Achieve your personal best
Pupils We Will
* Motivate and Challenge you through a curriculum that is geared to your individual
needs and is enriched through the performing arts, sport and work–related learning.
* Empower you to express your views, make choices and develop interests. Listen to what
you want to learn and support you in making decisions about your future.
* Equip you to take your place in society through helping you learn life skills, work with your
peers in Queensbridge and other schools and apply skills in real life and community
settings.
* Celebrate your achievements in a climate in which you feel secure,
have fun, enjoy friendships and are supported in learning to relate to others.
PARENTS AND CARERS WE WILL
* Value your unique knowledge of your youngster, Listen to you about their needs at home
and your ideas for learning targets and Involve you closely in planning for their future.
STAFF WE WILL
* Value you, whatever your role, as being our most valuable asset and resource and
through whom all of the above aims can be achieved.
* Support you to achieve the standards of education and care that our pupils deserve
WE ARE ALSO COMMITTED TO
* Building effective multi-agency partnerships with all professionals who can help
our pupils.
* Involving and listening to our critical friends including our governors, partner schools
and OFSTED
If you wish to know more please telephone me and I will be pleased to talk to you personally, show you around the school and introduce you to all the staff.
Keith Youngson (Head Teacher)
Staff Guidance
Stay calm and controlled – never act in haste or anger
Always reward and shape positive behaviour
Offer the pupil a way out of the situation use short clear phrases/ symbols
Always avoid exacerbating a difficult situation and be aware of your own triggers
Act on individual pupil policies. These approach behaviour as an integral part of that pupil’s learning – if you don’t know a student well – get someone who does
Physical intervention should only be used when it is in the pupil’s best interests and must be for the minimum time and with the minimum force necessary
Make early calls for help particularly from staff who are likely to help the pupil to defuse their behaviour
Work as a team – Decide who is leading and back them
Use the “Do you want help ?” and “I am going to help you” protocols” to support colleagues
If not directly involved support by acting as an observer or cover gaps
Always take time-out following a stressful situation/incident and encourage colleagues to do the same.
Record Incidents consistently using Sleuth and a white Challenging Behaviour Incident report or a Frequently Occurring Behaviours form
If injured – complete a pink Assault Form or a Yellow Accident form as appropriate. NB Assault includes any verbal or physical abuse resulting from a person’s behaviour.
Always inform parents of any incident that is unusual, that involves physical restraint or use of a safe room and make advice available to parents experiencing behavioural difficulties at home
Behaviour and Discipline Policy
Principles :
Most of the time our pupils behave positively – take opportunities to praise this.
We manage behaviour corporately, regardless of the class a pupil is in.
We use Team Teach and our policy on recording, reporting and analysing behavioural incidents as a framework to uphold high standards of behaviour management, to keep pupils and staff safe and to protect staff from allegations of abuse. It is our duty to work to this framework and we put ourselves and pupils at risk if we do not.
Behaviour and Discipline Policy
Challenging Behaviour
We are proud of the generally high standard of our pupils’ behaviour and use personally appropriate praise to promote learning in this vital area.
Social behaviour is a vital area of learning for our pupils and is informed by
· School rules drawn up in partnership with our Student Council
· Individual Education Plan targets agreed with pupils and their parents and carers.
· Individual Risk Assessments – reviewed each term by class staff
· The PATHS (Promoting Alternative thinking Skills) programme for teaching emotional awareness and self-regulation
· Break Time Guidance – which are regularly updated and intended to support safe arrangements for breaks
· Support from staff who expertise in pupils who have autistic spectrum condition and social and emotional aspects of learning.
· Support form other professional including our educational psychologist, and community nurses from CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service)
We also experience a range of challenging behaviours of varying severity
Challenging behaviour can be any behaviour that prevents the pupil or others from meaningful and safe engagement in activities or learning.
It includes minor physical aggression, verbal aggression, destruction of property or work , intrusive or repeated noise or actions and preventing the engagement of others in activities
These behaviours may arise from the characteristics of a pupil’s clinical syndrome e.g. narrow interests that impinge on others in the case of a pupil who has autistic spectrum disorder. They may be due to delayed development of social and interpersonal skills or result from emotional difficulties. They may also fall in the spectrum of behaviour seen in other young people. Due to the wide range of causes of challenging behaviour, our expectations and response to it need to vary from pupil to pupil. However, this approach should be applied consistently to the individual.
Typically these behaviours are successfully managed in the classroom using a range of strategies such as distraction, reinforcing positive behaviour through praise or activities (we do not use food as a reward as this is generally not in the interest of pupils’ health), withdrawal of privileges, reparations or a verbal reprimand.
Strategies used should not involve a whole group for the action of an individual, be degrading or humiliating, beyond the comprehension of the pupil or be disproportionate to the offence. They should be based on our Staff Conduct Policy.
It is important for us to freely communicate our perceptions of these behaviours within our class teams and departments. In doing so we recognise that we all have our own individual emotional responses to certain behaviours. Working as an effective team means ensuring that there are times when we deploy ourselves to those pupils with whose behaviour we feel equipped to engage, whilst working over the longer term to be able to widen the staff team who work successfully with each pupil.
It is also important to discuss pupils’ challenging behaviours with their parents or carers. We do so emphasising that this is an important area of learning in which we are looking to build a home-school partnership.
If a pupil displays challenging behaviour that concerns us and is not part of any previous pattern it should be recorded using a Challenging Behaviour Incident Report (FH 1). If the behaviour reoccurs and becomes an issue in terms of it’s effect on the pupil concerned, or on others, an Individual Behaviour Plan (FH 4) form should be drafted in consultation with a member of the Senior Management Team. It should then be discussed with parents and sent home for them to countersign it, if they are in agreement. The completed protocol is then circulated to all relevant staff.
