MOSMAN PARK SCHOOLS

MOSMANPARKPRIMARY SCHOOL

SCHOOL FOR DEAF CHILDREN

BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT

POLICY AND PROCEDURES

2011

The shared focus for MosmanParkPrimary School and School for Deaf Children is to provide an inclusive learning environment that is welcoming, supportive and safe. This policy is based on the central belief that the whole school community must respect all children’s rights to learn without disruption and to play safely and securely as defined in the National Safe Schools Framework.

The scope of this policy extends to all students, parents and staff, as well as visitors, volunteers and all who form part of the school community, whether on an occasional or a continuing basis. It covers everyone and everyone is expected to contribute to and support the intent of this policy.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

  • There will be whole-school understanding of this policy and its related procedures
  • The policy will encompass the needs of all students from both schools
  • The procedures will be applied consistently by all parties
  • Clear, concise information will be provided in formats appropriate to the ages and needs of all our students
  • All staff will be involved in the management of student behaviour as well as in providing consequences for inappropriate behaviour.
  • The management of student behaviour in accordance with this policy encompasses: classroom/learning environments, break times and play areas, immediately before and immediately after school, excursions and incursions.
  • Staff members will be provided with the expertise they need to manage behaviour effectively, whether through in-school mentoring or formal professional development.
  • Expectations for courtesy and fair dealings apply equally to all interactions between adults and children in the school.
  • There is recognition that the principle of equity is concerned not with treating everyone exactly the same way, but in a way which takes into account the needs of all parties.
  • Considerations of confidentiality and respect will at all times determine the extent to which information about children and families is shared.
  • All staff and students will be informed about the guidelines and procedures of this policy, and there will be an induction process as new staff members join the school.
  • All staff will be taught basic Auslan signs, such as “Wait; Stop that, Come here,“ etc

WHOLE SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT

Every member of the school contributes to creating a positive school environment. This will be seen through a commitment to such things as:

  • Students and adults greeting each other courteously
  • Promoting and supporting the wearing of correct school uniform for students and appropriate dress code for adults
  • Contributing to the care of the school buildings and environs
  • Sharing the duty of care for all students at all times
  • Having a commitment to fair and full communication
  • Respecting personal professional boundaries
  • Demonstrating loyalty to and pride of MPPS/MPSDC
CODE OF CONDUCT

All members of the school community should treat others with respect and courtesy at all times.

In addition:

  • Students are expected to comply with the following agreed whole school rules
  • Students will obtain permission prior to leaving the school grounds (contact by parent/caregiver)
  • Students will not engage in violence, bullying or harassment
  • Students will use appropriate language
  • Students will comply with instructions given by staff; and
  • Students will walk on verandahs and ramps within the school building
  • Students are expected to comply with agreed classroom rules
  • Staff are expected to adhere to the Staff Conduct Policy
  • Parents and other members of the school community are required to comply with the Visitors on School Premises Policy

RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY

All members of the school community have rights and responsibilities to self and others.

MEMBERS / RIGHTS / RESPONSIBILITIES
All students, teachers, parents, wider school community. /
  • Are safe and supported in the school environment; and
  • are treated with respect.
/
  • Establish positive relationships; and
  • Respect and accept individual differences

Administrators /
  • Are supported in developing and implementing the school’s plan to effectively manage behaviour and to prevent bullying.
/
  • Provide leadership in resourcing the school’s effective management of behaviour and prevention of bullying;
  • implement the school plan;
  • ensure parents are informed of the school plan; and
  • support staff to implement the school’s plan.

Staff /
  • Feel safe and supported in the workplace;
  • access to curriculum resources suitable for supporting students in building positive relationships, resiliency, safety and bullying prevention;
  • are informed of the school’s plan on bullying;
  • are treated with respect in the workplace; and
  • access to professional learning in preventing and effectively managing bullying.
/
  • Promote and model positive relationships;
  • participate in implementing the school plan to manage student behaviour and to counter bullying;
  • identify and respond to bullying incidents;
  • teach students how to treat other with care and respect;
  • teach students how to respond effectively to bullying;
  • promote social problem solving with students; and
  • respect and accept individual differences.

Students /
  • Access to curriculum that supports the building of resiliency;
  • are informed of the school’s Behaviour Management Plan and plan for the prevention and management of bullying; and
  • if involved, are provided with support to stop bullying.
/
  • Treat others with care and respect; and
  • identify and respond effectively to bullying.

Parents /
  • Expect children to be safe and provided with a supportive school environment and treated with respect; and
  • are provided with access to information on the prevention and response strategies related to bullying.
/
  • Support and encourage children to treat others with respect and act in accordance with the school plan if they observe bullying;
  • encourage children to report bullying incidents; and
  • are aware of school plans and support school in effectively managing bullying.

Wider community: including other professionals /
  • Strategic inclusion in prevention and bullying incident management.
/
  • Provide support and input into the school’s approach to preventing and managing bullying.

