OVERVIEW:

Our School Welfare and Behaviour Policy stems from a core belief that at the BSA:

“All children succeed here. They are at the centre of everything we do.”

Our success criteria will be a school ethos and culture that promotes:

• A safe, secure and friendly learning environment for all
• Happy, healthy, caring and considerate children
• Children who look after and support themselves and others
• Children who take responsibility for their actions

• Children who are excited by the learning process and always aim to do their best

To be successful, all members of our school should understand, acknowledge and accept this philosophy. We all have a responsibility to support, model and teach it to our children so that they will learn to understand what it means to be part of our school and its community.

POLICY TO PRACTICE:

Three key School rules form the basis of this policy:

• We care for ourselves
• We care for others
• We care for our School

We teach the children at our School what each of these rules ‘looks like’ in practice. Approach will vary depending on the age and ability of the child, but all the children in our school should have a clear understanding of what each rule means and how it applies to them (please note: some children with specific special educational needs may not be able to process, understand or action the type of behaviour required, or fully understand what is expected. All staff should be aware of these children and the strategies used to support them).

RULE 1 – CARING FOR OURSELVES:

Pupils are taught to:

• take responsibility for themselves and their actions and to know that the School and their teachers will help them to learn and develop;
• know the difference between right and wrong;
• understand the need to make ‘good decisions’;
• work to the best of their ability;
• understand the expectations of the School and the consequences of breaking these rules;
• respect, look after and care for themselves and take on a level of responsibility and accountability appropriate to their age;
• look after their own property and take responsibility for it; and
• understand that when a sanction is imposed, it is the behaviour that is deemed unacceptable and not the child themselves.

RULE 2 – CARING FOR OTHERS:

Pupils are taught to:

• think about their actions and the impact these have on others;
• support and look after each other;
• understand the need for cooperation and teamwork;
• treat all members of the School community with respect, courtesy and care;
• celebrate and feel proud of their achievements and successes when working with others; and
• develop strategies for working with others they find difficult to get along with, and understand and be sensitive to the social and emotional needs of others.

RULE 3 – CARING FOR OUR SCHOOL:

Pupils are taught to:

• take pride in the School and understand that they represent it;
• think about others when moving around the School and the impact that activities and actions have on others
• look after and care for the property of the School and the people working in it; and
• understand that everyone has a right to learn in an environment that is friendly, calm, purposeful, and well cared for.

BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT OVERVIEW

At the BSA we expect the children to behave well and respect each other. We will create a stimulating, challenging and exciting learning environment, and expect high standards of behaviour and good care and respect for others. This expectation will be modelled each day by staff, children and parents of the School.

Fostering and Reinforcing Good Behaviour:

We use positive reinforcement strategies wherever possible to enhance, develop and promote good behaviour. We believe that children must be taught about our expectations so that they can learn and understand what is acceptable and what is not, and be rewarded as often as possible for good behaviour. We use JIGSAW as our core PHSE Scheme, which also contains mindfulness activities and approaches to help children understand their feelings and emotions.

Praise can be given in the following ways:

• Verbal praise or smile
• A written comment on their work or the opportunity to show their work to other members of the class
• Stickers, dojo points, class mascots
• House Points and House Point Certificates
• Special,  occasional treat afternoons
• Good Work / Achievement Certificates
• Displays
• Referral to Deputy Head, Head of School for special mention
• Parents informed of good behaviour

Staff Expectations at the BSA:

As a staff we have a corporate responsibility for encouraging good behaviour and intervening when appropriate.

• Staff ensure that timetables, routines and duties are followed carefully and accurately to ensure the children have a clear understanding of the purpose and direction of the day.
• Children are expected to walk around school in a controlled and conscientious manner.
• Children are supervised, as appropriate to their needs and age  e.g. children in younger years will need to be accompanied by an adult when moving around the school. As they mature, we encourage children to be more independent in their movements; Year Groups will carefully consider the needs of each group and determine the level of supervision needed.
• Staff ensure that all children are treated fairly, respectfully and consistently.
• Children’s contributions to the School are valued, celebrated and supported.

Bullying:

We do not tolerate bullying or verbal / physical harassment. Staff are alert to the signs of bullying and deal firmly with such behaviour. Staff should also be aware of forms of online and social media bullying (see anti bullying policy). If such behaviour occurs and is considered to be serious enough, parents will be contacted. As part of our PHSE (JIGSAW) work, in assemblies and in classroom tasks and discussions, children are taught about ways to combat bullying.

Prevention is Better Than Cure - Strategies For Good Behaviour Management:

• Clarify what is expected of the children and how they should react in different situations e.g. through using examples in JIGSAW).
• Act quickly when inappropriate behaviour takes place.
• Treat minor incidents as minor, and don’t blow out of proportion.
• Use a quiet word or subtle look / visual cue to keep children on task for low level disruptive behaviour.
• Explain clearly what behaviour you are concerned about.
• Model the behaviour you want to see, and praise those showing it.
• Stay calm and give children the chance to talk.
• Try not to ask "Why did you..?", but instead "What happened? Explain what you thought this would achieve." etc.
• Communicate any problems to other teachers and staff so that everyone is aware of an issue, and children do not end up being told off multiple times for the same offence.
• Keep an open mind and give children the opportunity to put right a wrong

The importance of Recognising Personal Problems:

We ensure that all staff are sensitive to the fact that children who are undergoing personal problems or problems at home may behave badly as a result. If we have concerns, we discuss this with our Year Group Leaders / Deputy / Head. In such circumstances, a record of the child’s behaviour should be maintained as this will prove useful in the event of further action having to be taken.

The Role of Parents:

We rely on parental support in establishing and maintaining good behaviour at school. In the event of major problems, the Head of School will consult with parents and involve them, with the relevant staff, in dealing with the matter.

Children who damage School property or that of another child/adult may be required to pay for the damage; this will be communicated to parents. However, we encourage the children not to bring valuable things to school, as we cannot accept responsibility for them.

List of Sanctions:

The School has a varied list of sanctions increasing in severity; it is important to reserve more severe sanctions for serious incidents, to maintain their effectiveness. We are aware that we must not make threats we cannot keep nor cause other members of staff to be put in a position of having no room to manoeuvre. From Key Stage Three, detention is an option.

Verbal and Non-verbal Checking

• Repeating work: If the quality of work is reduced because of their poor behaviour, repetition of work is a suitable sanction
• Time out from an activity or removal to another class for a short period of time
• Use of peace table / reflection table
• Loss of Golden Time minutes
• Partial loss of playtime
• Referral to Year Group Leader, Pastoral or Deputy Head, Head of School
• Serious or constant breakdowns in behaviour will result in a parental consultation with agreed procedure for future breaches.
• Establishing a behaviour book with stickers/reward chart and behaviour plan
• Being placed on report for a week
• Suspension from school for a named period of time
• Exclusion from school. This can either be indefinite or permanent; in both circumstances, guidelines will be followed.

Strategies that we do not use as we feel they are ineffective:

• Sarcasm – young children do not understand sarcasm, or its purpose. Older children can become resentful or learn to use sarcasm as a form of defence.
• Shouting – as a short and quick deterrent, or to signal a danger quickly, shouting may be appropriate. However, there are few occasions where it is beneficial, and the prolonged use of this strategy often means that you need support to deal with the issue.
• Corporal punishment is not allowed / used under any circumstances: In the event a child places him or herself or other children in immediate danger, members of staff may use a reasonable amount of force to restrain that child. If a child has to be restrained, they should be allowed to calm down and then a record of the incident should be made, and a senior member of staff involved.

Guidance on Dealing with Violent Behaviour, and Record Keeping 

Pupil v Pupil:

• It should be stopped as soon as possible. First Aid should be administered if necessary. The matter should then be investigated and dealt with by a senior member of staff. If necessary all parents should be informed either by telephone or letter.

Pupil v Staff:

• Verbal – visit to senior member of staff and apology. Parents to be informed.
• Physical – immediate suspension of the pupil pending investigation. Full reports will be written.

Parent v Staff:

• Verbal – do not join in and remember to remain calm. Point out that there is no discussion taking place in such circumstances. Involve the Head of School. The Head of School can then ask them to leave. If they refuse, call the police. In this event the Principal must be informed immediately and the member of staff involved, in conjunction with the Head of School, must provide a written report for the Principal.
• Physical – The member of staff should try to defend him or herself if possible. The police will be called to the scene, and an assault reported. Similar reporting procedure as with verbal abuse must be followed. The member of staff will be advised to seek immediate medical attention.

