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GAVIN WEEDY: My name's Gavin Weedy.I'm head of PSD, which is Personal and SocialDevelopment at Goldwyn Foundation School.We are a school for pupils with behavioral difficulties.We work primarily with pupils who'vebeen excluded from other special schoolswith ADHD, on the autistic spectrum,

GAVIN WEEDY [continued]: with diagnoses of Asperger's, with ODD, OCD, some of themcomorbid.So we have ASD with ADHD kids.Some of them come from families thatare perhaps in difficulty themselves.So a lot of single parent families,perhaps involving drugs, alcohol, abuse,

GAVIN WEEDY [continued]: sexual, physical, emotional, the whole spectrum, really,of things that might drive anybody's behavior really.The dynamic of this field is very muchbased on a teamwork approach.Everybody has an interest in the kids.And so we cover each other's lessons if needs be.

GAVIN WEEDY [continued]: We work together.There's lots of meetings that go on, just ad hoc.The staff room is usually abuzz, talking about children.It's not talking about football or what you did at the weekend.It's normally issues to do with kids.So it's a very dynamically driven staff group here.As a skill, we teach the whole of the national curriculum

GAVIN WEEDY [continued]: and also many vocational qualifications in orderto get the kids to have the same opportunities post 16as any others.So they will do English, maths, and scienceat GCSE, the core subjects.And most of our pupils come out with seven,eight GCSEs of one grade or another.

GAVIN WEEDY [continued]: We're going to talk about how, if this was a cup of tea,I could stop this from going cold.Because I get fed up, watching telly and you get a cup of tea,and you start watching something and then my dogs go a bit radgeand I've got to go out and sort them out.By the time I've sort them out, I come backand my tea's gone cold.

SPEAKER 1: Insulate it.

GAVIN WEEDY: Insulate it.Brilliant.

SPEAKER 1: If you insulate it, it stops the heat from escapingand it puts it back in pretty much.

GAVIN WEEDY: I'm going to give you a boiling tube.How's a boiling tube work?It don't break when you put boiling things in it.It could.

SPEAKER 2: It could.

GAVIN WEEDY: Well, you put a lava in it.You've got a spectrum there.You've got-- you've got one with ASD, you've got one with ADHD,and you've got one who's got real attachment issues.And so you can see their behaviors are quite similar.But the causes are very different.

SPEAKER 2: When you use, like, that stuff--

GAVIN WEEDY: I'm going to use water, boiling water.

SPEAKER 2: You, like, get a measuring jug,whatever, and you use so much water and use the same again.So if it's different, then it would be a different, like,quantity of what amounts and whatnot.

GAVIN WEEDY: It's called a something test.

SPEAKER 2: Fair test.

GAVIN WEEDY: Fair test.Awesome.Right so to make a fair test.Right.I'm going to tell you, we're going to use 20 milliliters.OK?I need to measure the temperature.

SPEAKER 2: Thermometer.

GAVIN WEEDY: That's exactly--We want to raise achievement because raising achievementraises self esteem and then therefore theycan feel about they're as good as anybody else.So to all intents and purposes, we run a secondary curriculum.If you were using an ordinary thermometer and notone of them, you wouldn't be able to measure

GAVIN WEEDY [continued]: if that's different to that.Exactly.But we're not going into the light.We're going to come up against the wordradiation, because we're using boiling water,we have to be careful.We're not going to go as far as goggles or anything.You wouldn't wear goggles to make a cup of tea.

SPEAKER 2: I do.

GAVIN WEEDY: One of these.First things you're going to do on your sheet of paperis to note down what type of test you're using.All right?How do you think?Ear?

SPEAKER 2: Ear.

GAVIN WEEDY: Yeah, that's it.Bang on.Get your eyes level with it, so you know you got 20 mil.Brilliant.Good measure.Got it?Got it?In 57.Right.There you go.So put that in there.

GAVIN WEEDY [continued]: Stick this in it.And then press this white button.I predict that.And why.What have we got there?959.So how long have you got to go?Two minutes.

GAVIN WEEDY [continued]: Excellent.9.7 degrees in ten minutes.Part of our job is to get the kidsto realize that they can succeed.So we target set that it's achievable but challenging.So we want them to feel better about themselves,

GAVIN WEEDY [continued]: so when they feel they're achieving,then their behavior is lessened because they'reless frustrated.Describe to me an experiment, how to do itand I'll let you do it.

SPEAKER 3: Yeah?

GAVIN WEEDY: Put it in a kettle.That's probably a bit dangerous.Yeah.

SPEAKER 3: Over a fire.

GAVIN WEEDY: A fire?

SPEAKER 3: With a pan.

GAVIN WEEDY: What about, we're in a Kemp science lab.

