00:00:00 Simon Currigan

If you're a school leader at the moment, you've probably got pupils arriving in school with increasingly complex SEMH needs—staff who want to do the right thing but are just stuck, and getting behaviour and SEMH right feels like trying to solve a Rubik's cube while someone keeps adding extra colored stickers to it. And that's even before I mention the new Ofsted framework and the SEND reforms coming down the track like a freight train.

My team and I have spent the last year working directly with schools and speaking to school leaders across the country, and the same messages keep coming back: school leaders don't want more management theory or dry documents. They need practical answers that work in their school. They want frameworks for making strategy around SEMH simple. So, in today's episode, Emma Shackleton returns to the podcast as we share what we're hearing from school leaders right now, why we're hosting our first national SEMH conference, and how it could help you lead behaviour, inclusion, and SEMH effectively in your school.

Welcome to the School Behaviour Secrets podcast. My name's Simon Currigan, and I've never seen it, but I am confident that the worst film ever made is Seabiscuit. In my view, it was a stupid name for a horse, however good it was. And let's be honest: given the state of horse names, that's really saying something. But worse than that, it's an even stupider name for a film. There you go. That's my review: 0 stars based on the name and never having seen it.

I'm joined today by someone whose name I'd never review badly. It's Emma Shackleton, co-host of Early School Behaviour Secrets. Hi Emma, how are you doing?

00:02:24 Emma Shackleton

Good, thanks. It's been a while since we've recorded an episode together, so I'm really excited for today.

00:02:30 Simon Currigan

Me too, for old time's sake. But I think I've got to start the podcast by asking you a question.

00:02:36 Emma Shackleton

Oh no, it started already. Go on then.

00:02:39 Simon Currigan

Right, this is an interesting one. According to Pearson's 2024 school report, which questioned over 9,000 teachers, what percentage said the education system allows them to support all pupils in the ways that they would like to?

00:02:56 Emma Shackleton

Oh not many. I think a lot of teachers are pretty frustrated with the current education system. So my guess is about 10% would think that the current system allows them to support all pupils in the way that they would like to. What's the answer? Come on, big reveal.

00:03:16 Simon Currigan

Well, 10% is actually optimistic because the actual answer is—drum roll—5%. That is so low. And I feel here at School Behaviour Secrets we've done our bit to contribute to that very low number.

00:03:29 Emma Shackleton

Wow. I knew it'd be low, but that is... yeah. So pretty much everybody is dissatisfied then. That's what we're saying.

00:03:37 Simon Currigan

Yeah, absolutely. So today we're going to talk about making a difference and supporting pupils effectively for SEMH and behaviour.

But before we get to that, obviously, remember: if you're finding School Behaviour Secrets helpful, do subscribe so you never miss another episode.

And if you find the show helpful right now—unless, you know, you're holding onto a hang glider with one hand or you're driving or something—open up the podcast app and hit the share button to send a direct link to this episode to a friend or colleague who would find it useful.

00:04:11 Emma Shackleton

Okay, so before we dive into today's topic, can I just give everyone a little bit of context?

00:04:16 Simon Currigan

Yeah, of course.

00:04:17 Emma Shackleton

First of all, if you're listening for the first time, welcome. And where have you been? Seriously though, if you're new to the podcast, you might not realise this is actually episode 282. There are another 281 episodes just sitting waiting for you to explore, many of which Simon and I recorded together as co-founders of Beacon School Support. So for those of you who don't know us, Beacon works face-to-face with around 150 schools across the West Midlands, supporting them with things like coaching, SEMH audits, parent workshops, and strategic behaviour support.

The main reason that I've been away from the podcast recently is because we've been taking Beacon on tour. We've been traveling all over the country, meeting head teachers and school leaders, delivering free training on how schools can move forward in meeting the growing SEMH needs they're seeing.

Alongside that, I've also been speaking at lots of conferences, which has been brilliant because it's given me the chance to hear firsthand about the challenges schools are facing. It feels like we're in a real period of uncertainty at the moment with the proposed SEND reforms, and I know that you covered some of that recently in a different podcast, didn't you, Simon?

00:05:41 Simon Currigan

Yeah, I did. If you want to hear that episode about the proposed SEND reforms, then go back to episode 270. And while we're on the subject, if you are part of a group of schools or a local head teacher network and you'd like us to come to your area to deliver one of our free leadership sessions, just email us at support@beaconschoolsupport.co.uk. That's support@beaconschoolsupport.co.uk, and we'll arrange a planning call and get something organized.

00:06:11 Emma Shackleton

I thought you were going to say we'll get on a plane then.

00:06:15 Simon Currigan

Not quite, although it has felt like that lately. So after all these conversations with school leaders, have you noticed any common themes or patterns coming up?