PREVENTING AND MANAGING BULLYING

Members of the school community have the right to expect that schools are a safe and supportive learning environment (National Safe Schools Framework). For this to occur all school community members have a responsibility to prevent and respond to reports and observations of bullying. A Preventing and Managing Bullying Planhas been developed collaboratively by the school community and is implemented in conjunction with this document.

WHAT IS BULLYING?

Bullying is when an individual or group misuses power to target another individual or group to intentionally threaten or harm them on more than one occasion. This may involve verbal, physical, relational and psychological forms of bullying.

PREVENTION OF BULLYING

Mosman Park Schools are proactively involved in the development and ongoing implementation of strategies which will support the prevention of bullying.These include:

  • Whole school strategies
  • Implementation of You Can Do It! Program across all year levels
  • Participation in targeted incursions and excursions (eg Bully No More!)
  • Shared leadership with a focus on whole school pastoral care
  • Close collaboration with parents and the wider community on bullying
  • Active staff engagement and commitment to keeping our workplace free of bullying and harassment
  • The provision of incentives to students for developing and maintaining appropriate behaviour
  • Targeted early intervention strategies
  • Identification of cohorts of student vulnerable to bullying and implementation of targeted support
  • Provision of access to specialist/pastoral care staff (including Chaplain, AIEO, school psychologist, LSC) for students who are at risk of being bullied or bullying
  • Proactive approach to repairing and rebuilding trust and relationships between identified students

INTERVENTION FOR BULLYING INCIDENTS

Bullying is a serious issue and reported incidents will be dealt with accordingly. At Mosman Park Schools we are committed to effectively managing bullying through practices that resolve conflict, restore relationships and promote tolerance. Our intention is to implement practices that are restorative and solution-focused in their nature.

The intervention process utilised by our school is based on the Method of Shared Concern(adapted from the Bully. No Way! Program). This method enables the teacher to establish shared concerns and encourage shared solutions to the problem. It includes initial individual meetings with perpetrators as well as a final meeting of all parties.

  1. Gather preliminary information to understand the problem
  2. Meet each of the perpetrators individually to encourage acknowledgement of the situation and to develop constructive responses and a plan to change the behaviour
  3. Meet the person being bullied or harassed
  4. Meet perpetrators individually to review progress of their agreement
  5. Following positive signs of change, hold a meeting of all perpetrators to reinforce the changes made and prepare for the next meeting
  6. Hold a final combined meeting of all involved as a public demonstration that the behaviours have ceased.

Instead of “bullying the bullies” this strategy establishes shared concerns and shared solutions to reconcile differences and encourage more equitable behaviour.

WHOLESCHOOL PRACTICES
  • Students with difficulties interacting with others (including bullying) will receive targeted coaching in social skills.
  • Teachers will devise Individual Behaviour Management Plans for students with continuing and/or extreme behavioural problems. These will be formulated in consultation with others such as Education Assistants, School Psychologist and families.
  • 5 minutes is to be set aside at each communication meeting to: inform each other of new IBMPs; update each other on progress, and inform each other when an IBMP is to be discontinued.
  • Staff will receive PD in the structure and formulation of IBMPs.
  • Social skills programs will be incorporated into classroom curricula in the “You Can Do It” program.
  • Early childhood classrooms will use “free play” sessions as a monitored opportunity to model and practise appropriate play skills.
  • In-house assemblies are to be an opportunity to remind students of procedures and rules and recognise students who have been noted in the duty files for exemplary behaviours.
  • Copies of behaviour rules and guidelines in accordance with this policy will be prepared for students.
  • It will be general practice for adults to discuss reasons when giving consequences for unwanted behaviour, and these reasons should relate to a specific item in the rules and guidelines.
  • A copy of these guidelines and procedures will be placed in the relief teachers’ files, pre-service teacher file and included in the induction package and process.

PLAYGROUND DUTY

  • The duty roster will be formulated to ensure that one ‘signing’ staff member is on duty at all times.
  • A ‘signing’ staff member must be present if a consequence for unwanted behaviour is to be given to a ‘signing’ student.
  • A duty file is to be taken by each duty adult; the file to contain proforma for recording rule breaches as well as notable good behaviour.
  • These records will be monitored by administration and followed up where necessary.
  • Some structured activities are to be provided and could involve staff and/or volunteers, as well as the existing “buddy” system whereby senior students could set up games and equipment for younger students when required.
  • No equipment will be used at lunchtime until second bell.
  • Trained Special Needs Assistants will be utilised in the playground in accordance with their certified agreement.
  • The “No Hat, No Play” policy should be consistently enacted.

PLAYGROUND AREAS

  • Pre-Primary and Year One students use the lower Eastern play area
  • Years 2 and 3 children use the lower Western area
  • Years 4 – 7 use the oval, including the play equipment near the Alf Adams pavilion

Three adults are on duty at all break times, with all staff included on the roster in accordance with their work fraction.

PLAYGROUND STRATEGIES

  • Code of conduct and school rules will apply.
  • Encourage students to be involved in organised lunchtime activities.
  • Behaviour incidents require a least intrusive, to most intrusive approach ie. attempt to resolve issue in a low key manner.

separation of students

counselling

rule reminder

isolation in playground

confiscate equipment

  • Refer serious issues to administration.
CLASSROOM LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

It is important for teachers to provide recognition for participation, progress and achievement through identifying and affirming student strengths in both academic and non-academic areas. Teachers should therefore develop individual classroom behaviour management plans that reflect these principles and support the procedures contained in this policy.

