Chris’s story

Chris was Head of Year 11 at a school in Nuneaton when he did a Grit programme.

I was blown away by the course. I really enjoyed it. It was all about finding a different way of working with young people at risk of exclusion. For me, it was all about moving away from a confrontational approach where the member of staff always has to be right and which almost always ends with lots of shouting. One thing that really surprised me was the amount of time I spent in the workshop talking about myself, my own life, my own challenges.

The Grit focus is on the relationship with the student, on connecting as human beings. We looked at boundaries and how we can use them positively as part of relationship. And we looked at the importance of listening, hearing the student speak and understanding what it is they are trying to say. Communication is key - having a conversation about why it happened, how it happened, and what we will do next time.

I use Grit all the time. Recently I found a group of year 11s hiding in a far-flung corner of the school, determined to get out of lessons. I took a very measured tone and calmly told them to sit outside my office for 30 minutes. They refused so I said, “That’s ok. That’s your choice. But you need to understand that every choice has its consequences. If you choose not to sit outside my office then tomorrow there will be detention.” As the conversation continued, at each refusal the consequences escalated until the penny dropped – there will always be consequences.

And it’s not just me. I’ve been telling colleagues about Grit. The Head of Year 7 was at the end of her tether and was wondering what to do next. She had a really tough group of male students who were refusing to do a detention. She tried some Grit: “If you misbehave that’s fine but there will be consequences.”

As they discussed the choices she described the gradual escalation of the consequences and the students eventually realised that they were never going to get away with it. In the end, they all just turned around and quietly went to the detention. Instead of dragging on for a day, two days, a week, the situation was resolved in a matter of minutes. “I can’t believe it,” said the Head of Year 7 to me. “This actually works!”