S3 BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT POLICY
To be read with Behaviour and discipline in schools Advice for Headteachers and school staff, January 2016
Principles
1. We wish to maintain an ethos in the school that emphasises our values of Caring, Sharing, Aiming High. Underlying this, we consider these elements of very great importance:
Aims
Rewards and sanctions:
Reward System- Used across the school:
Behaviour ladders to be displayed in every classroom:
Red-Thunder & Lightening
Amber-Rain
Green-Sunshine
Blue-Rainbow
Gold –Pot of Gold
Reducing low level behaviour
Sanctions:
Individual Rewards – Used across the school:
One name will be chosen to be written in the Golden Book and announced at Celebration Assembly weekly. Pupil will be given a golden ticket at this time to share with home. This nomination will celebrate:
Use of positive language
Show me 5!
At Maytree School the principles of ‘Show me 5! Are used to help children remember good learning behaviours supported by holding a hand up, palm facing outwards. Show me five represents:
Consequences for unwanted behaviours
Extreme behaviour and Pupil with behaviour problems
Racist Abuse and Bullying
In common with all schools, we take particularly strong views on racist name-calling, teasing, cultural abuse (including religious abuse) and Bullying. The school does not tolerate bullying of any kind. If we discover that an act of bullying or intimidation has taken place, we act immediately to stop any further occurrences of such behaviour. While it is very difficult to eliminate bullying, we do everything in our power to ensure that all pupils attend school free from fear. Such incidents are logged on the special forms kept in the staffroom and given to the Headteacher.
Please see related policies and appendixes
S1 Anti-Bullying Policy
S9 Equal Opportunities Policy
Appendix 1 Anti-Bullying
Appendix 2 Statement on the Prevention of Homophobic Bullying
Consistency of expectations
Playground
At the end of playtimes and lunchtimes Pupils should be lined up in their allocated places in the playground and led back to the classrooms by adults in a quiet, orderly manner. During playtimes and lunchtimes organised games and activities must be available for all Pupils. Adults on duty must model activities and encourage Pupils to join in. Play-fighting is not allowed, because it often turns into real fighting.
The role of the Headteacher
It is the responsibility of the Headteacher, under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, to implement the school behaviour policy consistently throughout the school, and to report to governors, when requested, on the effectiveness of the policy. It is also the responsibility of the Headteacher to ensure the health, safety and welfare of all Pupils in the school
The Headteacher supports the staff by implementing the policy, by setting the standards of high expectations of behaviour, and by supporting staff in their implementation of the policy
The Headteacher keeps records of all reported serious incidents of misbehaviour
The Headteacher has the responsibility for giving fixed-term suspensions to individual Pupil for serious acts of misbehaviour. For repeated or very serious acts of anti-social behaviour, the Headteacher will permanently exclude a child. At each stage of exclusion the Headteacher will inform the school governors.
The role of governors
The governing body has the responsibility of setting down these general guidelines on standards of discipline and behaviour, and of reviewing their effectiveness. The governors support the Headteacher in adhering to these guidelines.
The Headteacher has the day-to-day authority to implement the school's policy on behaviour and discipline, but governors may give advice to the Headteacher about particular disciplinary issues.
The role of pupils
It is expected that pupils should become responsible and increasingly independent and recognise that they should learn to accept responsibility for their behaviour. To assist in this process we require pupils to work at the best of their abilities and allow others to do the same by adhering to these school rules.
The role of parents
The school works collaboratively with parents, so pupils receive consistent messages about how to behave at home and at school.
We explain the school rules in the home school agreement and we expect parents to read these and support them. We expect parents to support their child’s learning and to co-operate with the school, as set out in the home–school agreement. We try to build a supportive dialogue between the home and the school and we inform parents immediately if we have concerns about their child’s welfare or behaviour.
If the school has to use reasonable sanctions to punish a pupil, parents should support the actions of the school. If parents have any concern about the way that their child has been treated, they should initially contact the class teacher. If the concern remains, they should contact the Headteacher and if the problem remains parents should follow the school’s Complaints Procedure (G7 Complaints Policy).
Intervention
All staffs are expected to employ the Conflict Resolution approach and this is outlined in the Staff Handbook:
Exclusions
Exclusion is used only very rarely, and as a last resort. The Headteacher may exclude a child for a fixed period, but the exclusion must be kept as short as possible and reintegration must be the aim.
Exclusions carried out following the guidance from the DFE: Statutory guidance on the exclusion of pupils from local-authority-maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units.
