Overview of Sleuth - The Behaviour Tracking System
Sleuth is an online behaviour tracking system that has been successful in contributing to improvements in behaviour management in hundreds of UK schools.
The latest release of Sleuth is online, requires no installation and is accessible by all staff from anywhere with an internet connection - a true whole school approach to behaviour management. Key Features of Sleuth.
Behaviour Tracking is the process of collecting and analysing detailed data about behaviour in order to improve the management of it.
Data is collected by observing and then recording incidents of behaviour. Analysing recorded behaviour enables thorough investigation of the causes of behaviour so that strategies can be developed to manage it.
Detailed analysis is only possible with detailed recording, effective behaviour tracking relies on detailed observations, if you can't record it you can't track it.
The ability to record in detail highlights the fundamental difference between sytems that log behaviour to simply have a record of it on file and those that track behaviour in order to be effective in managing it. Tracking behaviour provides the evidence on which to make decisions and develop strategies to improve behaviour. It should then reveal the impact of decisions and strategies so you know what works, what doesn't work and good practice can be recognised, re-used and shared.
Behaviour tracking is key to successful behaviour management. A behaviour tracking system should be easily accessible to all and then used daily so staff can be proactive in their management of behaviour.
Behaviour Tracking provides the evidence on which to make decisions and develop strategies to improve behaviour
Detailed and objective tracking of behaviour, in and out of the classroom, provides a complete picture of behaviour in your school. The results can then be used to support students, develop staff skills and plan whole school policy.
Supporting Students - behaviour tracking allows you to select the most appropriate interventions for an individual, build an action plan and monitor its impact. Detailed and objective information is also vital if schools are to involve all the relevant stakeholders in the process of effective student support.
Staff Development - all members of staff can analyse behaviour, select appropriate interventions and then monitor their impact. This leads to more effective and consistent interventions. Good practice can be shared and targetted support can be provided where needed.
Improve Whole School Policy - the results of tracking behaviour will give a policy its direction: it will provide evidence of improvement; reveal trends and identify any inconsistencies in putting policy into practice. All these outcomes provide the information required to develop a policy that is effective and inclusive.
Access to behaviour tracking information should be readily available to:
- Teaching Staff - to support students, monitor progress, plan lesson delivery, plan individual curriculum
- Senior Leadership Team - to support staff, develop policy, improve decision making, monitor strategy
- Heads of Year and Heads of Dept - to support staff and students, monitor progress, communicate with parents
- Form Tutors - to support students, communicate with parents
- SENCO - to support students, communicate with parents
- Parents and Carers - to support students
- Non-Teaching Support Staff - to support students
- Administration Staff - to generate letters/certificates, manage detentions
- Multi-Agency Staff - to support students (e.g. educational psychologists, social services, governors)
There has been extensive research into the impact of Behaviour Tracking, including national studies by Ofsted and the Steer Group.
From Ofsted's report into Managing Challenging Behaviour (2005) :
"The most effective pastoral support systems are those in which there is careful and regular tracking of pupils' learning and behaviour."
"When information over time is collated well and senior staff act decisively on the analysis of the information, remarkable change can be brought about."
Click for more Independent Research into why schools should track behaviour.
Why Use Sleuth to Track Behaviour?
Effective behaviour tracking generates a lot of information which, once recorded, needs to be analysed and reported. This is too time-consuming to do manually so schools who take behaviour management seriously should consider an electronic tracking system. Sleuth is such a system. It has a proven track record in many hundreds of schools and is supported by a team of behaviour consultants and technical staff who have a well-deserved reputation for excellence.
Sleuth is designed specifically to track behaviour. It is not a whole school administration system or an add-on module for behaviour management. Sleuth has a detailed recording framework that enables its reporting and analysis to be comprehensive so you can truly be proactive about behaviour management.
Sleuth is extremely easy to use, thousands of staff use it daily without the need for extensive or expensive training. Strategies for behaviour improvement are most successful when implemented consistently by everyone. Sleuth makes this possible, the ease with which all staff are able to record and analyse behaviour singles Sleuth out as a true whole school system for behaviour management.
Schools using Sleuth are clearly able to demonstrate effective decision making and significant improvements in the way they manage behaviour. For example:
- More effective behaviour management - a proactive and consistent approach to behaviour management
- Improved decision making - evidence of what works and what doesn't
- Improved communication - up-to-date, detailed and objective data for staff, parents and support agencies
- Targetted Staff Development - a collaborative approach to supporting colleagues and sharing good practice
- Raise Achievement - early identification of those at risk with clear data to develop strategies for improvement
- Reduce Workload - instant access to key data for lesson planning, student profiling and referral caseload
If you need more reasons to use a dedicated behaviour tracking system instead of making do with your MIS see Using Your MIS
How Do I Start Using Sleuth in My School?
Sleuth is online so we can get you up and running in minutes. All you have to do is get in touch with us.
It takes us a few minutes to set-up a Sleuth Online system specifically for your school and give you login details. The next step is for you to setup the Sleuth Importer tool, the first time this is run all your students, staff, tutor and house groups are automatically loaded into Sleuth.
You are then ready to track behaviour. It really is that easy.
If you need convincing Sleuth is the best behaviour tracking system available you have a few options:
- FREE Trial - If you want to see what Sleuth has to offer, and discuss its use with colleagues, then we can provide a FREE evaluation/trial copy. You can use this to prepare and train staff and start to setup your own behaviour types, sanctions, rewards, documents, etc. Any policy information you enter into the trial during this period can be kept when you go live.
- Come to a Presentation - We are often out and about in schools demonstrating Sleuth - for a list of upcoming dates and venues see our list of Presentations.
- Talk to other Schools - We can provide you with contact details for schools already using Sleuth so you can discuss their experiences