Lunch Time Supervisors-An Authority Approached Us....

Lunch Time Supervisors: Beginning The Journey

February for the shortest month of the year, February can seem to last forever; the buzz of Christmas and New Year has long since past and this year was a cold, snow and slush laden affair that made Summer seem a long way off.
It’s always great to get a telephone call asking if we’d be interested in some work-it lifts the spirits and refocuses our energies and puts some energy into thinking and planning for the future.
A local authority contact had found us through the Web Site (www.coadyconsultants.co.uk )and was very interested in our Lunch Time Supervisor Development Programme: could we deliver it, to a series of Local Authority Secondary Schools in April, with a catch-up session in May? Our resources created a really favourable impression and the contract was agreed.
One of our Associate Consultants delivered the package-the feedback has been hugely encouraging: for the vast majority of those attending this was the first exposure they had received to training that acknowledged the huge contribution their role makes to the health, safety and well being of learners during the lunch period.
There is something very powerful about dignity achieved through recognition. Participants want to develop their skills and understanding of how they can better contribute to outcomes for learners and to work with Senior Managers and Duty Teams to improve the lunch-time experience for all concerned.
We have a strong set of evaluations that continue to point us in the direction the consultancy has followed since its inception, namely that to obtain the very best from people, there has to be a strong inner compass that points in the direction of mutual respect and dignity for all of the workforce.

From Conflct to Confidence: Addressing Underachievement

Our Consultancy has been pleased to work in partnership with a number of schools, further education and training organisations in areas related to the behaviour of learners, students and trainees.
We also deliver our own mentoring and coaching programmes, designed to raise the achievements of all learners by addressing some of the “blockers and stoppers” that are preventing progress. We deliver interventions with the intention of raising aspirations and enabling learners and trainees to break out of the truly unhelpful boundaries that exist because of artificially low expectations, lack of confidence and self-belief. We want the young people who work with us to develop realistic expectations that are fun and challenging.
We know that a key element in raising achievement and making progress is the quality of the relationships formed with trusted adults at critical times. I can’t think of any of my current or past associates and friends who are unable to name and recall the positive input made by significant adults throughout their childhood, adolescence and early adulthood.
The Children and Young People Workforce combines the skills of leaders, managers, teachers, lecturers and trainers to delivers its programmes. This important task would be made much more challenging without the contribution of Para-Professionals: Mentors, Learning Assistants, Student & Pupil Support Managers who bring their very special and refined skills to supporting trainees, often with high risk and vulnerability factors, throughout the learning/training process by providing supportive challenge, trust and advocacy.
We also know that some of our most valued colleagues would like an opportunity to meet with others who are involved in similar work, to address specific challenges and to talk about “what works”. Our programme “From Conflict to Confidence” provides a structured framework in which the above and more can be achieved. All participants will have an opportunity to consider how best to deliver their role within an ethically valid framework that considers best practice, the sources of anger and aggression and the importance of a systematic approach to intervention and support, together with an opportunity to receive ongoing support from Coady Consultants Ltd.

Developing Lunch Time Supervisors (ii)

We prefer to enter longer-term sustainable relationships with our customers. One of the benefits for us is that we get to see the outcomes of the work we deliver: it's immensely rewarding to witness, in real terms, the amount of movement teams are capable of making.
Working with one of our customers, we have developed a "Lunch Time Team Charter", a simple 3 Fold leaflet that delivers some very powerful messages about the the Lunch Time Team and how it contributes to the well-being of the school community.
An enthusiastic and committed management team have worked with us throughout and the 3 fold will now be

• shared with the whole workforce
• e-mailed (where appropriate) to parents and carers
• used as part of the induction pack for next academic year's Year 7 learners
• the subject of tutorial/assemblies

Nothing beats good practice! There are regular meetings between the supervisors, student support managers and a Deputy Head Teacher. It was a privilege to attend one very recently and to witness at first hand the shift in dialogue in this team of 12 people. It has moved from sounding "stuck, helpless and problem-donating", to a place where it is "dynamic, resourceful and problem-solving."

My drive home that evening was made up of around 25 miles of gentle rolling country-side between two major urban areas-the spring sun and crisp skies of late March contributed to the feeling of well-being that had arisen from the massively positive messages and tangible progress demonstrated by a team that had committed to the development process, supported by a school that takes seriously the value-added to be gained from investing in the development and growth of its workforce. Some days are just better than others!