Product reviews for Sorting out Behaviour

Sorting out Behaviour by Jeremy Lowe is a useful and practical guide to behaviour management for anyone involved in secondary education, but in particular for head teachers and other senior managers.

The central message of the book is that all children have the right to enjoy and achieve well in their education and their schools and that this requires a clear understanding by all members of the school community of acceptable and unacceptable behaviours. Unacceptable behaviours are those which affect the learning taking place and in this book Jeremy sets out his ideas for developing a school community in which expectations of pupils are clear, rewards and sanctions are used appropriately and the senior management team are visible, consistent and involved.

Through a friendly and informal style of writing the author uses his own experiences in school as a Head teacher to present some refreshing suggestions and advice largely based on common sense which makes you think 'Of course, I should have thought of that!'. Head teachers addressing behavioural issues in their own schools may find this a useful resource to dip into to help them to develop or rethink strategies that are already in place and may be becoming a little stale. I particularly liked Jeremy's suggestion of an inclusion room, as an alternative to suspension or exclusion. I feel that this resource, when well used, would give both pupils and staff the opportunity to take the heat out of a situation and pupils who have infringed behavioural expectations time to depressurise and, away from their peers and the catalyst of inappropriate behaviour, reflect on and focus on their learning.