Leading Behaviour
Behaviour sits at the heart of every successful school. It is not a standalone policy or a set of consequences; it is the infrastructure that allows Teaching and Learning to happen in a calm, safe and purposeful environment. A phrase I have often heard to describe it is that ‘behaviour is the bedrock of any school’. I have had the privilege of being a School Leader responsible for Quality of Education, and now oversee Behaviour and Culture. This experience has significantly shaped my understanding of behaviour leadership, particularly in relation to the technical systems that underpin it.
I have written previously about routines and consistency and how they underpin a strong school culture. I firmly believe that routines create predictability, reduce cognitive load for both staff and students, and enables learning to occur without disruption. However, what has become increasingly clear through my work is that routines alone are not enough. Routines require strong systems behind them, and one of the most overlooked aspects of behaviour leadership is the technical proficiency required to ensure that behaviour systems are tracked, monitored and supported effectively. This is where the MIS system becomes central to leading behaviour. Something, in my opinion, that is not talked about enough.
A behaviour policy can be clear, well-structured and rooted in strong research, but if the MIS system does not support it, the policy quickly loses impact. The MIS system is not simply an administrative tool; it is the operational engine that ensures behaviour systems function with precision and transparency. Every behaviour incident logged, every ‘removal’ recorded, every notification sent contributes to a wider picture that leaders rely on to monitor patterns, support staff and intervene early. Whilst it can be assumed that a number of schools are using a system that is centralised and moving away from manually updating spreadsheets, however, I know first-hand the range of schools that are still relying on manual updates rather than an automated system. Given how busy a school day is, it is easy to miss students in this process. Without tracking and monitoring, behaviour decisions could become reactive rather than strategic, leading to inconsistencies across teams.
Transparency is particularly important in this process. Staff need to trust that when behaviour is logged, it is seen and acted upon. They need clarity around what happens next and confidence that the system works equitably across the school. An effective system ensures that incidents are visible, follow-up actions are clear, and leadership responses are consistent. Effectively done: staff can see the follow-through in the system even before speaking with the pastoral team. This builds confidence across the staff body and reduces the sense that behaviour is being managed in isolation within individual classrooms. Instead, it becomes a shared responsibility supported by a structured and reliable system.
One of the most critical elements of this transparency is the notification and on-call system. In many schools, on-call can quickly become a point of frustration if expectations are unclear or response times vary. The MIS system plays a crucial role in ensuring that on-call is equitable, structured and reliable. Staff need to know when and how to call on-call, what constitutes a ‘removal’, who will respond and what the follow-up process will be. Leading behaviour, therefore, requires constant attention to how these systems are functioning and whether they are enabling staff to focus on teaching rather than firefighting.
Clarity around misbehaviour and classroom removals is equally important. Behaviour policies often outline expectations, but the MIS system reinforces them in practice. Staff need clear guidance on what should be logged, what requires ‘removal’ and what can be managed within the classroom. This clarity ensures consistency and fairness across departments and year groups. When expectations are embedded within the MIS system, it reduces ambiguity and supports leaders in monitoring patterns and identifying areas where additional support or coaching may be required. Whilst I appreciate that I have not discussed the granularity of the CPD or the behaviour system, please know that the MIS system works alongside the CPD for staff, and the behaviour system in place. Implementing any process must include staff training and feedback. Feedback is seen as a continuous process (this is the same for any form of school improvement, not just behaviour), as it can always be improved and built upon. Another key consideration is the role of the ‘reflection room’ and the importance of maintaining high-quality work for students who are removed from lessons. Behaviour systems should never compromise learning, and the ‘reflection room’ should be a structured environment where students continue to engage with the curriculum. The MIS system again plays an essential role here, allowing leaders to track which lessons have been missed, what work has been set and whether students are completing it to a high standard. This ensures that behaviour systems remain aligned with the core purpose of schools: learning. Students are held accountable for their behaviour while still accessing the curriculum, and staff can be confident that learning time is not being lost. Needless to say, this does take time to embed, especially if teams are getting used to a new process.
Leading behaviour in this way requires a high level of technical precision. It involves regularly reviewing MIS data, monitoring trends, ensuring notifications are working effectively, checking the consistency of logging and supporting teams in using the system correctly. It is detailed work, often unseen, but it is essential to ensuring that the wider behaviour culture functions smoothly. Without this technical infrastructure, routines become harder to sustain, and consistency becomes difficult to maintain. It also involves training the team to use the data in ways they may not have done previously and to avoid relying on anecdotal evidence or conversations.
It is important to note that this does not replace the importance of visibility or leadership presence. Those elements remain crucial. However, they must be supported by systems that allow leaders to see the bigger picture and respond with clarity and fairness. Behaviour leadership is not only about being present in corridors (although still very important); it is also about ensuring that the technical systems behind the scenes are robust enough to sustain the culture being built. Ultimately, leading behaviour is about creating the conditions where routines work, staff feel supported, and students experience fairness and consistency every day. The MIS system, tracking processes and monitoring structures are not secondary to this work; they are fundamental to it. When behaviour is carefully tracked, monitored transparently, and supported by clear systems and routines, it becomes easier to embed, and the culture becomes stronger. Communication to parents and staff can be automated to support the process and swiftness of action. This process is not only for logging sanctions but also for rewards. The monitoring of how many rewards a student has received over a week, a month and a term, with an overview of what this looks like for the year group. The rewards for students are just as important for the school's culture as they are for creating a sense of alignment between the school's values and, therefore, student actions. Recognition here is just as important as the sanction process.
I write this with my previous work on routines and consistency in mind because the two are inseparable. Routines create the structure, but technical proficiency sustains it. Behaviour systems thrive when both are in place, and leadership in this area requires attention to detail, clarity of thinking and a commitment to ensuring that the infrastructure behind behaviour is as strong as the culture we want to see in our schools. Leading behaviour, therefore, is not just about policy or presence, which are both critically important, but also about ensuring the systems that surround the policy work, allowing every adult in the building to do their job with confidence and clarity. If you are interested in finding out more, I will be speaking about behaviour on the 6th June for researchED Bournemouth.
References and further reading
Running the Room by Tom Bennett
The Behaviour Manual by Sam Strickland
Headstrong 11 lessons in leadership by Dame Sally Coates
Miriam’s previous blog on routines: www.miriamhussain.education/writing/routines