00:06:24 Emma Shackleton

Yes, for sure. Whether that's been at our leadership training events or at conferences, the same key issues seem to keep on coming around and around. So the main three that I've noticed is, firstly, schools are all pretty much seeing increasingly complex SEMH needs. So not only have they got more pupils with needs than perhaps they've had before, but the complexity of those needs has also increased.

Another thing I'm hearing is that many, many leaders are finding parental engagement, and specifically parental complaints, more challenging than ever before. And interestingly, I've been speaking to lots of leaders who've ended up stepping into acting head teacher roles or senior leader roles unexpectedly because somebody has left or they're absent. And that means that they've been kind of launched into this new role, and they're trying to lead through a really difficult period.

00:07:28 Simon Currigan

Yeah, I definitely agree with that. And I know a number of head teachers who have just stepped into that role. And it is a really challenging thing because then all the staff are looking to you, the school's having difficulties and challenges that you want to lead them forward with, but you're also, you know, taking your first steps into leadership, and that can be really tough.

I'd also add that leaders seem to be looking for more practical solutions rather than theory. So they know the difficulties they're seeing in school, and what they really want now is clear guidance on what to do, what actually works. And that's just not at the classroom level, that's at the strategic level. Because a lot of strategic guidance for leaders, it's very woolly or very abstract. It doesn't tell you exactly what to do to move things forward. It doesn't give you a process to follow.

00:08:17 Emma Shackleton

Yeah, for sure. And actually, I think a lot of the feedback that we get is that we are very good at the theory, we give people evidence-based and research-led strategies, but we are also really down-to-earth and practical. And because we want to support leaders across the country, that's one of the reasons that we've decided this year to host our very own national SEMH conference, which will be held on the 7th of October 2026.

00:08:47 Simon Currigan

Yeah, and I'm glad you've mentioned that, because although we've mentioned it kind of in passing at the start of the podcast, I do want to say to anyone listening right now that we do have super early bird tickets available, but that finishes very soon in the next few weeks. So if you're thinking about coming, now's the time to book before the price goes up. At the moment with super early bird, you're saving £250 per ticket.

00:09:11 Emma Shackleton

Okay, how do people go about booking on, Simon?

00:09:14 Simon Currigan

Okay, so they head over to the conference page on our website. There's a link that I'll put in the episode description so you can open your podcast app and tap straight through. But you can also go to beaconschoolsupport.co.uk, that's beaconschoolsupport.co.uk, and you'll see it displayed prominently on our homepage as well.

And we've also got multi-ticket discounts available, so if you've got several colleagues from your school that want to attend, or there's a group of you from a mat wanting everyone to hear the same message, to get consistency and approach across your group, you can get extra savings on top of the super early bird as well.

00:09:50 Emma Shackleton

Oh, brilliant. So shall we just give people a little flavour of what they'll get on the day? Because it's much, much more than a lovely venue, a light lunch, and plenty of snacks.

00:10:01 Simon Currigan

Well, you had me at snacks, but one session that I'm particularly excited about is the one that's being delivered by Helen Lowe. Now, Helen is an experienced school leader and head teacher. She's very approachable, and she's got experience of inspection with Ofsted and doing external reviews of schools.

And her session is called What Ofsted Really Looks For when Inspecting Inclusion and SEMH. And in it, she helps schools learn about what strong inclusive practice actually looks like now through the eyes of an inspector. So if you've ever wondered what Ofsted are really looking for around behaviour or inclusion or SEMH, this session will give you a lot of clarity about that, especially with the new framework.

And let's be honest, whatever they say, Ofsted teams do vary, especially as the framework is so new. So by understanding what they're being told to do and what they're being told to look for in concrete terms around SEMH, if you're a school leader, that puts you in a really strong position when the inspectors come knocking at your door or you get that phone call and you find them waiting outside, ready to fill out your inspection scorecard.

00:11:11 Emma Shackleton

I think that sounds like it'll be a really invaluable session for leaders.

We'll also be delivering a session on how the proposed SEND reforms could change SEMH support in schools. So the way that schools approach special educational needs is changing. We'll explore what the proposed reforms could mean in practice, how that might affect your policies, systems, and decision-making, and what leaders can start to do now to prepare. It's really about helping leaders to get up front, on the front foot, and ahead of the curve.

00:11:48 Simon Currigan

Before we started recording today, actually, I went onto the website and looked at what workshops were really popular, because we've already got lots of people buying tickets. And I can see that another session that's already generating lots of interest is the session on Is Your Inclusion Support Base a Strength or a Weakness?

