Staff Safety & Wellbeing

This guidance has been put together to support staff who work at The Holmewood School London.

At THSL the safety of staff [and students] is paramount and there are a variety of systems, policies and procedures in place to ensure that staff are kept as safe as possible when working with students who can be particularly challenging at times.

What is challenging behaviour?

Young people with autism have difficulties in several key areas; social interaction; social communication and flexibility of thought. Many young people with autism and most who attend THSL also have some differences in the way they interpret, integrate and/or respond to sensory stimuli.

The above factors combined with external factors such as demands made by staff, puberty, illness/pain, moving house, etc. can result in our young people displaying, on occasion, some behaviours that staff may perceive as challenging.

Challenging behaviour can be defined as 'any behaviour that hurts, scares or annoys us'. Challenging behaviour should not be taken personally but rather should be seen as an attempt by the person displaying the behaviour to communicate something to us.

However, regular exposure to or intense periods of challenging behaviour can be difficult for us as staff to cope with, as these behaviours can elicit some strong emotions in all us from time to time.

Below is a list of some of the things we do in order to ensure our staff are safe. This list is by no means exhaustive.

How we keep you safe	When do we do this	Notes
Line Managers and Mentors	All staff all year round	Every staff member has an allocated line manager. Regular meetings are scheduled for the first 12 months but they are available at all times. In addition, teachers also have an informal mentor who will be another teacher who is more experienced at our school. This is in addition to the line manager and can provide another point of view or be another person to contact about smaller, less formal issues. The Head Teacher is also a registered NAHT leadership mentor who provides mentoring to those in leadership positions at Holmewood and for those externally
Induction	Throughout the first 12 months	All staff have a robust 12 month induction period. At the start of this they meet their line manager on a formal basis weekly or 2 weekly, then every few months. This is in addition to any informal meetings. At these formal meeting points there is time to ask questions, debrief and raise concerns. The induction pack includes space for the line manager to note any development needs and comments. These are then passed to the Head Teacher to review and act upon as necessary.
Supervisions and appraisals	Twice a year	In addition to regular opportunities to discuss, meet, debrief over the year all staff (once through induction) have an annual appraisal and a 6 month point supervision with their line manager. At these formal meetings time is allocated to talk about (and record) the wellbeing needs for each individual staff member. In addition they are asked to declare any safeguarding concerns or concerns about practice that they may have (including whistleblowing and health & safety). This is an additional safeguarding measure.
Staff counselling	Short Term & long term	The Holmewood School views therapy/counselling as part of Continuing Professional Development (CPD). Your professional life and your personal life are intertwined and both are of equal importance as they each have an impact on the other. We believe that in order to be most effective in their job, staff should have a good understanding of themselves as a person. This is why we are committed to this service. Short term free counselling through the Employee Assistance Programme at Peninsula (our HR provider). This includes a 24 hour hotline service as well as 6 face to face sessions for either you or a member of your family. Long term discounted counselling off site. Please note the long term service is for staff working at the school for 1 year or more and have already taken up the short term offer.
Staff Yoga	Weekly	We provide free staff yoga on a weekly basis (after school) led by our in-house Occupational Therapist who is also a qualified Yoga teacher.
Staff Art class	Weekly	We provide a free staff art class on a weekly basis (after school) led by our art teacher.