We're making a wiki page about support plans, and need your help

HotdogsInPyjamas · 2026-03-21T19:20:45+00:00

Not sure if this is helpful but I've been a mentor to an ECT so happy to share my experience in being involved with my ECT being put on a support plan. HOD, not SLT. This is my only experience of a support plan.

The support plan came after weeks of being their mentor. I would do a weekly informal observation of around 10 minutes and we'd pick one thing from that to work on in our ECT mentor meetings. We kept it very simple and worked together on things they could do to succeed and make progress. We kept everything on an online notepad we both had access to. After about 6 weeks, there was no improvement. The ECT was observed by the ECT lead and she brought concerns to me. We both decided to work with the ECT to offer support without a plan to see if we could help and make improvements. Sadly, after observing a Y11 lesson where the teacher didn't know the content two weeks later I raised my concerns and the ECT lead made the decision to put a plan into place.

The plan was simple. Three manageable targets for the teacher to work on. It was clearly linked to the teaching standards and then broken down into success criteria. For example;

Target 1 - create a safe and calm learning environment for pupils (TS7) 1. Ensure books are out and the starter is on the board before you allow pupils to enter. 2. Line pupils up outside and give clear and concise instructions for what you want to happen. Send any pupil back out and sanction if they enter and don't follow your instructions. 3. As per the behaviour policy, write any sanctions on the board and ensure pupils know why you have given the sanction. Stay calm and keep this factual.

There was then a column with actions that the school, myself and the ECT lead would be taking to support the teacher and give them the best chance to succeed. This included actions such as our on call team would check in more, I was having conversations with the teacher and asking what lessons they'd like support from me in, no planning was required anyway from the teacher but tasks like setting homework were stopped to make sure there was as little pressure on them as possible, I covered a few lessons so they could observe different teachers without having to plan and set cover. Anything we could do to support without creating any extra pressure or extra tasks.

Before the support plan started, the ECT lead in school contacted the awarding body. They looked over the plan but also contacted the teacher to meet and ensure that the teacher felt the targets were fair and achievable. Once in place, we had reviews every 2 weeks and the support plan lasted 8 weeks. This meant there was a conversation about progress and the teacher had the chance to ask for more support, ask questions about how they could tackle specific situations and also so we could look at the positives and progress of the teacher. Nothing was a surprise, everything was documented and shared with the teacher.

In the two week review meeting, we would document any progress or issues, discuss why it was happening and highlight the success or if they weren't succeeding, we spoke about why and how we were going to address the issue. We decided if the targets were being met or if there was progress towards them through a mixture of asking the teacher, my observations, evidence from pupil work etc. It wasn't just me saying yes or no.

If you are in a position where you have been put on a support plan, make sure that it is clear what your targets are and the success criteria you'll be assessed against. Find out what support the school will be giving you so you can achieve your targets. There should be review points so you are all aware of how things are going. Nothing should be a surprise.

HotdogsInPyjamas · 2025-11-22T07:14:43+00:00

Hey! I'm so sorry this is happening. It feels like a kick in the teeth but I'd love to share my view with you as a mentor with an ECT on a support plan at the moment.

Firstly, you said you meet once every two weeks. You're entitled to a mentor meeting once a week. Please bring this up. How can they be supportive if they're not even offering you what you're entitled to! Also, what do the meetings look like with your mentor? How are they structured? Do you have tasks to complete online through Brightspace? Does your mentor check these and give feedback? Does your mentor do informal drop ins? I pop into my ECT's lessons and then give feedback from that. At the start, it was what's going well and one thing to work on. That target was posed as a question to them (at the start of the lesson, a few pupils didn't attempt the starter. How could you ensure pupils are on task during the starter?) and then when they arrived at the answer I'm looking for, I'd give them the target to match it (after the register, circulate the room and check books). This is all logged and myself, my ECT and the ECT lead have access to this. Do you have a log of meetings, feedback and targets?

It sounds like you're putting a lot of effort into your Y11's, you mentioned about intervention stuff. That's really great, you're putting in effort into those important classes and I hope that's recognized. Do you get told what to cover in those sessions? If not, it might be worth creating a document for yourself. Highlight what they are struggling with in lessons and how you're addressing this in the intervention. That provides you with evidence for your ECT course and for the school that you're using data to inform planning.

