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The Junction

The Junction - Criteria

Type of need: Social, emotional and mental health

KS3 and KS4

Learners will have significant Social Emotional and Mental Health difficulties. They will exhibit a range of extreme behaviours which, through their nature, persistence, and severity have a cumulative negative effect upon their emotional well-being and mental health.

The impact of those behaviours will have had a severe and measurable negative effect upon a learner’s attainment and / or their access to learning.

The assessment range for the learners’ academic ability will be wide, as will their functioning range - covering a cognitive and curriculum span from low ability to high ability.

Learners may have associated secondary needs.  For example, some may have medically diagnosed conditions that relate to their difficulties such as ADHD or relevant mental health diagnoses. Some learners may present with behaviours associated with significant mental health difficulties – including psychological trauma, depression, FASD, OCD or severe anxiety disorder.

All learners will previously have been referred to Pathways, reviewed by the MDI Panel and have been discussed by the LA Behaviour Panel.

There will be extensive evidence that sustained interventions have been unable to bring about a positive change.

Indicators of need will include some of the following:
  1. Routinely severe anti-social and unco-operative behaviour
  1. Long-standing indifferent or erratic response to discipline.
  1. Significantly delayed / immature social skills.
  1. Long-standing inability to form positive relationships (peer/peer and/or peer/adult).
  1. Negative social communication skills, including poor social use of language and limited capacity or desire to follow the conventions of social behaviour
  1. Entrenched lack of social conscience.
  1. Distorted sense of inner justice.
  1. Persistent lack of basic hygiene and/or sense of personal safety.
  1. Persistent low self-esteem and poor self-image.
  1. Extreme lack of empathy and respect for the needs and rights, feelings and emotions of others, including inappropriate negative emotional responses and actions in a given situation.
  1. Regular self-harming and/or obsessional behaviour, including eating disorders or difficulties.
  1. Severe depression and/or suicidal attitudes.
  1. Extremes of emotions or withdrawal behaviour.
  1. Entrenched inability to trust others and/or lack of resilience.

These needs will present as extreme and challenging behaviour in some of the ways outlined below:
  1. Persistent and sustained challenging of authority.
  1. Regular and sustained aggression or threat of aggression towards others, including violence and assault.
  1. Expressed desire to harm others for reasons of self-esteem and/or status, including through psychological intimidation or bullying behaviour.
  1. Behaviours which seek to exploit weaknesses in others and to control situations, including regular use of targeted and abusive language.
  1. Persistent inability to manage own anger.
  1. Active and sustained resistance to new ideas and concepts.
  1. Severe and regular damage to property.
  1. Refusal to engage with learning.
  1. Persistent and sustained non-compliance with requests, rules and routines.
  1. Extreme hyperactivity and inability to concentrate.
  1. Long-standing difficulties in collaborative and independent working.
  1. Highly inappropriate sexualised behaviour, including a preoccupation with sexualised matters

 

Learners will also have had the following, documented using the APDR format:

Internal Processes

Pathways referral
MDI Panel
Behaviour Panel

 

Previous Interventions

SEND assessment (internal)

Counselling
Educational Psychologist
CAMHS
EHA
Speech and language assessment
Reports
Amended timetable

 

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