When challenging behaviour is a growing concern, it is important to record it. Records of Frequently Occuring Behaviour (FH 2), enable staff to spot patterns and trends in behaviours and to monitor the impact of any protocol or strategies.
If it becomes increasingly difficult to manage a pupil’s behaviour or it becomes difficult to balance this with the needs of the rest of the class the class teacher should share this issue with the leadership group who will advise on any organisational support that can be offered to help manage the situation
Severely Challenging Behaviour
This is defined as "Behaviour of such intensity, frequency or duration that the physical safety of the person or others is placed in serious jeopardy or behaviour which is likely to seriously limit or deny access to the use of community facilities. Ordinarily, it would be expected that the person would have shown the pattern of behaviour that presents such a challenge to services for a considerable period of time. Severely challenging behaviour is not a transient phenomenon." Emerson et al (1993)
Developing an approach to severely challenging behaviour requires close co-operation with parents, liaison with the leadership group and the advice of other agencies. These may include the Educational Psychologist, Community Nurse, Social Worker or Community Health Behavioural Team.
Any Individual Behaviour Plan (FH 4) should be based on least restrictive practice and minimum force for the shortest time and should be countersigned by parents who should then receive feedback on their child’s behaviour at an agreed interval.
Organisational arrangements should be based on a Risk Assessment. They might include that staff and pupils, who are in regular contact with these behaviours, should experience some respite from them and that additional support is available at times of day when incidents are likely. Further guidance on Risk assessment will be added to this policy shortly.
Using Restrictive Physical Interventions with pupils exhibiting severely challenging behaviour
Restrictive Physical Interventions, as distinct from physical prompting, supporting and day-to-day management, of a pupil may be necessitated in exceptional circumstances.
The use of Restrictive Physical Interventions should follow the TEAM TEACH training guidelines and techniques. Interventions should be applied according to the situation but be demonstrably on a scale of increasing and fading intensity – responding to the pupil’s behaviours and fading intervention as early as possible.
Always: Start by trying to defuse behaviour
Change the setting conditions in preference to intervening physically
Acceptable circumstances for intervention would be:
In the context of a written individual intervention policy or in situations of
- physical danger to the individual or to others or
- extreme and dangerous behaviour towards property.
In situations of violence, the "audience effect" should be minimised. The individual or the other pupils should be removed from the situation as quickly and discretely as possible.
Restrictive Physical Intervention must not be used when there is only one adult present.
If restrictive physical intervention is used, the principle of Minimum Force for the Shortest Time must be applied.
A pupil should be restrained by at least two people, using the least force possible to safely hold the pupil in a restraining position.
A third person should be present and available as an observer and to assist in any way necessary.
Restrictive Physical Interventions should not be applied aggressively or as an emotional response, but should be calm, secure and non-aversive in their application.
There must always be a de-brief with the pupil and, at the end of the day, a de-brief involving all staff involved together with a member of the leadership group.
Pupil's parents/guardian should be notified on the same day if Restrictive Physical Intervention was used unless a different frequency of reporting to them appears in the pupil’s Individual Behaviour Plan.
Staff who feel unable to cope with involvement in physical restraint have the right to opt out.
A Severely Challenging Behaviour Incident Report (FH 3) must always be completed and passed to the headteacher or in his absence a member of the leadership group, within 24 hours of the incident.
Injuries to pupils:
These should receive emergency aid as soon as possible. Parents should be informed of any such injuries on the day on which they occur including an honest account of how they occurred. We do not name the person responsible for the injury.
Staff may ask the Senior Management Team member in charge to contact parents.
Pupil injuries should be recorded on the day on which they occur on a yellow Accident Report Form LCA 104 and this should be handed to the headteacher.
Staff injured by a pupil:
Injured staff should withdraw from an incident using the Help Protocol and receive emergency aid. Staff should record injuries on a pink Assault/Incident Report (AS 96) on the day of the injury and this should be handed to the headteacher.
Staff involved in restrictive physical interventions, assault, abuse or other similarly stressful situations should leave the class group for a time of respite and recovery and be de-briefed by a chosen colleague. If this is not a member of the senior management team, information regarding the individual’s well-being should be passed on to a member of the senior management team.
After particularly stressful incidents staff will be offered the option of going home or staying in school but away from pupils. Victims of such an incident should be contacted next day to ensure opportunity to communicate their physical and emotional state – ensuring readiness to return to work is agreed.
In these circumstances staff should receive a de-brief interview and their views are recorded on the Severely Challenging Behaviour Incident Report (FH 3).
Analysis of Behavioural Incidents:
All Behavioural incidents recorded on SLEUTH or on paper based records are reviewed each week by one of our Team Teach trainers and are then reported to the headteacher. Where severely challenging behaviour occurs or trends in a pupil’s behaviour are detected these are followed up with their class team and action in terms of training for staff or changes to an individual behaviour plan or risk assessment are implemented.
Seclusion/Isolation Rooms:
According to Department of Education Guidance, schools can adopt a policy which allows disruptive pupils to be placed in an area away from other pupils for a limited period, in what are often referred to as ‘seclusion’ or ‘isolation’ rooms. A punishment of this magnitude must be proportionate in determining whether a punishment is reasonable, section 91 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 says the penalty must be reasonable in all circumstances and that account must be taken of the pupil’s age, any special educational need or disability they may have, and any religious requirement affecting them.