Success Story: Huili School, Shanghai, part of the Wellington College group
How Team Teach training supported the embedding of a values based behaviour policy in a prestigious international school.
At a glance
- Name: Lana Kulas
- Role: Second Master
- Organisation: Huili School, part of the Wellington College group
- Location: Shanghai, China
About Huili School, Shanghai
Huili School is a bilingual international school based in Shanghai, China. 99% of students at the school are Chinese nationals. They follow both the Chinese National Curriculum and an international curriculum, including the IB programme.
Parental expectations are high as most students go on to study at overseas universities.
“We are destigmatising talking about wellbeing, reminding students that success is about more than just grades.”
The benefits of choosing Team Teach
Staff at Huili School come from a diverse range of backgrounds, including Chinese nationals and expat teachers. Leaders were looking for a framework to complement their existing positive behaviour policy and create a shared understanding of behaviour support in line with Huili values. As Lana explains, “The Team Teach approach reassured us that the values based behaviour policy we had was along the right lines and they fitted seamlessly together.”
Since the pandemic, leaders have also seen an increase in self-regulation difficulties and anxiety in students. The Team Teach approach of behaviour as communication has been embedded to support students at every age and stage. This philosophy has also been shared with parents and carers, to further develop a shared understanding beyond the school gates.
The challenge:
To use Team Teach to embed the existing values-based behaviour policy and build consistency in an international school with diverse staff and high parental expectations.
Background
Huili School is home to staff from a
wide range of backgrounds and
nationalities. Parental expectations are high as most students go on to study at university abroad. There can sometimes be a tension between academic achievement and student / staff wellbeing.
Challenges
The diverse international staffing body made the development of a shared understanding challenging. Culturally, parents in China are heavily involved in their children’s education, and academic achievement is highly valued. It can be hard for staff to balance high expectations with student wellbeing.
Aims
The aim was to develop a consistent approach to behaviour that aligned with the school’s ethos and values based behaviour policy.
Leaders wanted to involve parents and carers, too, to ensure a coherent, joined-up perspective.
“Staff like it when you pin a policy on robust research and on a reputable company.”
Solution
Initially, leaders at Huili School explored solely physical intervention training. However, they soon decided that the Team Teach approach, with its focus on positive relationships and de-escalation strategies, aligned best with the school’s values, and complemented their existing positive behaviour policy.
To embed a coherent approach, they trained members of staff to become inhouse Team Teach trainers. As behaviour champions, these trainers would be well placed to disseminate training to all staff.
A key part of this role included exploring opportunities to develop parental engagement further, and work with students to better understand behaviour as communication.
The results:
Through partnership with Team Teach, staff at Huili School have been able to create consistency in their processes and practices around behaviour support. They have developed a shared understanding with students, staff, and parents and carers.
Lana highlights the positive impact that Team Teach training has had on staff, students and their families, giving them the tools and resources to further embed their positive behaviour policy:
Staff mindset: Consistency and confidence have improved and all staff have a deeper understanding of effective behaviour support strategies.
Student participation: Students feel confident to engage proactively with the behaviour policy. They are also more likely to self-refer to school counsellors to seek out wellbeing support when required.
Family engagement: Through face-to-face meetings, workshops and in-school initiatives, parents and carers have a better understanding of the school’s approach to behaviour support.
Huili School is on a journey towards whole-organisation consistency, using an iterative approach which began with in-house Team Teach trainers delivering training to 35 staff members.
These staff now make up the ‘Looking for
Values’ team, raising the profile of positive
behaviour support strategies with students
and staff.
“Behaviour support is an
ongoing journey for the whole
school community.”
Next steps
Huili School is excited to explore opportunities to further enhance relationships with parents and carers. They are also leading a culture shift around perceptions of additional needs, to ensure that every student gets the support they need.