We've looked at this on the podcast before. We've talked about how support bases can be a fantastic resource to a school, a real asset when they're used well, because they help pupils feel safe and included and ready to learn. But if we're not careful, what happens is we unintentionally create kind of like a dependency from certain children, a learned helplessness. And then what happens is children feel like they can only learn in that support base, and they get separated from the rest of school life and all of their classmates because they're no longer learning in the mainstream classroom.

So what we're going to give you in that workshop is a practical framework that you can take away and use to evaluate your own provision objectively, so you know where the strengths in your support base are, and you know what needs to be worked on next to make sure you are engaging in genuinely inclusive, helpful practice in your school.

00:13:01 Emma Shackleton

I think everyone's just trying their hardest to get it right, and having that little bit of guidance really helps people to forward plan. And thinking about what we were saying earlier about many schools struggling with parent relationships, we're also going to be delivering a session at the conference on how schools win back the trust of disengaged families. So we can all think of children who would actually do much better if only we were able to get the families to work in partnership with us.

And I think what we've learned recently is disengaged families aren't always disinterested families. So this workshop looks at practical ways that schools can repair and rebuild relationships, rebuild that trust, and create stronger partnerships with parents. I actually delivered a parents-based session at the NASEN Live conference in Birmingham last week, and the feedback was fantastic. People found it really, really helpful.

00:13:59 Simon Currigan

Yeah, I saw some comments about that on LinkedIn, and people found it really useful. Another workshop that will be really useful for leaders is When Staff Confuse Behaviour and SEMH: What Effective Leaders Do Next? So when staff as a whole don't have this kind of shared understanding of behaviour and SEMH, schools can end up with their pupils and their parents getting inconsistent and mixed messages.

This workshop looks at how leaders create a joined-up approach to that across their staff team. Super important, because when teachers aren't sure what they're looking for when it comes to student behaviour, they aren't clear on where the line is between where kind of behaviour ends and SEMH begins. And then you get inconsistency in class, which is obviously not good for the pupils. And then you get complaints from teachers who aren't sure where they stand, and then you get complaints from parents saying children aren't being treated fairly or consistently.

Really having a shared understanding for that kind of interface between the behaviour policy and SEMH is super important in school. And this session is all about helping you get it right.

00:15:07 Emma Shackleton

I mean, that's the million-dollar question, isn't it? Is it chosen? Is it needs-led? You know, are they choosing to do the wrong behaviours, or is it that there is something that isn't being met? And I'm sure you're the same, Simon, but I get asked that question all of the time when people are trying to understand what's driving the pupil's behaviour.

00:15:27 Simon Currigan

Absolutely. And sometimes the same child can engage in kind of like emotionally fuelled behaviour and chosen behaviour in the same day. So you don't have a blanket answer for like one child or one group of children. Kids react differently depending on the state they're in. And understanding that line and understanding what drives those behaviours is super important. And that workshop will help your staff understand and get it right. It helps you as the leader set the principles for your school.

00:15:52 Emma Shackleton

And the last workshop to choose from is on a really hot topic. It's called Why Executive Function Difficulties Lead to Student Dysregulation? So you will have all seen now that there's a real focus on executive function. And if you haven't had training on what executive function is, how are you supposed to know? But what we see is executive function difficulties are often mistaken for defiance, poor attitude, or lack of effort. That's what it can look like. So in that session, we're going to explore the connection between executive function and dysregulation. So that will really help schools to understand what's happening in brains and bodies and what really effective support looks like for those pupils who are struggling.

And on top of all of that, on the day, we'll also have 10 carefully selected exhibitors showcasing their resources, services, and ideas that genuinely help schools support their most vulnerable pupils and families. And if you look out on LinkedIn and Facebook, you'll start to see that we're introducing them over the coming weeks.

00:17:03 Simon Currigan

I think it's worth saying as well, Emma, that you've spent a lot of time on this, actually just selecting and kind of handpicking exhibitors whose work is related to SEMH, so it's not kind of like a general showcase. We've said no to lots of exhibitors because we want everyone there to contribute to moving vision forwards for SEMH. And it's all coming together really well. We genuinely think this is going to be an incredibly valuable day for school leaders.

When you book, you get to pick which sessions are most relevant for you in your setting, whether you're primary or secondary, special or mainstream. There is something at the conference for everyone. If you'd like to join us, just follow the booking link in the episode description or visit beaconschoolsupport.co.uk, that's beaconschoolsupport.co.uk, to secure your place. And don't leave it too long if you want the super early bird prices, because ticket prices go up very soon in the next few weeks. Lock in that saving of £250. We hope to see you there.

On behalf of Emma and myself, I hope you found this week's episode really useful. Have a brilliant week, and we look forward to seeing you next time on School Behaviour Secrets.