The guardians

The teacher has to make a decision - leave the rest of the pupils or deal with that one child.

Many teachers face such situations and find they spend as much time on discipline as on teaching.

But in several schools in Poole such problems have been greatly reduced by employees dedicated to caring for the emotional needs of the pupils.

Poole is one of the few areas with full-time pastoral workers in schools, and now other local authorities are looking to the borough as an example.

Keith Jewell was the first full-time pastoral worker in the area and started his job at Branksome Heath Middle School in Livingstone Road three years ago.

Head teacher Jeff Royle said: "When I took over here three years ago the school had weaknesses. Teachers and parents said I had to tackle behaviour of the school.

"When there is a class of more than 30 and there is a problem with a child you have to ask: 'Do I look after this one and not be able to teach my class?'"

The pastoral worker was one of the improvements he made, along with other changes such as mediators - older children "trained" to mediate in playground disputes between younger pupils - and award schemes.

Since then, the number of youngsters excluded from class for fixed periods of time has dramatically dropped and no child has stormed out of the class, as they might have done before.

Mr Royle said: "I wanted to bring about better behaviour and higher academic achievement but not by draconian measures.

"Keith is one of the pieces in the jigsaw.

"Fixed-term exclusions have dropped dramatically over the past three years. Attitudes have improved and this year we have had the best Sats results ever."

Mr Jewell's day begins with greeting the pupils as they come into school, and he will spend break times and lunch times in the playground so children can go and talk to him.

He said: "For the first couple of years I was reactive. Now I'm more proactive and can spot the children who would benefit from work and will go and speak to them."

Other members of the school notify him if they see a significant change in the behaviour of a child and will allow, if necessary, Mr Jewell to take the child out of the class to talk to them.

He said: "My role is to help the children feel good. Many issues surround self-esteem.

"I have my own office. It's called an "oasis". People will go there if they've had a problem at home or at school. It really has helped the children."

Other underlying problems which may affect children's behaviour include bullying, a death in the family or parents splitting up.

Children will speak in group sessions or individually. Some find it helps to draw as they talk.

There are now eight pastoral workers in schools in the area including Hamworthy Middle School, Turlin Moor First and Middle, Carter Community School, Hillbourne First and Middle, Heatherlands, Manorside and Branksome Heath School. There is also one in Heathlands Junior School in Bournemouth.

The organisation that brought about pastoral support in Poole schools four years ago was the Programme for Applied Christian Education (PACE) Trust.

A director of the trust, Danny Brown, said: "We were going to school assemblies and saw a need for someone who was not a teacher or member of the academic staff. It has had a big impact."

While schools pay to employ pastoral workers, the trust is responsible for giving them on-going training and support.

Mr Brown said: "We see them every two weeks. They need to talk about issues raiseed and off-load."

Mr Brown believes there is a growing need for such workers because of the increasing pressures on young people today.

Mr Royle said: "There are pastoral workers elsewhere but it is not a common thing.

"However, it is something that's growing as more schools realise children bring with them a lot of baggage."

First published: November 19