Maidstone and Malling School were facing increasing behavioural problems, with students subsequently denying they had done anything wrong. When attempting to address issues of behaviour it would often come down to the teacher’s word against the child, and the parents would tend to side with their child.

 Deputy Head of Service, Stacie Smith told us they wanted something that showed parents exactly how their child behaved in order to get their backing to address the issue and make a positive difference. The school already had CCTV in the corridors, but a lot of the behaviour was verbal which is not picked up by CCTV. 

We spoke to Stacie about how Calla body cameras are making a difference in their school.

 Q: How have the cameras made a difference?

 "It’s been a breakthrough. The last 4 weeks we’ve had new students come and the cameras have captured really poor behaviour, but the advantage we have now is the children don’t want their parents to see it. So whereas before we would have total denial of any behavioural problems, now they can take control of their own behaviour because they check themselves before they act.

 "In the instances when the child is out of control, video footage is really good for training and helping us to better engage with the student. We can see from the footage what went well and what could have been done differently. These things allow us to better plan for the next time we encounter these situations because we know maybe not take that step forwards towards the student, for example, perhaps instead to walk away.

 "The footage has also been helpful for the students themselves. We’ve had a couple of incidents where a playfight gets out of control and we have had to physically intervene. One of the children involved in a fight was very angry about being touched by a teacher and lost control, but I was able to calm him down so he could look at the footage. I was able to explain to him that if we feel that staff or pupils are at risk of harm we can intervene, and he could see where in the playfight the situation had turned. He could see where his face changed, where his play became full punches, and then he understood why we got involved. He realised his behaviour was out of control, and even openly apologised – we would never have had that before.

 "Parents also benefit from the videos, as before they would often deny the severity of the incident but now we can show them exactly what happened. And this is great for the child because it moves the conversation on from whether or not it happened, to how do we go about changing it and helping them."

 Q: Does the camera save you time?

 "Yes, it does save time. Before we would spend hours trying to establish what happened with a child and teachers but now it cuts all of that out. With the camera we can say with confidence what happened and talk straight about the behaviour instead.

 "Before all members involved would have to write a detailed report, then me or the head would have to read the reports, then ask the child what they thought happened, then we would have to make a decision based on all that information and come up with a suitable punishment. But after all that you would spend another hour in a meeting discussing with a parent whether it happened or not, and the parent would sometimes talk you out of the punishment. So what happens is you don’t actually address the issue. But now with the cameras there is no argument. The reaction from parents has changed from them saying to us “my child wouldn’t do that” to saying to their child “I can’t believe you would do that”."

 Q: Would you recommend Calla?

 "We would recommend using the camera in mainstream schools as they are a valuable training and safeguarding tool. Staff feel they are supported and can use the camera to protect themselves in difficult and vulnerable situations. Furthermore, the presence of the camera changes behaviour and when an incident occurs it is a useful tool to help parents and carers see how their child behaved in school."  

Could body cameras make a difference to your school? Contact us to learn more.

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