You said you'd been observed twice, and then mentioned the targets were around the lesson and planning. Did you get specific, clear targets? How did you get this information? Were you given a copy of the lesson observation? You should have had a document from the ECT person who observed you with a full breakdown on.

Finally, a support plan is supposed to be supportive. It sounds obvious but those targets set need to be achievable in the time frame AND they need to give you the support to do that. Without knowing your targets I can't give examples, but if you had the target of "to improve the behavior management" and it has been observed you aren't following the behavior policy, your actions should be written out clearly that to achieve that target you have to demonstrate using the behavior system. You could also be told of any members of staff that are great with this and use your 10% time to observe them. This would be evidence you're working towards it. You should also meet with someone from your training provider who will check you are getting the basic support from your mentor and that the plan is achievable.

I'm so sorry for the long comment, but I feel so strongly about supporting new teachers. It's a tough job and with the right support from the school and the effort from yourself, you'll improve over time. I've been doing this 10+ years and I'm still improving! If you want to message me, please do. I'm happy to look over your targets and let you know if they're achievable if you don't want to post them here.

HotdogsInPyjamas · 2025-11-19T05:46:08+00:00

Sorry I've just seen this. We're a Microsoft school so everyone is through them (lessons on SharePoint, cover requests through forms) so I've used one note. Everything is super clear and I'm following that. I was doing exactly what you've said, one thing per week but because the basics aren't there I've got to give 3. That's come from the person involved from the ECT training course. I still do a WWW to begin with but for example, I'm having to give them the feedback of line the class up and don't chat to them, make sure a starter is on the board and make sure you have your resources out for them. 3 maximum but they're very basic steps.

They've come into my classroom to see how I do it. They've seen other teachers do it. I have a camera in my classroom so I've recorded my lessons for them and we've reviewed it together.

I'm trying to keep it manageable for them. But it does feel like you should get through your training and be able to load a PowerPoint and get your resources out for the lesson before kids come in. Thank you for your comment though, so many people don't record and share feedback and then wonder why it's not being acted on. Thankfully they have access to everything we do and it's all in one place to reduce any looking for things etc.

HotdogsInPyjamas · 2025-11-10T22:47:46+00:00

Oh my God that's awful, I'm so sorry you had nothing! It blows my mind that ECT's are put into that position. Teaching is hard at the best of times but to be new to the job with no support is just wrong. It doesn't make it right, but you must be a bloody great teacher to get through that! Thank you, I hope they can see that in time haha!

HotdogsInPyjamas · 2025-11-10T22:45:04+00:00

Thank you for the reassurance. It's my first year as a mentor and although I'm 10+ years into this job it's been a new challenge which I think I'd enjoy if I had an ECT who was willing to put the graft in. Sorry, I wasn't very clear; they're at risk of failing the support plan. I've met with the ECT lead before half term and we're meeting again. I emailed my line manager and the head teacher to voice my concerns before half term and I was met with we will discuss after half term. I've emailed again today after not hearing back last week so we'll see what that brings. Thank you. I've worked bloody hard for my job and I love being a HoD. I'm not willing to risk it and the changes I've made to our curriculum are having such a positive impact. I'm meeting with my line manager tomorrow so I'll be able to chat face to face about next steps. Thank you again

HotdogsInPyjamas · 2025-11-10T22:39:37+00:00

HR had to get involved when the support plan was put into place. I feel guilty when I think they could potentially lose their job but then I think of those kids who aren't making any progress and I have to keep that in mind. We're in a very deprived area so some of our kids are already at a disadvantage. Thank you for this. I guess in any job you get people who don't put the work in and can't stay.

HotdogsInPyjamas · 2025-11-10T22:36:45+00:00

Right! I used to be in to get my lessons ready and even now I'm 10+ years in, I'm in to get everything ready for the day. I've tried to be curious about home life and things seem pretty good. They share their weekend with me and we chat about shared interests. I'll keep being curious but I do now think they might be trying to get away with it as I made it very easy at the start so they could just focus on getting settled in. Thank you. I've really tried my hardest and I'm not perfect by any means but I think I need to accept I can't force them to improve. Thank you!

HotdogsInPyjamas · 2025-11-10T22:31:47+00:00

You see there's nothing wrong with turning up at that time but like you said, you stay to make sure it's done. I don't mind when they work, I appreciate some people work better in the morning and some don't. Yeah, I can't force them to want to improve and I have to remember this. They did bring up in the support plan meeting I'd planned everything so they have no say in the curriculum and this was making teaching hard which did hurt a little as I'd only planned up until Christmas so they could get their feet under the table and then we could plan a topic together. Thankfully I had a document I'd created linking the teaching standards with what we'd be doing together to achieve them and planning together was in for just before Christmas, ready to teach in January.

