The Lincolnshire ladder of behavioural intervention
The Lincolnshire ladder of behavioural intervention has been developed with schools for schools and outlines what schools, using good practice expectations, can do to meet the needs of pupils whose behaviour is challenging.
The ladder comprises several steps.
The pre-ladder step looks at whole school training to support behaviour and relationships as well as considering an early help assessment to look at anything else that may be a factor.
The first step is school-led. Practitioners must identify the underlying causes of challenging behaviour by undertaking both cognitive and holistic assessments. In addition to this, schools will use a screening tool to identify any significant behaviour patterns. They will intervene and put support and adjustments in place as appropriate.
If such intervention does not result in an improvement in behaviour, then the school must implement a pastoral support plan (PSP) which is solutions-focussed and lasts for at least two terms, to allow the pupil time to demonstrate progress.
Caseworkers from the PRT will support schools at the next step to ensure additional, external help can be accessed if needed.
If the concerns remain, then the PSP forms the basis of a referral to the Behaviour Outreach Support Service (BOSS) and the school is able to access specialist support within the setting for the pupil.
If this affects no positive change, a pre-exclusion referral can be made for consideration at the Lincolnshire Intervention Panel (IP). This enables the pupil to benefit from intensive support away from the base-school, but remains dual-registered. (This is time limited to support re-integration into their school). Throughout their time in the placement, the alternative provision will work with the school to devise a plan to support a return to the mainstream school.
