Simon Currigan

Have you ever taught a class where everything feels harder than it should do? Like, just getting your pupils into the room, or starting the task, or moving from one activity to the next— everything takes effort.

My name's Simon Currigan, and I've spent almost 19 years now supporting schools with SEMH and classroom behaviour, and in this episode of School Behaviour Secrets, I'm going to share why this happens and how to fix it so classroom management and your teaching feels easier every single day.

Welcome to the School Behaviour Secrets Podcast. My name's Simon Currigan, and I'm just going to come out and say I do not like baked beans. They're fibrous lumps of nothing that sit in a bath that's 1% tomato and 99% sugar. Literally, if I was trapped in a bunker after a nuclear war and the only food option on the table were rows and rows of tins of baked beans, I'd take my chance with radiation poisoning. Look, picture walking onto a spaceship like something from Aliens, a horror movie, and you come across a dead alien on its back, and you see it's got a wrinkled gland on its shoulder, and if you squeeze that gland between your fingers and then that gland puckered up and vibrated, do you know what would pop out? Yeah, a baked bean. And then people put those in their mouths. I mean, come on, why would you do that? Baked beans? Case closed, I reckon.

Anyway, in today's episode, which has got nothing to do with baked beans, we're looking at a form of classroom management that's one of the most powerful ways of reducing your stress as a teacher, reducing your workload, and making teaching feel easier. Interested? Then just put that tin of baked beans down. I mean, honestly, did you not listen to the introduction? And stay with me because all will be revealed in just a moment. 

But before I get into that, if you find today's episode useful, please remember to subscribe to the podcast and maybe share it with a colleague who is finding their class hard work at the moment. Not because they're doing a bad job, but because they might just be missing one or two key changes that could make their working day feel far more manageable and bring about better learning outcomes for the kids they're teaching.

So let's start with a classroom scene. Imagine a lesson that technically looks fine on paper. The learning objective is good, the slides are prepared, the resources are ready to go, the teacher knows their subject, the pupils are capable of doing the work. But the first 10 minutes in reality of that lesson, you can see the teacher just feels like they're wading through treacle. It's just not productive, the work isn't getting done. One child asks where to sit. Another walks across the room to sharpen a pencil, which, you know, takes at least 5 minutes to do a good job, apparently. Someone else hasn't got their book. 3 kids have started talking because the task isn't on the board yet. One child's coat falls off the back of their chair, and then someone else treads on it, and now there's a commotion, and the teacher's already stressed. And that's before another pupil says, "What are we doing, sir?" And another says, "Do we need a ruler for this?" And someone else asks, "Can I work with him?" And then someone else says, "I don't get it," before the teacher has even gotten around to explaining the task in the first place because they're dealing with, you know, the kid who's sharpening his pencil and the blazer with the boot print on it.

Are you feeling stressed just listening to that? Because I am. And none of these things individually are like massive. No one's thrown a chair, no one's stormed out, no one's launched a glue stick across the room like a javelin. But somehow that lesson already feels hard. By the way, this is why seeing lessons delivered in the flesh is so much more important than monitoring what goes on in classrooms through just looking at lesson plans, because lesson plans can be amazing on paper, but in reality, they can be a car crash.

So here's the important point. Sometimes when we talk about SEMH, we focus on big emotionally charged behaviours like refusals or walking out or melting down. But often what makes a class exhausting to teach isn't one big behaviour. It's like all these small kind of friction points that build up.

Like, alright then, it's like, okay, I'm someone who swears a lot. Now, I know that may surprise you as you listen to this. Maybe you're a little disappointed in me now, but I'm going to own it. That's the truth. I swear a lot. Now, imagine I had a swear jar in my house and I had to put 20p in every time I swore. Now, to start with, I wouldn't really notice that, but give it a few days and I'd be absolutely penniless. It'd be death by a thousand cuts. And that's what happens in some classrooms. All those little niggles sort of chip away and drain the teacher. They drain the pupils and they make learning and classroom management for the teacher way harder than it needs to be. 

And often what's behind that chipping away is routines. There's an issue with how routines have been embedded or designed or forgotten by the kids or not reinforced, because good classroom management kind of emerges from lots of routines in class. When you have good routines, they reduce the number of decisions that your students have to make, and routines that aren't working increase the decisions that your students have to make.