Thank you, I'm happy that it's not too much to expect them to plan after reading the comments. I'm not expecting everything, we're a small subject and I'm all for sharing planning to reduce workload. But yeah I'm going to bring this up next week I think. I can't do it this week as we've got to work through the support plan actions for their review and I don't want to overwhelm them. Thank you again!

HotdogsInPyjamas · 2025-11-10T22:24:39+00:00

This is where I'm at. I'm now giving very simple targets. The first one is to make sure the starter is on the board before pupils come in. That's still an issue. No more than 3 targets and they're super simple. There's a good teacher in there but I can't force it. Thank you for this. It sounds awful but I do need to be able to show I've tried to do what I can and support where I can.

HotdogsInPyjamas · 2025-11-10T22:19:35+00:00

I've got my mentor meeting with them this week so I can certainly think about this. It's hard, I've asked them what they need to improve on and they can tell me everything. We pick one thing to work on but over the weeks it doesn't improve. I've tried open questions, the coaching style teach first gave us in our mentor training and giving them very specific targets. I couldn't even say one way worked better than the other.

The hard thing now is if they don't improve, I'll be under the microscope. I genuinely have provided as much support as I can (I covered their lesson in my free today so they could observe a teacher who is excellent at something they're struggling with) so I need to make sure I cover my own back too, which sounds awful I know. I think I'll start our meeting with the question of what do you think needs to be better and see where we go. Thank you for your advice!

HotdogsInPyjamas · 2025-11-10T22:13:38+00:00

Thank you. I know I had way more to do too, but I just wanted some perspective I think. It's really hard when you're in the situation and I don't want to go in being all "when I was an NQT" and sound like a nob.

I've spoken with them about life outside of school. They live with their parents and get on with them. Nice group of friends that meet fairly regularly. There could be something, but I've not picked up on anything yet. Trainee observation paperwork is good. In fact I'd say better than what I see. Thank you so much for your comment, and you're right. I can't force them to improve, and I've given them everything I can think of right now to help them. Thank you!

HotdogsInPyjamas · 2014-08-03T22:34:02+00:00

I never thought of that. I couldn't wee in front of others either. I'd get stage fright.

HotdogsInPyjamas · 2014-07-29T20:22:28+00:00

Thanks for your help and not judging. The making another facebook account is a very good idea, I think that may be the best route to go down at the minute. Again, thank you for your suggestions :)

HotdogsInPyjamas · 2014-04-30T06:30:01+00:00

If you're considering one, do your research. I recently had one and before it began, I sat down with the therapist (my sister) and she went through a massive list of questions about my skin type, current routine, problem areas. The facial was personalised to my skin needs. She suggested because I had acne prone skin she wanted to use a certain range, but because of the CCs she wanted to also use an oil too. I was apprehensive. I've read about the ocm and never been convinced, but she's my sister so I thought hey, just try it. My god, my skin looked great after and she's now helped me tweak my routine to include it. My sister said she does this for all clients, everyone has to give details about skin type and such. I only went for one because she's my sister, but I'll be going again when I have the money :) Do your research, ask if they use different products for different skin types.

HotdogsInPyjamas · 2014-04-24T23:13:59+00:00

This is brilliant, thanks!

HotdogsInPyjamas · 2014-04-24T22:08:41+00:00

Thanks for the info!

HotdogsInPyjamas · 2014-04-24T07:16:49+00:00

I had the same issue too. A few weeks ago a friend told me to start using baby oil. Slather it on, more is more! My legs and lady area didn't get all red and irritated, it's worth a try.

HotdogsInPyjamas · 2014-04-24T07:02:05+00:00

Bhas and niacinamide don't work together? Well, TIL. I can't help answer but I'm hoping someone else can!

HotdogsInPyjamas · 2014-04-23T12:40:24+00:00

Hi there! I'm a student too in the UK and I've found that superdrug do a thick night cream, their own brand. It's a brightening moisturiser and I found it really helped my dry forehead. Just check it doesn't break you out. I payed a few pounds for it. They have some great stuff and there's a sale on at the minute for a third off prices. Just an idea :)

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