English regions – it came ahead of issues including bullying, obesity and domestic violence. This increase in concern among school leaders correlates with a recent Department for Education (DfE) research finding that young people’s health and wellbeing was worse in 2014 than in 2005; girls in particular recorded higher levels of psychological distress. Speaking about The Key’s findings, Fergal Roche, CEO, said: “Pupil mental health is a significant and growing concern, and one that transcends school stage and location. Schools take their duty of care seriously but need the right resources to best support their pupils. It’s encouraging that the government has committed funding with the aim to transform support for children and young people’s mental health by 2020, and I hope that schools will both have a say in how this is used and see the impact.” The Key’s latest findings also highlight changes in school leader concern about other pupil health and safeguarding issues. Over the past year, worry about the effects of domestic violence on pupils has increased by 11% – up from nearly six in 10 (58%) school leaders expressing concern about this in 2015 to almost seven in 10 (69%) in 2016. While a smaller proportion of school leaders in 2016 appear to be worried about bullying among their pupils (33% this year, down from 38% in 2015), concern about obesity has seen a rise of 5% over the same period – up from 36% to 41%. The findings also show slight increases in the proportion of school leaders worried about sexting, drugs and radicalisation for their pupils, as well as gangs and youth violence. In primary schools, the issues concerning school leaders after mental health (79%) are domestic violence (73%) and child poverty (61%). In secondary settings, it is concern about the effects of sexting (62%) and cyberbullying (60%) on pupils that is most prevalent among school leaders, after mental health (82%). Awareness of a need to safeguard pupils in their use of technology is reflected in the changes to government statutory safeguarding guidance which came into effect earlier this week (5th September). From the start of the autumn term, all schools will be expected to ensure appropriate internet filters and monitoring systems are in place to protect pupils from potentially harmful or inappropriate content, and should have a clear policy on the use of mobile technology. Fergal Roche, CEO of The Key, continues: “This year’s survey findings about pupil health and safeguarding concerns illustrate the challenging and complex task befalling schools when it comes to protecting their pupils from harm. As society changes and technology evolves, schools are constantly having to adapt and ensure they are equipped with the skills and understanding to meet new demands.” To support school leaders with some of the issues highlighted by its survey, The Key has made a number of resources on pupil health and wellbeing available at: www.thekeysupport.com/pupil-wellbeing-2016 For a visual summary of The Key’s survey findings, go to www.thekeysupport.com/pupil-wellbeing-2016
Building sustainable schools for the future
Shortage of space is becoming a fundamental issue for many schools across the country. Recently, it was revealed one in six secondary schools are already at or over capacity, with forecasts predicting there will be more than 300,000 additional secondary school pupils by 2020. In particular, a shortage in pupil places is placing a huge burden on schools to increase classroom sizes, numbers and implement redevelopment projects to make better use of existing structures. With budgets under threat, finding the best building products to use at the right price and with minimal disruption to class time is no easy task. As a result, it may be tempting for school decision makers to deem the external finish of the building a low priority. However, in the long term, taking a sustainable view to the built environment can help to improve a school’s branding – something that is particularly important for independent schools carving out their own identity. If possible, time and effort should be implemented at the planning stage to ensure any renovation, repair or addition to a school’s environment is something that will enhance it for the foreseeable future, and not paper over the cracks in the short term. Despite some schools having the luxury of open land to build on, it is not always the most practical option. Urban schools, in particular, are often hardest hit due to increasingly unavailable or expensive city building space. As a solution, many schools have turned to building upwards. Adding floors increases the number of classrooms whilst eliminating the need to build on open land that is vital to be used as a sports or outdoor area. A lightweight and cost effective solution is brick slip cladding systems, which are ideal for this purpose. With a wide range of brick types and colours available, it is also possible to match any additions or changes with existing brickwork to complement a school’s identity. For older school buildings where heat loss and thermal insulation can be an issue, retrofitting external wall insulation with brick cladding can be a highly effective option too. Staff and pupils will immediately feel more comfortable, energy bills can be reduced and previously old and tired structures will be rejuvenated. When working to tight budgets, school decision makers must ensure any money spent is with the future of the school and its environment in mind. Using products with short life spans may seem attractive at first, but robust, low maintenance solutions that are reliable for decades to come will put the school in a better position. Here at Eurobrick Systems, we have worked with schools on their cladding projects for over 25 years and understand the pressures faced today. When working with restricted budgets in a school infrastructure, it is vital to work with the right suppliers who can maximise the environment available to get the best result for teachers and students alike.