Reasonable force
The use of reasonable force as described here, and its application to any individual child whose possible behaviour may necessitate it, will be in accordance with the DfE Use of reasonable force Advice for head teachers, staff and governing bodies July 2013
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/use-of-reasonable-force-in-schools
Confiscation of Inappropriate Items
The general power to discipline enables a member of staff to confiscate, retain or dispose of a pupils’ property as a punishment, so long as it is reasonable in the circumstances. The law protects staff from liability of damage to, or loss of confiscated items, provided they acted lawfully.
Once an item is confiscated, the member of staff must make an effort to keep the property safe. The confiscated item must then be returned to the child’s parent, at which time, the member of staff will explain to the parent why the property was confiscated. Staff also have the power to search without consent for prohibited items, including;
Searching
The DfE has published ‘Screening, Searching and Confiscation’ guidance (2011) which the school will refer to if a pupil or group of pupils are suspected of being in possession of banned items or stolen goods. The school is not required to inform parents before a search takes place and does not need to seek consent.
External Negative Behaviour
Teachers have a statutory power to discipline pupils for misbehaving outside of the school premises. Section 89(5) of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 gives Headteacher’s a specific statutory power to regulate pupils’ behaviour in these circumstances “to such extent as is reasonable”. When considering whether the school will implement a sanction for reported misbehaviour out of school, the Headteacher will take into account the context of the situation and the action that would have been taken if the offence had taken place on school premises.
All criminal bad behaviour and bullying which occurs on or off the school premises may be reported to Social Services and/or the Police.
Raising Awareness of this Policy
We will raise awareness of this policy via:
Policy reviewed every 3 years
Policy reviewed by S Chowdury – Phase & Assessment Lead
Review Date: Autumn 2021
Appendix 1: Anti-Bullying
What is Bullying?
Bullying is the use of aggression with the intention of hurting another person. It is targeted and repeated over a period of time. Bullying results in pain and distress to the victim.
Bullying can be:
Emotional being unfriendly, excluding, tormenting (e.g. hiding books, threatening gestures)
Physical pushing, kicking, hitting, punching or any use of violence
Racist racial taunts, graffiti, gestures
Sexual unwanted physical contact or sexually abusive comments
Homophobic because of, or focussing on the issue of sexuality
Verbal name-calling, sarcasm, spreading rumours, teasing
cyber all areas of internet, such as email & internet chat room misuse mobile threats by text messaging & calls misuse of technology, e.g. camera and video facilities
We recognise that pupils sometimes fall out, disagree and argue. We deal with this following our normal sanctions as detailed above.
When this becomes targeted and repeated, it is bullying.
As a school we take bullying seriously. Pupils and parents should be assured that they will be supported when bullying is reported.
If bullying does occur, all pupils should feel safe to tell and know that incidents will be dealt with promptly and effectively. We are a telling school.
This means that anyone who knows that bullying is happening is expected to tell a member of staff.
Appendix 2
Statement on the Prevention of Homophobic Bullying
Section 28 of the Local Government Act states that:
‘A local authority shall not… promote the teaching of any maintained school of the acceptability
of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship.’
The government guidelines that accompanied this Section of the Act (Department of the
Environment, Circular 12/88) stated that:
‘Section 28 does not affect the activities of school governors nor of teachers. It will not prevent the objective discussion of homosexuality in the classroom, not the counselling of Pupil concerned about their sexuality.’
The Local Government Act 2000, Section 104
This amended Section 28 by adding:
‘Nothing… shall be taken to prevent the Headteacher or governing body of a maintained school, or a teacher employed by a maintained school, from taking steps to prevent any form of bullying.’
The Sex and Relationship guidance (DfEE, July 2000), states that:
‘Schools need to be able to deal with homophobic bullying. Guidance issued by the department
(Social Inclusion: Pupil Support Circular 10/99), dealt with the unacceptability of and emotional distress and harm caused by bullying in whatever form – be it racial, as a result of a Pupil’s appearance, related to sexual orientation or for any other reason.’
(Section 1, Paragraph 32)
‘Care needs to be taken to ensure that there is no stigmatism of Pupil based on their home circumstances.’
(Introduction, Paragraph 4)
‘Enable them to understand the difference and respect themselves and others and for the purpose also of preventing and removing prejudice.’
(Section 1, Paragraph 5)
‘The Secretary of State is clear that teachers should be able to deal honestly and sensitively with sexual orientation, answer appropriate questions and offer support. There should be no direct promotion of sexual orientation.’
(Section 1, Paragraph 30)
In line with our policies on encouraging mutual respect for each other regardless of differences, any instances of homophobic bullying will be logged in the racism/homophobic log book and will be dealt with in a sensitive manner in accordance with the guidelines on racism.