Raise student attainment and achievement with ‘Assesswise to beat bullying’ – early detection of children at risk

 

Launching this Anti-Bullying Week (17-21 Nov 08), ‘Assesswise to beat bullying’ provides secondary school teachers and pastoral staff with a simple, powerful tool to identify all students at risk and enable intervention before problems impact negatively and affect their learning. Designed in partnership between educational software provider Birchfield Interactive Ltd (www.birchfield.co.uk) and not-for-profit organisation Beatbullying (www.beatbullying.org), this new online bullying risk-assessment and advice tool helps schools proactively engage with their students, stamp out behaviour associated with bullying and achieve the outcomes of the Government’s Every Child Matters Framework.

 

Children are proven to thrive and achieve optimum results when learning in a healthy, safe and engaging environment. That said, over 60% of young people experience some aspect of bullying behaviour during their school life, which can have dramatic impact on their emotional well-being and performance. ‘Assesswise to beat bullying’ efficiently and effectively enables schools to measure pupils’ experiences and critically identify those at greatest risk, allowing schools to implement early intervention strategies to support them.

 

 

Currently being used by nine schools across the Bradford and Airedale district, Assesswise to beat bullying’s simple, online survey requires students to respond to 21 statements covering many aspects of their daily lives. The survey identifies how students feel about friendships, relationships, home life, their journey to and from school, and assesses the risk versus resilience factors. What exactly constitutes bullying and how troubled each student may feel in different situations is unique and deeply personal, often making effective school support difficult and challenging.  Assesswise to beat bullying is a comprehensive solution which will help build the bigger picture for teachers, giving them a better understanding of their students’ lives and enable them to meet their students’ needs. It also provides schools with an accurate audit trail to record interventions undertaken and assists tracking progress. As the students work through the survey, immediate advice and guidance is given with the opportunity to report instances of bullying.

 

 

This product has been expertly designed to carefully calculate the exact level of risk each child is at and presents this as a highly visual report using a simple ‘traffic light’ system. This enables head teachers, heads of year, form tutors and pastoral staff to plan timely intervention for each student to support their personalised learning plan.  A permanent record of all interventions is recorded which designated staff can  access and track throughout each student’s school career so continuity can be maintained should staff changes occur. This system will greatly enhance each school’s Self Evaluation Form (SEF) and development planning, and demonstrate effective practice and improvement to School Improvement Partners (SIPs), School Improvement Officers and to Ofsted.

 

Sam Preston, Strategy Manager for the National Healthy Schools Programme at Education Bradford, comments: “At Education Bradford we believe proactive intervention is crucial to ensure each student enjoys school life and achieves their full potential. We have supported the development of ‘Assesswise to beat bullying’ as we believe it will provide Bradford schools with a powerful and effective method of picking up on any issues troubling young people and enable timely, targeted support. This tool also has tremendous potential to help schools align the Every Child Matters agenda with their school improvement planning and build solid evidence of impact, improvement and better outcomes for our students.”

 

Accessible 24/7 via the internet, teachers can issue surveys to students for completion in class, at home or even on the move through mobile phones and PDAs. This flexibility is crucial to ensure the well-being of students unable to attend school regularly or those moving between locations on vocational courses.

 

Jon Case, CEO of Birchfield Interactive, comments: “For schools to stamp out bullying and raise standards, it is imperative that teachers are given the right tools to identify the risk level of each student, thus ensuring that strategies are appropriately tailored. A snapshot is not sufficient – teachers need an in-depth understanding of the kinds of bullying young people experience, how this makes them feel and what drives bullies. Early indicators about why bullies are targeting other children are essential.”

 

John Quinn, Development Director at Beatbullying, comments: “Recording incidents of bullying is vital, but to reduce the problem, schools must understand why and how pupils might be at risk, and how teachers should respond.  What is so crucial about this tool is that it enables teachers use the risk assessment information to ensure that the appropriate intervention is made to tackle the problem successfully.”

 

If you would like more information about ‘Assesswise to beat bullying’ or a free 30 day, 30 uses trial enabling you to issue 30 risk assessments and gather feedback from pupils and staff, please visit the website at www.assesswise.com or contact Anthony Evans, Head of Marketing at Birchfield Interactive on tel: 029 2059 7000, e-mail aevans@birchfield.co.uk.