SPEAKER 3: Oh, yeah.Gas.Bunsen burner.

GAVIN WEEDY: A Bunsen burner, yeah.

SPEAKER 3: Heat it up.

GAVIN WEEDY: Yeah.How are you going to test it?

SPEAKER 3: By pouring it on some paper.

GAVIN WEEDY: What?To see if it burns it?

SPEAKER 3: Yeah.

GAVIN WEEDY: What about those colored liquidsthat you can drip in it?

SPEAKER 3: Oh, you mean the indicator?

GAVIN WEEDY: Perfect.A lot of the pupils arrive having had poor relationshipswith adults of varying degrees, authority figures, teachersin particular.And it's very important to get in some way with each pupilto develop a relationship.

GAVIN WEEDY [continued]: So a lot of our staff, all of the staff basically,will quickly share their likes and dislikes.So the kids really know who likes football,who goes fishing, who does golfing,who does this, that and the other.And we find that between the staff group, all of the kids

GAVIN WEEDY [continued]: have been catered for one way or another.They've got somebody they can make and go to.And kids can-- if they're having a difficult timein their lesson, they can say, I need a time out.And they might go out for five minutesand go and talk to somebody in SMT.Their office is always open and theysay-- they might go in just talk to them.And it's all about relationships in this school.

GAVIN WEEDY [continued]: And the relationships between staff and pupilsare extremely strong.

SPEAKER 3: Bye, Gavin.Goodbye, camera people.

GAVIN WEEDY: See you later.There's a lesson.They're great bunch.They've all got loads of knowledge.It's just that you've got to be able to get them engagedand they'll demonstrate it.But again, as I say, it's relationships.

GAVIN WEEDY [continued]: You try and come at it cold with them,they'll just not be interested.Bit like the rest of us, really.Because they were engaged, their behavioral issuesdon't surface.And that's really kind of microcosmof how we try and work here.Keep the kids engaged.Don't make it boring.If they're bored, then it's my fault basically.

GAVIN WEEDY [continued]: If I can't get them engaged, it's my fault, not theirs.So it behooves us to try make our lessons interesting.As we were going the experiment, you can see that some of themwere making some notes.For me, science has always been a hands on experience.And in this case, what I wanted the kids to dowas to experience the lesson.

GAVIN WEEDY [continued]: If I wanted to make a big deal out of the writing of it,then I probably will get a different reactionto them getting it.Some of them, Albert, has for example, gota lot of written work down, whichfor him is absolutely phenomenal.That shows he was engaged.Because if he isn't, he won't write.He's got such a low self-esteem in terms

GAVIN WEEDY [continued]: of his ability to write.This young lad, he will keep a lot of this in his head.So next lesson-- I know that.So next lesson when I speak to him,and I remind him of what we did, hewill tell me chapter and verse, of exactly what we did.So I don't mind that.Orin, he loves science.His-- you can tell from his writing, he's not brilliant,

GAVIN WEEDY [continued]: but he has all the information down.And for me, I know from talking to them as we went along,that they have the information in their head.So I don't want to fight with them about getting it downonto a piece of paper.Because that really isn't what this is about.It's really about using any tool you

GAVIN WEEDY [continued]: can to get them to record somethingabout what their experience of what they're doing is.It's more about creating an ethos in schoolthat they want to be here because wedo try and balance between the academic attainmentand having a good time.Because actually the activities that the kids get

GAVIN WEEDY [continued]: engaged in here, they go fishing, they go canoeing,they-- I mean you name it.There's all manner of things going and they want to be here.And part of buying into that is an expectationthat there's a classroom expectation to get this.It's a sort of reward scheme, if you will.But we don't punish them, but we will reward.

GAVIN WEEDY [continued]: The reason that Goldwyn is a successis very much the team aspect of what we are here.Nobody's better than anybody else.TAs are not lower than teachers, and teachers are not lowerthan SMT.Everybody's on first name terms with the kids,from our head teacher all way through to the cleaners

GAVIN WEEDY [continued]: and everybody else.So it's an approach which is much more collective.We try and get over to the kids that we're here to help them.We're not here to be the teacher.We're here to help them achieve what they want to achieve.And that's right across the board.So if a kid has an interest and hewants to spend an afternoon a week helping the groundsman,

GAVIN WEEDY [continued]: then that's what he does if that fits into his behaviorplan for an education plan.So we're extremely flexible whilst retainingan academic direction.If you offer the kids like our opportunities,

GAVIN WEEDY [continued]: they'll grab them.If you have the enthusiasm to drive forwardwhat you love doing, they'll buy into it.And so why not give them the same opportunities as everybodyelse and try and dispel those myths.Because I've certainly been out with pupils, and peoplehave no idea what type of school we come from.