Stand Out Boys Project (SOBP) This project targets boys in reception, who ‘stand out’ and who find it difficult to settle into school. The aim is to help them develop the skills they need to get the most from the classroom and reduce their risk of underachievement. Background Girls continue to outperform boys at all levels of education in the UK from foundation to higher education (ONS, 2011); at the extremes boys are four times more likely to be permanently excluded from school than girls (DfE, 2011) and at least nine times more likely to have a learning difficulty. This isn’t all boys (Connolly, 2004), more than half of the top 20% of achievers at all levels of education are boys. It is at the other end they are over-represented with more than three quarters of boys in the bottom 20%. Primary schools are reporting an increase in the number of children arriving without very basic skills, whether this is language (National Literacy Trust, 2005), or being potty trained (ATL & ERIC, 2012). There have been concerns about the level of primary school exclusions since the mid-1990s (see Parsons, 1994, and Ofsted, 2009) and more recently the young age of those excluded (TES, 2008 and Guardian, 2009). The commonly held view in primary education is that boys come into school trailing girls (particularly in communication and fine motor skills), and that boys ‘catch-up’ when they are aged 8 and 9 (Bidulph, 2003 and Palmer, 2009). However, ours (and others) observations suggest that some boys are not ‘catching up,’ with a significant minority leaving primary lacking important skills sets they will need for secondary and beyond (DfE, 2012). In spite of these trends, boys underachievement is still primarily addressed post-11 (see Lloyd, 2010), this project aims to prevent underachievement by targeting boys that exhibit characteristics that may put them at risk of underachieving. Early assessments of child development can be a reliable indicator of future outcomes. So, for example, scores at 22 months can be accurate predictors of educational outcomes at 26 years (Plewis, 2004) and assessments of boys aged three have indicated those at risk of criminal convictions (Hawkins et al, 2000). Analysis of the Millennium Cohort Study (2012) shows big differences in cognitive development between children from high and low income families at the age of three, with this gap widening by age five. There are similarly large gaps in young children’s social and emotional wellbeing at these ages. While there is of course a risk of labelling children before they are walking and talking, these early assessments can be very effective indicators for the need of early intervention. Feinstein and Bynner (2008) found that those children who were poor performers at the age of five, who managed to become high performers by the age of 10, were as successful in adulthood (looking at factors such as educational success, wage levels and criminality) as if they had never been underperforming at age five. Stand Out Boys Project This project targets boys in reception who ‘stand out’ because of their behaviour and find it difficult to settle and learn. Schools are seeing more boys who are unwilling (or unable) to take instructions; have low communication skills; easily ‘wound up’ by others; often distracted; over-physical and seemingly unable to show self-control. There can be up to three boys in each reception class who exhibit some of these characteristics. We are working on the basis that many of the targeted boys will require an intervention, if not now then later, so our view is why wait? We have been identifying boys that ‘stand out’; engaging their parents and teachers, and offering both strategies to develop boys learning skills. We have found parents very willing to engage, to enable their son’s to settle into school and teachers have valued the strategies to support their classroom behaviour management. It has helped that we have previously developed a series of strategies that work effectively with boys, which we have been offering to both parents and teachers. We have found the intervention has taken 3-6 months to bring about significant changes in the targeted boy’s behaviour and as a result seen them able to make the transition into school, and engage actively with their learning. Highlights of the evaluation report include: “This evaluation provides good evidence that SOBP represents a feasible, plausible, acceptable and accessible intervention which has positive impact on children who stand out in early years education. The evaluation shows implementation of the project to time and to projected scale. That is, it engaged more than the projected target of 30 children in three primary schools. There is evidence that SOBP may be associated with raising stand out children’s engagement and attainment at school from below average expectation for their age to around average. With respect to other expected outcomes, this evaluation has also demonstrated positive impact for parents in terms of perceptions of increases in their confidence, skills and understanding to address their children’s behavioural issues. There are also strong indications that teachers and teaching assistants have an increased understanding of, and skills to manage the behaviour of children who ‘stand out’. SOBP is structured around a tripartite intervention which provides parents with advice and practical strategies which serve to address issues faced by children both at home and school, teachers with strategies and support to settle the stand out children in class, and intervention directly with children in the context of the classroom. This evaluation suggests that the predication underpinning this approach, that effective, coordinated intervention is possible and that changes effected at home have a discernable impact on standing out at school is tenable”. While we have been developing this work over the last three years, the funding from The Paul Hamlyn Foundation has enabled us to deliver in three Lewisham schools (South East London), targeting 30 boys from September 2012 to July 2013 and evaluating its impact on Boys, parents, teachers and the schools themselves (evaluation report and other materials are available at www.boysdevelopmentproject.org.uk). We have an evaluated intervention that will reduce the risk of targeted boys underachieving and we are disseminating the finding through seminars targeted at primary head teachers. A Boys Development Project initiative funded by The Paul Hamlyn Foundation (September 2012 to September 2014). References Association of Teachers and Lecturers and Education and Resources for Improving Childhood Continence (2012) Survey of 848 primary school staff in the UK. Reported in the Independent Newspaper, 7th February 2012, under the headline ‘More children 'not toilet trained' by school age’. Bidulph S (1998): Raising Boys, Thorsens, London. Connolly P (2004): Boys and Schooling in the Early Years, Routledge Falmer, London Department of Education DfE (2011) Permanent and Fixed Period Exclusions from Schools in England 2009/10. Department for Education (2012) Pupil behaviour in schools in England. Education Standards Analysis and Research Division. Research Report DFE-RR218. Feinstein, l and Bynner, J (2008). “Mobility in Pupils’ Cognitive Attainment During School Life” in Oxford Review of Economic quoted in Gross J. Getting in early: primary schools and early intervention. The Smith Institute and The Centre for Social Justice, 2008. Guardian (2009) Primary schools suspend 14 violent under-fives every day. Rachel Williams, 31 December 2009. Hawkins, D. Herrenkohl, T.I. Farrington, D.P. Brewer, D. Catalano, R.F. Harachi, T. and Cothern, L. (2000) Predictors of Youth Violence. Juvenile Justice Bulletin, U. S. Department of Justice. April, 2000 Lloyd (2010), Boys Underachievement: A literature review. Young Men and Violence Project, Ulster University. Millenium Cohort Study (2012) The Age 11 Study. Centre for Longitudinal Study. Ofsted (2009) The exclusion from school of children aged four to seven. Palmer, S (2009) 21st Century Boys. Orion, London. Parsons, C (1994). Excluding Primary School Children. London. Family Policy Studies Centre. Plewis, I ed. (2004) Millennium Cohort Study First Survey: Technical Report on Sampling 3rd Edition June 2004 Times Educational Supplement, 12th May 2008 Rise in primary exclusions. The Boys’ Development Project (CIC) designs and develops effective projects and programmes targeted at boys and their families; provides consultancy and training to professionals and carries out research, evaluations & investigations. Contact details Project lead: Trefor Lloyd 07788781759 & tlloydbdp@btinternet.com. Boys Development Project, 320 Commercial Way, London SE15 1QN. Website: www.boysdevelopmentproject.org.uk Funded by: