We are delighted to announce the release of a new Boxall Profile® book – Beyond the Boxall Profile® for Young People: Whole-Class Strategies. Authors Adele Wilkinson and Carrie Thorne tell us more about this vital resource.
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The original version of this book was released in 2019 and has proved to be an invaluable resource for schools who want to use the Boxall Profile® to help groups and classes of children, not just individual pupils. This made us want to create something similar, but with a secondary age focus.
We wanted to provide educators with a ‘dip in, dip out’ resource which would be really practical and useful; something which could provide simple but effective strategies that can be used throughout the school day. Whether they are used in the whole class or in small groups, the strategies aim to help young people build the social and emotional skills they need to succeed, allowing them to engage with their own behaviour and learning, and make the most of secondary school.
We intended for this resource to be used in multiple different ways and contexts; for example, if a teacher was aware that many young people in their class or group were struggling in strand A, they may ask themselves, ‘What can I do to help them? What will enhance my quality first teaching here?’ The book we have created has multiple ideas to help with questions like this. It is straightforward, practical and contains very simple starting points that as practitioners we might want and need.
A couple of our favourite sections include looking at form time and also thinking about the power of play in secondary – sometimes there is little thought given to these areas and yet so much time is spent in form for most secondary pupils! Are we always getting the most out of it? Is form time nurturing in all schools? If not, what can we do about that?
And play, is it considered ‘not very secondary’? Yet research tells us how important this fundamental right is for young people, for skill development and wellbeing. Do we think about this enough?
We know more and more schools are keen to support the social and emotional wellbeing of all the pupils in their care, and to this end assess every young person in their setting using the Boxall Profile®. For teaching staff, form tutors and support staff, using the Boxall Profile® as a classroom resource allows them to establish where social, emotional and behavioural needs lie and can help them to put in place strategies to target and respond appropriately to those needs. This will not only help the young people but will also help staff to implement what would be useful and more effective interventions as part of teaching and learning. Staff will be able to support all students, while ensuring a focus on inclusive practice and removing barriers to learning.
The resources included in the book have been trialled, tested and specifically selected to be used within secondary environments to allow staff to support the wellbeing of every young person, while at the same time fitting within the secondary curriculum. We are also grateful to the staff from our partner schools and settings who were so instrumental in the development of this resource. This was so helpful, and ensures that the book is relevant, realistic and current too.
It is suitable for mainstream and special secondary settings. We hope you like it and would love to hear which bits of the book you have found most useful.
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The Boxall Profile® is a way of understanding what lies behind pupils’ challenging behaviour to detect any unmet social, emotional and mental health needs. Once social and emotional needs are identified, education professionals can put in place targeted support to help children and young people develop those skills, and this in turn will help to improve their behaviour, mental health and wellbeing.
By using the Boxall Profile®, teachers can adopt the following strategies to help improve children and young people’s social, emotional and mental health:
- Giving pupils the opportunity to practise their social and emotional skills – for example by encouraging them to work in pairs and groups.
- Making time for social-emotional learning, either during targeted PSHE lessons or by embedding it throughout the curriculum.
- Modelling good social and emotional skills themselves, when interacting with pupils and other staff members.
The Boxall Profile® allows teachers to develop an inclusive, whole class approach that enables them to access all their pupils, by removing individual barriers to learning.
To get started or for more information about the Boxall Profile®, please take a look at our website.