Think about the simple start of lesson routine. If pupils know exactly how to enter the room, exactly where to sit, what equipment they need, what to do if they don't have that equipment, where to look for the starter task, whether they should talk or work silently, or what to do if they finish early, that routine or those routines, they carry a huge amount of the lesson, of the teaching for you. You don't have to explain everything from scratch. The pupils don't have to work out what's expected.

But if those things aren't clear because the routines aren't embedded, actually, who pays the most? And that's right, it's usually the adult. They pay for it in giving endless reminders. They pay for it in endless interruptions. They pay for it in low-level disruption. And they pay for it when they are drained and stressed at the end of the day.

And I'm not saying this as someone who's always got this perfect. I'm saying this as someone who's been at the chalk face. And who has got it wrong and paid the same price? That's why when me or my team are asked to support in a classroom where things aren't working, where classroom management isn't kind of gelling and kicking into gear, one of the things we always focus on first is routines. Because when they're in place, everything feels better regardless of the age of the students we're working with. This isn't a primary versus secondary thing, This is a teaching students thing.

And I think one part that often gets missed is why routines help with behaviour. And that is because routines reduce uncertainty. And when you've got uncertainty in the classroom, we're asking the pupil to figure out, if they're not sure what to do, what they have to do next. So, they have to ask themselves questions like, "Should I ask the teacher? Should I ask a friend? Should I wait and see what happens and then what to do will become obvious?" Should I just copy someone else and hope no one notices? My maths teacher hasn't told me what to do in this lesson about getting resources, so should I just do what Mrs Patel lets us do in science?

For pupils with anxiety or ADHD or autism or language needs or executive function difficulties or histories of trauma, that uncertainty is even more costly. It doesn't just create confusion, it also adds stress, stress chemicals. And then they have to spend energy and focus regulating that stress, working out what to do, and that leaves less resources for them to regulate their learning, their attention, and their emotions. So routines aren't just classroom management tools. Can you guess where I'm going with this? They're actually regulation tools. They reduce mental processing load and transition stress and social uncertainty. They help pupils feel safer because they make the classroom more predictable, and what's predictable is much less scary.

Now, I want to make a distinction here between a procedure and a routine. A procedure is the set of steps that you want your pupils to follow, and it's easy to tell your pupils that procedure once or bang it on a poster, but a routine takes that procedure a step further. A routine is what pupils do automatically because that procedure has been taught and practised and reinforced until it's become like a habit. And that really matters because one of the biggest mistakes adults make with routines is assuming that because they've told the class about a routine once or twice, their work is done. And the sad truth is, it isn't. That's like buying a treadmill, yeah, leaving it in the garage and then wondering why you haven't become Mo Farah. Like, I've literally been there. Owning a treadmill, I assure you, is different from developing an exercise habit. And it's the same with school routines. To become automatic, they need rehearsal and reminders and repetition and reteaching. And then, most annoying of all, revisiting and re-embedding just when you think they are finally stuck with the kids, like after holidays or after test weeks or where the timetable's gone out of the window for a while.

Now, there's another mistake adults can make, which is assuming older pupils should already know how to follow the routines and behave. We think, "All right then, they're in Year 9, they're in Year 10, surely they know how to line up by now, or enter a classroom, or know how to get their work started without me standing over them like a haunted Victorian governess." And I get that, yeah, because older pupils do know lots of routines, but kids of all ages contextualize their behaviour. They don't just learn behaviour a general way. They learn it and apply it in relation to a specific place, or a specific adult, or a specific set of expectations in a subject. So that's especially important in secondary school where the context continually changes. So you might see pupils start work quietly for the history teacher but not in English. They might cope with group work in science where the roles are clear and defined, but then that falls apart in Design Technology because the task just feels too vague. So instead of Saying, "These kids can do it when they want to. They know what to do, but they're not doing it." Sometimes a better question is, "What is happening in that history class or that science class that helps them succeed?" Because success leaves clues, as the old saying goes.

