Heathland School: Using Early Insight to Build Belonging
The Challenge
For Harry Allen, Head of Year 7 at The Heathland School in Hounslow, the start of each academic year used to mean one thing. Uncertainty.
Pupils arrived from multiple primaries with limited information beyond academic results. For some, the story was even more concerning: persistent absence, poor punctuality, or comments sent over via email or in spreadsheets like “doesn’t enjoy school.”
“You’d see things like ‘truant from school’ or ‘doesn’t enjoy school for this reason or that reason’, but without the context it was hard for us to know how to help,” explains Harry.
The result was a cycle of reactive interventions. Tutor groups were having to be restructured weeks into term, pupils moved around due to personality clashes or unmet needs, and anxious students were struggling to settle.