All staff should:

  • Establish and maintain positive classroom environments
  • Establish and maintain positive relationships with families
  • Work with students to establish classroom rules and consequences which are in accordance with this policy and plan
  • Display classroom rules and consequences in an appropriate format and where they are clearly visible
  • Consistently refer to these rules
  • State expectations frequently, entering into verbal contracts (whole-class or individual) prior to sessions as necessary

In the case of unwanted classroom behaviours, staff will progress through the following process:

  • Engage low-level interventions, such as proximity, lengthened gaze, pause in speech etc
  • Warning – Rule Reminder
  • CONSEQUENCE Level 1 - Place the students name on the board
  • Remind the student of which class rule they are breaching and why that is a problem
  • Continued misbehaviour – CONSEQUENCE Level 2 – x beside name
  • Continued misbehaviour – CONSEQUENCE Level 3 – xx beside name - Student is sent to the ‘Buddy Class’ until the end of the session (Years PP – 3 complete “STOP THINK DO” sheet and Years 4 – 7 complete “TIME OUT CLASS” sheet). Sheet to be filed by Classroom Teacher along with details of the misbehaviour.
  • Report to administration staff after three“Buddy Class” isolations for the same student.
  • Conduct a student interview
  • Contact family by note or phone call to advise them
  • Discuss need for IBMP

MAJOR OFFENCES

CLASSROOM OR PLAYGROUND

  • For major incidents (including threatening behaviour, damage to property, verbal or physical abuse) the staff member should issue a pink slip The staff member should send the child (or send another staff member or trusted student with the slip) to the administration member whose name is posted in the staff room, as the pink slip person for that day.
  • The student will be removed to an administration area, which is safe, private and non-stimulating.
  • Refer to IBMP if one exists
  • Wait until student is calm
  • Contact family immediately; consider asking student to call parents and explain
  • Conduct a student interview
  • Institute agreed consequence – refer to Appendices to Department of Education and Training “Behaviour Management in Schools” policy for guidelines concerning suspension and exclusion
  • Record in School Information system (SIS)
  • Plan an IBMP if not already in effect
  • Discuss incident/debrief with administration
STUDENT INTERVIEWS

The purpose of a student interview should be:

  • To allow the student to give his/her “story”
  • To investigate any possible relevant causes for the behaviour
  • To give the student the opportunity to reflect on and appreciate the effects of his/her behaviour
  • To discuss and communicate a natural consequence for their behaviour
  • To inform the student of the intention to contact parents and/or formulate an IBMP, if applicable
  • To obtain a verbal contract for future behaviour

Student interviews should be conducted in private and when all parties are calm. Polite and respectful dealings are expected from all parties. Teachers may ask for a colleague/administration member to be present if they wish. A record of the interview should always be made.

CONSEQUENCES

Consequences for unwanted behaviour should follow the principle of natural consequences as far as possible. If a student has been sent to administration via the pink slip process for rough play, the administration will restrict play activities for a specified time. At all times, explain the consequence and how it is linked to the unwanted behaviour. With older children, involve them in deciding what consequences they will experience should their behaviour continue – this is especially important if formulating an IBMP. This will help them to see the links between behaviour and consequences and build a sense of themselves, not you, determining what happens to them. A child displaying slightly inappropriate behaviour will spend timeout sitting under the “fig” tree.

At all times ensure that:

  • You are giving the same consequence to all students for all rule breaches
  • Students persisting with the same behaviour are referred to the Administration

CONFIDENTIALITY

  • Confidentiality is a promise to the student not to pass on records or information they tell you without their consent. Information may be discussed for professional purposes with persons clearly concerned with the case. All school records are confidential and cannot be given to the general public.
  • The issue of confidentiality may have different implications for other agencies and the Education Department employees should respect this when dealing with them. It is necessary to find out the other agencies confidentiality protocols and policy.
  • All non-teaching personnel – teacher assistants, etc. should be made aware of their need for confidentiality in talking about particular children’s cases.
  • Note that under the Freedom of Information Act, parents are able to access any files or notes concerning their child. Consideration must be given before sensitive or confidential information is recorded.
Teacher’s Duty of Disclosure
  • Should a student disclose something to you and you feel they are in danger or risk of harm, confidentiality is overridden and you have a duty of care (known as your duty of disclosure) to follow procedures as outlined in the ‘Child Abuse and Neglect Information Kit’ E.D.W.A. 1994. Refer to School Policy (classroom Administration File) – ‘Identification and Notification of Child Abuse and Neglect’.
  • Note the concept of the ‘mature minor' that recognises the right of the child to act independently of the parent. Children under the age of 13 would not generally be regarded as having this degree of maturity.
SUSPENSION AND EXCLUSION

When all efforts to contain the behaviours of a disruptive student have failed, the Principal is authorised to exercise one of the following options.