BEHAVIOUR POLICY
St Thomas More’s Catholic Primary School
The Mission of St Thomas More’s School is to educate and inspire every child to fulfil their unique giftedness within a loving Catholic community
Governor’s Statement of Principles of Behaviour
1. We aim to be a loving Catholic community, working together to inspire and empower everyone in our school to achieve their full potential whatever their religion, race, gender, class or abilities.
2. Good thoughtful behaviour is essential to the fulfilment of this aim.
3. Good thoughtful behaviour promotes effective learning. Effective teaching and learning promote good thoughtful behaviour.
4. The importance of self-esteem and self-discipline is crucial to promoting good thoughtful behaviour.
5. We believe in respect for each other, the school and the wider community.
6. Everyone in the community has equal rights, and with these rights come responsibilities.
7. Children, parents, carers, staff and governors are involved in establishing and maintaining good thoughtful behaviour and providing positive role models.
8. We value the principles of equal opportunities and cultural diversity. We do not tolerate bullying, violence, racism, sexism, bad language, swearing or any form of discrimination.
9. We have a clear system of rewards and sanctions which are applied consistently and fairly.
10. We support those children with emotional and behavioural needs to enable them to be educated with their peers wherever possible. An inclusive community enables all children to be treated with justice.
11. We endorse the school’s behaviour policy and undertake to monitor its effectiveness and to support staff in its implementation.
RATIONALE
We derive the Behaviour Policy from our Principles of Behaviour and Mission Statement.
We seek to create an environment that truly reflects the teaching of Christ, laying the foundations for a living faith, according to our Catholic tradition. We encourage an atmosphere in which each individual is treated with understanding and respect and is helped to develop his/her full potential and thus grow within a happy, disciplined and secure environment. We acknowledge the partnership that is needed between parents, carers, staff and children for this policy to succeed.
AIMS
1. to enable every child to be a good citizen.
2. all members of the school community feel valued and have the right to be treated fairly and with courtesy and respect.
3. all members of the school community are to be actively involved in rewarding positive behaviour and modifying undesirable behaviour.
4. all our staff promote behaviour that reflects the high expectations throughout the school community
5. the quality of teaching and learning is maintained at a high standard in order to promote a good standard of behaviour.
OBJECTIVES
1. to establish a code of behaviour decided by staff and children, and agreed with parents.
2. to deal promptly and effectively with bullying.
3. to establish an inclusive atmosphere in the classroom enabling all children to learn. In addition through our Nurture Group, to provide inclusive, early intervention for children with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties.
4. to encourage the children to support each other in every way.
5. to expect everyone to speak and listen politely to each other.
6. to create a welcoming learning environment where high standards can be achieved.
7. to expect the children to behave, both in and outside school, in a way which reflects the ethos of the school.
8. to promote responsible behaviour and self-discipline.
9. to celebrate pupils’ positive achievements and successes both in and out of school.
10. to promote parental participation in school life in order to encourage a feeling of trust and support.
OUTSIDE AGENCY SUPPORT
The school where necessary will seek the support of outside agencies such as
- The Locality Team through a CAF referral
- Children and Adult services
- The Education Psychology Service (SENCo Circle support involvement)
- GP and School Nurse
- The Behaviour Support Team
- Outreach Support from Waterloo, Prospect and Riverside schools
- Child and Family Therapy
MONITORING
This policy to be monitored through
1) Annual monitoring of behaviour targets set and achieved
2) Looking at patterns of behaviour recorded in the behaviour diaries
3) Reporting back to Governors on 1 and 2 through minutes of meetings
4) Teachers recording and notifying parents of detentions as they occur
See Guidelines:
1. School rules
2. Rewards and Sanctions
3. Rewards and Sanctions for After School Club (ASC)
4. Appendix One – Partner classes
5. Appendix Two –Strategies
6. Appendix Three – Referral form for support
Agreed at Admissions and Pastoral Committee: November 2012
Agreed at Governing Body: December 2012
Review Bi-annual
Review date: January 2014
BEHAVIOUR POLICY GUIDELINES
St Thomas More's Catholic Primary School
OUR SCHOOL RULES
These rules have been put together by the staff, parents, carers, and children.