Record Keeping

We acknowledge that we have a duty to keep records of concerns and sanctions for children who present challenging behaviour on a consistent basis. Therefore we will ensure that records are kept securely in the child’s personal (office) file system and that  incident forms are kept in the incidents file. We will record incidents and detail strategies to support colleagues and the child in overcoming problems. We recognise also that these records should be factual, objective and to the point. If there are any confidential matters, they should be recorded separately and kept by the Head of the School in the Child Protection folder, and only shared on a need to know basis.

Children’s files transfer to the next section of the school and, from KS3 onwards, 3sys is used as a mechanism to record misbehaviour. Please remember that all children's records are available for parents.

Junior School 

In the Junior School, we advocate positive praise and reinforcement to create a positive school environment and culture; however, when children do not behave in line with the Our Caring School expectations, the following sanction steps should be taken.

It may be that the steps are not followed in order, if a more serious behaviour incident occurs.

Step 1

The child will be spoken to by the class teacher to be reminded of what the behaviour expectations are and given guidance as to how they can meet these expectations.

Step 2

The child will be spoken to by the class teacher again and given a final warning. They will be reminded of the expectations, how they can meet them and will be warned that the next step is to lose some Golden Time.

Step 3

The child will lose (an age-appropriate amount) Golden Time with the chance to earn it back within the same day.

Step 4

The child will be spoken to by the Year Group Leader during a break or lunch time. At this stage, the behaviour should be recorded on a behaviour incident form

Step 5

The child will lose further (age-appropriate amount) Golden Time without the chance to earn it back within the same day.

Step 6

The child's parents are contacted either in person at the end of the day or via a phone call/email. At this stage, the behaviour should be recorded on a behaviour incident form.

Step 7

The child will be spoken to by the Deputy Head Teacher. At this stage, the behaviour should be recorded on a behaviour incident form.

Step 8

A meeting with the DHT, class teacher and parents should be arranged. At this stage, the behaviour should be recorded on a behaviour incident form.

Step 9

The child will be spoken to by the Head Teacher.

Step 10

A meeting with the Head Teacher, class teacher and parents should be arranged. At this stage, the behaviour should be recorded on a behaviour incident form.

Senior School

The Senior School displays a pupil friendly behaviour ladder that reinforces positive learning and school expectations (see appendix 1). All members of staff and pupils in the Senior School are involved in using the behaviour ladder to reinforce positive behaviour or support learning conversations.

Explanation of how to use the behaviour ladder:

The teacher tool box gives practical examples to support and develop positive learning behaviours (bottom). The document gives examples of behaviours (positive - left and negative - right) and then expected responses to those the behaviours as a guide. The response is appropriate to the level and as the severity of the behaviour increases as does the example of the response.

Rewards:

The master Rewards record is epraise and staff can award a house point within our 8 habits of learning. Rewards will be issued in the form of House Points and collected towards house competitions. All staff are responsible for using epraise. Parents may access their child’s Reward records via epraise. Termly reward assemblies help to celebrate pupils achievements in and out of school.

Searching of pupils or the property of pupils:

In certain circumstances, it may be deemed appropriate to search a child.

Examples of items that may be searched for are:

• Knives, weapons, alcohol, drugs and stolen items
• Fireworks

Only the Pastoral Team or Senior Leadership Team or a member of school staff authorised by the Senior Leadership Team will carry out the search and only if there is reasonable grounds for suspecting that a pupil is in possession of a prohibited item.

In all cases, the parent of the pupil must be contacted prior to any search to ask them for permission to conduct a search or to attend to conduct the search themselves.

If a weapon or other dangerous items are found to be carried by a pupil or amongst their belongings the school reserves the right to remove these items to be passed on to the police.

Appendix 1 - Behaviour Ladder

Additional Support: If you have any questions or queries regarding any aspect of this policy, or if you require any support or guidance with a behavioural issue, please do not hesitate to speak to your Year Group Leader / Deputy Head or Headteacher.