Students who are offered NBSS Level 3 support may present with a variety of challenging behaviours, including social skills deficits; low self-esteem; difficult relationships with adults/peers and poor concentration and attention difficulties in most subjects. Many of the students are also persistently at risk of suspension and/or expulsion. The severity of their behaviour in classrooms not only hinders their own educational progress but may also impede that of their peers.

Level 3: intensive individualised support is provided to students in NBSS partner schools:

• By Behaviour for Learning Programme Teacher(s).
• By various school personnel in partnership with NBSS team members.

The Behaviour for Learning Programme aims to explore ways in which an individual teacher, allocated with 22 hours per week, can develop a school ‘Behaviour for Learning Programme’ specifically targeted at students in need of intensive individualised intervention (NBSS Level 3).

Additionally, the Behaviour for Learning Programme teacher facilitates the planning, implementation and evaluation of effective responses to challenging behaviour at small group/class and/or year group level i.e. Level 2: targeted support for some students.

The teacher works with identified students, individually or in small groups on Behaviour for Learning Programmes that are designed to meet their social, emotional, wellbeing and behavioural and academic needs, so they can achieve and succeed in school.

An individual Student Behaviour Plan and targets are developed for each student in receipt of this support.

Rather than responding after young people present with chronic behaviours (‘a wait to fail’ intervention model), a school's  ‘Behaviour for Learning Programme’ also includes preventive strategies and early intervention approaches for all students i.e. NBSS Level 1 support.