ü We respect others’ rights
ü We accept our responsibilities
ü We are gentle
ü We are kind and helpful
ü We work hard
ü We look after property
ü We listen to people
ü We are honest
Our school rules will be posted in the classrooms and around school.
We reward those children who keep our school rules.
If the school rules are broken, a system of sanctions will be put into operation.
Behaviour Policy
PROCEDURES FOR Positive Behaviour Management
Good behaviour should always be encouraged and it is important that all children who are well behaved should have some form of recognition.
Reward system: For Behaviour in class
FS2/Y1:-
Zone board: All children start the day with their names on the happy face.
Other rewards:
1. stickers/stamps on cards for good work or behaviour.
2. Stickers are added to house points so that FS2 ,Y1 and Y2 children may contribute to the success of their “school house”.
3. Special award card after the completion of more than one card (each year group to designate the number required).
Y2:
Zone board: All children start the day with their names in the green zone.
For exceptional behaviour or effort the child’s name can be moved to silver and then finally to gold.
At the end of the day if the child’s name is in green they will be awarded one sticker.
If they are in silver then 2 stickers will be awarded.
If they are in gold then 3 stickers will be awarded.
Y3/Y4/Y5/Y6:
Zone board: All children start the day with their names in the green zone. (See also sanctions)
For exceptional behaviour or effort the child’s name can be moved to silver and then finally to gold.
At the end of the day if the child’s name is in green they will be awarded one house point.
If they are in silver then 3 house points will be awarded.
If they are in gold then 5 house points will be awarded.
v house points awarded for good work or behaviour. A House Cup is awarded to the winning house at the end of term
Whole school:-
1. Individual certificates for particular achievement to be celebrated at the Friday assembly
2. Certificates relating to Respect, Responsibility and Independence to be presented and celebrated at the Friday assembly.
3. Outside Achievements – we recognise that children work hard outside school hours. Any awards gained will be celebrated during whole school assemblies
4. Golden time – All children start the week with 20 minutes
Class:- These rewards may differ from class to class
1. Class awards – such as pebbles in a jar
2. Smiley face or stickers and stars
3. Praise Pads
4. Star of the day
PROCEDURES FOR SANCTIONS
Although the emphasis is on positive behaviour management, it is acknowledged that there are times when inappropriate or unacceptable behaviour needs to be dealt with. If a child chooses to break our School Rules, a system of sanctions will be triggered which will encourage the child to reflect upon his/her behaviour and how amends could be made. This process should enable the child to experience reconciliation and a fresh beginning. The inappropriate behaviour will also be targeted through the use of an Individual Behaviour Plan (IBP) or Individual Education Plan (IEP). Child-friendly IEPs can be used to involve the children in setting their targets.
The following procedures are broken down into those dealing with behaviour that is disruptive to the learning and those that have an impact on play.
Procedures for Persistent Low Level disruption:
ü Planned ignoring of attention seeking behaviour
ü Non-verbal expression of disapproval
ü Verbal warning with explanation of why this behaviour is unacceptable (reference to school rules)
ü Loss of Golden time
ü Loss of part or whole of playtime – parents to be informed about this
ü Isolation within the class where possible
ü Children whose behaviour is persistently unacceptable may be excluded (internally initially) or sent to work in partner classroom
Use of zone board for sanctions:
FS2:
All children start the day on the smiley face.
A move down means, ‘You need to be careful’
A second move means, ‘Oh dear!’ and the child will lose 1 minute of their discovery time for that day.
Y1:
All children start the day on the smiley face.
A warning is given and the child’s name moves to the sad face.