All right, so let's make this practical. If you want to improve the routines in your classroom, I'd start by auditing 5 points in the lesson. And to make that memorable, I've got a framework for you, because I'm a big fan of frameworks. That's the acronym START. S is for the start of a lesson, T is for transitions, A is for attention, R is for resources, and T is for trouble spots. So first, let's begin with S, start of the lesson. The start of your lesson sets the emotional temperature, the pace, the working intention for everything that follows it. If the class enter calmly, they know where to sit, they know what to do, and get going quickly, the adult begins from a position of strength. If the start is noisy, if it's unclear, if it's not calm, then the adult spends a good 10 minutes kind of chasing the lesson from the very beginning. So you want to ask yourself, how do pupils enter the room? Where do they go? What should they do first? Is there a task ready for them? Is it accessible without adult explanation? What happens if they don't have a pen? What happens if they finish quickly? What does success look like? In the first 3 minutes. Because if pupils don't know what success looks like in the first 3 minutes, they're going to invent their own version of success, and believe me, it probably won't match what's going on in your head. And if you think about, well, how do we do that? Bear with me because I'm going to talk about how to teach and embed these in a moment.

So S is for the start of lesson. T is transitions. Now, transitions are danger zones. Moving from one activity to another, that may sound simple, but for many pupils, that involves stopping, shifting their attention, organizing new materials, physically physically moving, socially engaging with their peers, listening to instructions, and then starting all over again. So we say, right, put that away and come to the carpet, or move into your groups, or pack up and line up. And then we're surprised when what happens next is a bit chaotic or slow or noisy. Strong transition routines break those movements and transitions into predictable steps to follow, and they lower the chance of people getting distracted or dysregulated or misdirected socially along the way.

Third, we've got A for Attention. Every classroom needs a reliable way of bringing pupils back to the adult after they've been working. Not 5 different ways. Not a vague hope that if you stand at the front of the room looking disappointed with my arms folded, eventually everyone will gradually sense the emotional chill and stop talking and listen to me. You need one clear routine for gaining their attention.

Now, it could be a countdown. It could be a call and response, it could be some instrument, it could be a noise, it could be a hand signal, or something linked to your whole school approach. What you do isn't really important. It's more like a diet. Following it consistently is more important than the method that you actually choose. People need to know what the signal is, what they should do when they hear it or they see it, and how quickly you expect them to respond Then teach it, practice it, and notice pupils who get it right and revisit it when it starts to slide away. We'll talk about that in a moment.

Fourth, we've got R for resources. Now, resources are one of those boring classroom details that turn out to be absolutely massively important. Kids need to know how to access equipment, where it is, and how to actually get at it without creating a crush when everyone runs to the corner of the room to grab a glue stick. If the routine for resources is unclear, pupils have to move and ask and borrow and wait or negotiate, and every one of those interactions is an opportunity for low-level behaviour or disruption or confusion.

That doesn't mean every classroom needs a military-grade pencil distribution system with a laminated flowchart and a child wearing a tiny high-vis vest, labeled Stationery Manager. Although, you know, fair play if you've got that, I kind of respect that. But it just means pupils need to know how to get at the resources, how it works, where are they, when can they get them, who gives them out, what happens if something is missing. This gives pupils more independence over their learning and creates more flow in your lessons.

And fifth, we've got T for Trouble Spots. These are the moments where lessons get kind of stuck in the mire. Pupils need routines for things like - What should I do if I'm stuck? What should I do if I finish early? What should I do if I've made a mistake? And spoiler alert, by the way, if the answer is join a queue of 6 other pupils, then there's a problem with that routine, because then you've got kids hanging around waiting, you've got dead time, which is the breeding ground for silliness and low-level behaviour problems.

So, decide what those routines will be and teach them properly. And I'd suggest using 5 stages to do that. So, start by explaining the routine simply. Don't bury pupils under a speech that sounds like the terms and conditions for updating your phone. Keep it short, keep it simple. Tell them exactly what to do and put up visual reminders to reinforce it if you need to. So, for example, you might say, "When you come in, go straight to your seat, put your reading book on the desk, Look at the board and begin the starter. Voices at level 0. If you need a pencil, take one from the pot by the door before you sit down.'

Then, after we've explained the expectation, maybe the first time we're discussing this, we model it. We show them physically what it looks like. We don't just let them imagine it. And sometimes it's also worth showing them what it doesn't look like, because pupils often understand the expectation better when they see the contrast, the opposite, done. Then practice that routine with your pupils when they're calm. So, you might practice them coming into the room several times or practice them getting resources.

Now, that might feel unnecessary or even silly with older pupils, but again, don't assume age means the routine is embedded in this context, your classroom. You're teaching them how this room works with this adult, you. 'for this lesson with this group of pupils,' and then you avoid the problem of contextualization. Then, when kids do it, praise and recognize them because the behaviours that you publicly notice will spread and they'll be repeated. Don't make pupils feel like if they follow the routine, their actions will be taken for granted, because then over time those behaviours will fade away.

And then narrate success as you walk around the room. Say things like, 'Excellent, that group 'Moved with their chairs tucked in without talking,' or, 'Good, I can see 3 pupils checking the board rather than asking me what to do,' or, 'Thank you, that table has got started without needing a reminder.' This matters because pupils need feedback on the routine, not just their academic task. Often when I go into schools and I observe classes where behaviour's, you know, becoming difficult or classroom management isn't working, Often I see lots of praise for academic work but not specific praise for behaviour. 

And then finally, you need to revisit the routine. A routine's not finished because you taught it once. It's not finished because it worked beautifully on a Tuesday afternoon. Unfortunately, you do have to keep coming back to it. I think of this a bit like a canoe on a still lake, and I'm going to actually show you here how little I know about canoes and lakes and water, but here we go, right? I think of it like a canoe on a still lake. If you're in that boat and you sort of kick away from the shore, that canoe then has direction and speed and it glides in that direction. But to maintain that movement in the long term, then you've got to follow up with little course corrections and occasionally, like, adding a little paddle in the water, if paddle is the right verb there, and that keeps the momentum of the canoe going.

Now, this is what we need to be doing in class. We need to be revisiting the routines and adding in those course corrections. It's also somewhere where something like the Classroom Management Score Sheet can really help, which is a free download off our website. One of the problems with classroom management is the things you're asked to do can feel vague or kind of intangible. I remember once when I was given advice about classroom management from an advisor coming into school, he told me to improve the ethos in the classroom. And he walked out with a satisfied grin, and I just thought, what the hell am I supposed to do with that piece of advice?

People need concrete things to implement, and the Classroom Score Sheet does that. It gives you concrete things in the environment, or about how you present, or behaviour management in general, or how you present clarity and purpose to lessons, or importantly for today, the structure and routines a lesson needs for you to achieve success. So, if you want a simple way to reflect on your own classroom management, or you're a leader supporting a member of staff with their classroom management, download the score sheet today for free from Beacon School Support. You can get it from clicking the link in the episode description in your podcast app, or by going to beaconschoolsupport.co.uk. That's beaconschoolsupport.co.uk, and clicking on the resources tab.

If it helps you find one change that moves a difficult class forward by 5% or 10%, it is absolutely worth it. It takes very little time to fill out, and did I mention it's completely free? Everyone's favourite price. Grab it today.

Right, so let's recap. Routines matter because they reduce uncertainty, they reduce cognitive load on students, and they reduce things like transitional stress. They help pupils know what to do next. But routines don't become routines just because we talked about them once. 

So here are 3 steps to follow following this podcast. First, choose one lesson this week and kind of pay attention to a point where you had to give the same reminder to the whole class more than twice. That probably indicates that there's a routine here that needs to be taught more clearly or reinforced.

Secondly, use the START Framework to identify the point at which things are going wrong? Is it the start of a lesson? Is it a transition? Is it when you're trying to get the students' attention? Is it about access to resources? Or is it trouble spots with work? Just pick one of those, not five, just one, because then you're setting yourself up for success, because tackling one of these things at a time makes them achievable.

And then thirdly, teach that routine explicitly. Explain it, model it, practice it, phrase it, and revisit it.

If you found today's episode helpful, please subscribe to the podcast. And leave me a review in your podcast app. It really does help other teachers, SENCOs, and school leaders find the show, and it gives the podcast apps a little nudge to say, "This one's useful," rather than, like, burying us beneath 14 true crime podcasts about suspicious men who own sheds.

And don't forget to download the classroom management score sheet from the link in the episode description or by visiting beaconschoolsupport.co.uk. I hope you have a brilliant week. I hope I put you off baked beans forever. Just think, next time you open a tin of that alien gland, pursing, squeezing out a baked bean, I mean, it's literally the stuff of nightmares. And I can't wait to see you next week on School Behaviour Secrets.