A second warning means that 1 minute of golden time is lost.
Y2/Y3/4/5/6:
First warning – child’s name is moved to amber and 1 golden minute is lost.
Second warning – child’s name is moved to the red zone and 2 golden minutes are lost.
Third warning – Name is removed from board and a detention is given
Pupils are able to move up and down the zone board, according to their behaviour, meaning that the pupil has the opportunity to rectify poor behaviour.
Once a pupil has received a detention they return to the green zone for a fresh start.
Parents will be informed of behaviours leading to detention, such as:
1. Lack of co-operation with work
2. Racist comments
3. Swearing
4. Violence
5. Abusive behaviour
6. Stealing
7. Direct confrontation or direct refusal to work etc
Procedures for dealing with above:
a. Talk to child; Parent/s carers informed by class teacher (date and time of message if on the phone recorded – proforma to be used for this, parents can also be informed by e-mail through the parent mail system or can be spoken to directly on the playground)
b. Detention *
c. Timed removal to another class (see Appendix one for partner class)
d. Internal exclusion from class for a timed period e.g. morning, all day. (If the child is in all morning then they go to detention. If it is an all day internal exclusion the child is not permitted to go out to play at lunchtime either).
e. School meeting with parents and outside agencies if previous arrangements have been unsuccessful.
f. Prior to the final step, (g) a parent would expect to receive a warning letter or to be given the warning at the previous stage. This must be recorded. There may be an exception to this such as when the incident is too serious for any of the above steps to be put in place. i.e. Violence against an adult or child resulting in actual body harm.
g. In extreme circumstances a child will be excluded. The procedure will follow the Hampshire and DCSF (Department for Children, Schools and Families) regulations.
* Detention
The teacher will complete the appropriate record stating:
· Pupil’s name
· Date
· reason for detention
· Signed by person issuing detention
This will then be sent home via Parentmail or post by the duty staff member putting it into the office.
Behaviour outside of the classroom
If a child misbehaves at playtime or lunchtime it is important that the class teacher is informed.
A proforma for either playtime or lunchtime needs to be completed by the adult that dealt with the situation and given to the teacher.
Once it has been investigated by the member of staff, an appropriate sanction will be given.
Dealing with the incident on the playground:
The following strategies are used:
1. sit on the bench (KS1) or stand by the wall for a defined period (KS2)
2. walk around the playground with the adult
3. playground plan
4. kept inside
If it is a serious incident then the adult needs to call for additional adult support.
Rewards and Sanctions for After School Club (Tommy’s Child Care):
Positive attitudes are taken to managing behaviour. Good behaviour is encouraged by praising helpful and acceptable behaviour, ignoring low level disruption using distraction techniques and giving the children the opportunity to sort out some disputes for themselves.
When behaviour is unacceptable, disrespectful and hurtful to others and when asked by children for help staff will intervene. Children will be asked to stop and warned once and told of consequences. If behaviour persists, children will be given “time out” as an opportunity to take time away to reflect on behaviour. At the end of this time, an apology will be expected.
If unacceptable behaviour persists, staff may send children to senior members of staff and parents will be informed. We rely on the help of parents to support children to understand the limits of acceptable behaviour for the welfare and happiness of all.
If necessary, parents will be invited to a formal meeting with staff to work out strategies together to help improve behaviour. In exceptional circumstances, we maintain the right to suspend or exclude children from clubs if unacceptable behaviour continues.
Appendix One:
If a child is being constantly disruptive of the learning then they will be sent to the partner class.
Foundation Stage children will not be included in this.
Partner Classes:
Orion and Neptune
Aquila and Jupiter
Pegasus and Delphinus
Columba and Mars
Phoenix and Orion
Appendix Two:
Strategies to support positive behaviour management:
1. Internal referral to School SEN team using referral form (Appendix Three)
2. Above to be discussed at weekly SEN team meeting
3. In school support that could be offered: