Behaviour and Discipline Policy

Countess Anne School

A Church of England Academy

Behaviour and Discipline Policy

Living God’s Love through:

Academic provision that recognises the need for excellence in teaching and learning.
Holistic provision that encourages Christian hope; building spirit and soul through faith orientated pastoral care.
Inspirational provision through a modern curriculum that celebrates diversity and provides new opportunities.

At Countess Anne our school’s foundational text is ‘I pray that you……may have the power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ’ Ephesians 3:18

By this, we aspire that all members of our community recognise that God’s love is for all; no matter how different they may be to us, no matter how great or difficult their lives are, no matter how long or short we have known them we should try to reach out to all in a way that God reaches out. In understanding this we are inspired to treat ourselves and others in such a way as God would.

Learning how to treat others and exemplifying the character of God to one another is fundamental if we are to be a thriving school community. At Countess Anne we express this character through our six school values: respect, kindness, perseverance, forgiveness, courage and gratitude.

We are committed to providing the best educational experiences for our pupils and to the pursuit of excellence in all aspects of our life and work. We aim to create a caring environment where each pupil values themselves and others. Our Christian values underpin every aspect of our school life and our intention is to encourage each of our pupils to develop, express and achieve their spiritual, emotional and academic capabilities to the full. We believe that each member of the school community should be respected and encouraged to work and worship together in an atmosphere of security, trust and co-operation.

To support our aims and ethos, it is essential that our pupils attend school regularly, are motivated to believe that they can make choices to support a positive environment for all to learn and achieve. Our Behaviour and Discipline Policy and our School Home Agreement establish the agreed ways in which all members of the school community will contribute to the learning environment and the values our school upholds.

The agreed approach to relationships and behaviour our school has adopted is based on a person-centred approach respecting individuality, enabling choice, ensuring dignity, promoting independence, and fostering strong communication and collaboration.

This person-centred approach enhances our relationships with our pupils and enables us to support children with empathetic dialogue coupled with timely intervention and care to enable them, first, to regulate, then relate and, when able, finally repair situations, incidents and relationships.

Shared Expectations:

The aim of the Discipline and Behaviour Policy: Is to create a purposeful learning environment in which all have the opportunities to further themselves and others.

Therefore, the school community has the following shared expectations:

all trustees, staff, children and parents will be co-operated with and treated respectfully.
all parties will enter into school life prepared to demonstrate consideration to those around them.
all parties will work together to produce behaviour that is conducive to a safe learning environment.

As a Church of England school, our values are embedded in the Christian faith and underpin every aspect of our school life. At the beginning of each school year, the new class and teacher explore a parable together and discuss what it teaches about behaviour and how the school expectations can be applied in their own classroom. These expectations, devised with the children, summarise the type of behaviour we all wish and expect to see at Countess Anne School.

These class expectations for behaviour are agreed together and displayed in the classroom at the beginning of the academic year and referred to throughout the year. These are reinforced, scaffolded and modelled by all members of staff at all times throughout the school day in all areas of school. Behaviour which is healthy and safe is also explicitly taught through our PSHCE curriculum exploring subjects such as discrimination and prejudice, and as part of our RSE curriculum, inappropriate behaviour (including sexual harassment and violence).

In addition, general expectations which exemplify our foundational text, school and British values are shared with families through our Home School Agreement. This is sent to parents before the autumn term’s parent consultations where they are asked to sign the agreement along with the child and teacher.

Refusal to co-operate with these shared expectations will not be tolerated. In particular rudeness, physical or verbal abuse towards any of our staff and children, as well as inappropriate behaviour at school events will not be accepted.

Responding to different types of behaviour:

We believe that children respond to praise and we will seek to reinforce good behaviour with a positive approach to the management of the children in the school.

We have a number of awards for children who strive for good standards of work and behaviour. These include:-

v Head Teacher’s Awards for effort and hard work during the week
v Golden Value Awards which are awarded by the children of the class to someone they feel has shown the school values during the week.
v Class Teachers will mainly use positive verbal affirmation/feedback however they can also have their own stickers, badges etc
v Year 4 – 6 Project Awards for effort and attainment
v Attendance and Punctuality Awards: these are given to whole classes who work together to have the best attendance and punctuality in the school.
v Team Points are used for sporting occasions and awarded for effort, teamwork, courteous sports play as well as achievement.

Make Believers

We have representatives of years 2 to 6 who meet regularly to discuss ways of improving our school. They are also share the responsibility for exemplifying the school values and helping the school to come up with child centred responses when dealing with issues that arise over poor behaviour.

Discipline

Although we expect children to be self-disciplined and responsible members of the school community there are occasions where rewards are failing and sanctions may be imposed.

Teachers will use their professional judgements in relation to how to respond to negative choices and low-level disturbance. They will draw upon their knowledge of the child, their age group and the particular circumstance when deciding on how to respond and any subsequent consequences. Such supportive classroom and whole school strategies can include:

Using the tick system to reward under the smiley face and also as a warning when a tick is placed under the unhappy face. This is most effective if carried out with little notice being given to the child misbehaving. Three ticks will result in the child being sent to the class above with a behaviour card for the rest of the work period. There are occasions when a child is not sent to the above year group but another year. This may be because they have a sibling there, the level of need within a class, a positive relationship with another member of staff in the school or the inexperience of a teacher. Year 6 children will be sent to an infant class or to the Head teacher’s office. Each child has a behaviour card because it is important to record incidents where children are not able to work with their peers and these records can provide useful evidence for referrals to external agencies or when discussing a child’s behaviour with their parents. When a child has two such incidents on the card parents will be informed and consideration will be given to the possibility of what the underlying causes for the misbehaviour could be.

Time out place; where a child can place themselves to prepare to get back to work. This will probably be used by those children who are close to being sent from the room but see that they need to change what they are doing (Calm down, move away from another pupil etc).

May use a Special Book which can be used to draw, scribble or write out the situation they are in, expressing their emotions for example angry, sad or distracted.

Persistent disturbance/low level poor behaviour such as not following instructions, name calling, throwing things, shouting/calling out during teaching time, moving around the classroom without permission, talking when others are talking or being rude to peers is a serious offence and if not corrected by a pupil will be referred to the senior leadership team.

More serious negative choices which include showing disrespect, hurtful or harmful choices will be dealt with by the class teacher and in some cases a member of the Senior Leadership Team. There will be an investigation, including recording the event on an incident / reflection form, with the child (appendix 2) and a discussion regarding what happened and what could have been done differently, with a suitable consequence which will include making amends and asking for forgiveness. Staff will model and scaffold for the children the phrase ‘I am sorry for …..’ and the response of ‘I forgive you but please don’t do it again.’

Consequences for negative choices should either be protective or educational. Protective consequences are actions to ensure no further harm occurs in the short term.

Discussions with the class teacher and SLT
Verbal and written apology depending on severity of incident
Increased staff ratio, where applicable
Support in social situations
Limited access to outside space
Differentiated teaching space
Internal exclusion
Suspension
Exclusion

Working towards improved behaviour:

Listed below are 9 stages which the school will use to help make a child aware of their inappropriate behaviour and to introduce support mechanisms to help the child change their behaviour:

Stage 1:

Incidents are recorded on a child’s behaviour card.

Stage 2:

If two incidents are recorded within 6 weeks, (approx. length of a half-term), a reasonable period of time then the child breaking the school rules will be called to see the Head Teacher and told that if the behaviour carries on then their parents will be informed.

Stage 3:

If the behaviour fails to improve within the following week then the parents of the misbehaving child will be invited in to see the Head Teacher/Class teacher and an agreed strategy is put together in order to help the child improve.

Stage 4:

If the child repeats the misbehaviour then they will be internally excluded from their class. At this point a Home School Contact book which records a child’s behaviour each day against an agreed (child/school) target will be set up.

(From Stages 5 onwards the School Governors will be informed of a child’s progress.)

Stage 5:

If the targets at stage 4 are not met then the child will be temporarily excluded for one day.

Stage 6:

In an effort to prevent further exclusions the school will now put into place a Personal Support Programme, (P.S.P) for the child and in addition seek the advice and help of external agencies in order to provide a programme of planned support for the child.

Some types of external support require the permission from the parents of the child. If however this permission is not forthcoming within two weeks then the school will proceed with what strategies it can – these failing; it will move onto stage 7.

Stage 7:

If improvements in the child’s behaviour have not been seen within an agreed time then the child will be excluded for two days.

Stage 8:

At this point the child’s behaviour targets will be reassessed. However, a five day exclusion may be issued as a final warning if improvements in the child’s behaviour have not been seen within the new agreed time.

Stage 9:

Following a five day exclusion if misbehaviour is still evident against the targets set then the child will be permanently excluded from school.

Please note that if a child has made a clear effort to improve their behaviour and has maintained this for at least a term but then find that they revert to their misbehaviour then they shall enter the stages at stage 3.

Helping parents to understand their child’s behaviour

So that our parents best understand the expectations that the school has of their children, the school provides termly attendance & behaviour grades for pupils in years 2 – 6. This is to provide transparency when there is discussion about expectations between the school and its pupils and families.

The grades are there to support parents in rewarding their children’s good behaviour and for encouraging better behaviour where necessary.

The termly grades are collected by the senior management team of the school. The grades are analysed in order to see if appropriate behaviour is being achieved across the school and whether enough support is in place to help any necessary improvement.

If a child’s attendance falls below what is expected then the school will contact the family immediately in order to ascertain the reasons for the absence. The attendance grades will be used to help the family understand what is regarded as appropriate and give them something to aim for.

If a child’s behaviour is graded as C* for two terms in a row then they are placed on report card. This means that they will meet weekly with the Deputy Headteacher about how to best achieve their behaviour targets. The Dep. Hd. will work with the pupil and their family to review progress and to decide on the next steps in order to help the child improve their behaviour. The child will move up and down the 9 stages of improving behaviour – see previous section; depending on how well their behaviour is progressing.

*Please see Appendix 1 for the school’s Attendance and Behaviour Grades.

Bullying and Racism

We are aware that at some point in a person’s life they may find themselves being bullied or having racial abuse directed towards them and that these incidents are not necessarily peculiar to school communities but can be found within the wider community. At Countess Anne we are committed to making every effort to prevent these things from taking place within our school. Children who act in such a way will be helped to see in what ways their actions were wrong, (how they acted wrongly). However those children who persistently misbehave in this manner will be permanently excluded.

The school definitions set out below were put together after consultation with Dfe guidance, the pupils, staff, governors and parents of the school and form a common ground from which the school can follow a procedure of identifying cases of bullying and racism, and how to deal with such incidents:

School definition of bullying - B:

Bullying is the intentional hurting, intimidating or tormenting of any other person, whether physically or emotionally on more than two occasions. The school however recognises that one occasion of e-bullying could lead to multiple repeat occurrences.

School definition of racism - R:

Any incident perceived to be racist by the victim or anyone else.

Promotion of an Anti-Bullying/Racist ethos:

It is the duty of all staff, pupils, parents and visitors to promote this policy by reporting incidents of bullying and racism to the school.
The school will use the opportunities that appropriate curriculum topics, visiting speakers, school trips, assemblies, circle time, school council, one to one mediation meetings and parental contact provide to promote an anti-bullying and anti-racist ethos within the school.
The school’s playground policy will reflect the school’s approach to bullying and racism by including a pupil map to indicate high risk areas where children might feel vulnerable.
The school is committed to training supervisors in helping them to deal with such incidents and how to create a positive climate for the children to play in.
The school is committed to improving the children’s environment and to ensuring that there is appropriate supervision.

Bullying and Racist incidents will be dealt with in the same manner as other incidents of breaking the School Rules – i.e. the school shall follow the 9 stage approach outlined. However, Stage 1 should be read as follows:

Stage 1:

Incidents are recorded in the school’s incident folder and marked by the letter B or R according to the agreed definitions.

Exceptional Circumstances:

In addition, please note that some incidents of a drug, racial, sexual or violent nature can result in a child or adult being immediately excluded from school.

Reviewing the above policy:

The policy will be reviewed once a year by the Head Teacher in consultation with the appropriate parties.

Reviewed annually as part of the governors’ Spring Term focus on Safeguarding.

Appendix 1:

Behaviour and Attendance grades:

Behaviour:

The pupil is highly committed to learning, is always well prepared for work, shows enthusiasm and completes work to the best of his/her ability. They demonstrate respect for the learning of others and are prepared to engage with opportunities beyond their classroom.

The pupil usually shows commitment to learning by being ready for lessons and completing work to an appropriate standard. They show enthusiasm for most areas of the curriculum and in the main recognise their need to respect the learning experience of others.

The pupil can show a commitment to learning but this is inconsistent. For some lessons he/she is unsettled and not ready to engage and try their best. In addition sometimes their behaviour disturbs the learning of others showing a lack of respect towards those that they share their learning with. Occasionally they will show signs of improvement and demonstrate enthusiasm, commitment and respect, all of which need to be developed further.

The pupil shows very little interest in their learning and is often disengaged in what is going on in the classroom / school. They frequently show a lack of respect towards their peers disturbing the learning of others.

Attendance:

Excellent: 98 – 100% attendance and or punctuality have a positive impact on the pupil’s progress enabling them to benefit fully from what school life has to offer.

Good: 95% - 97% attendance and /or punctuality do not have a negative impact on the pupil’s progress.

Variable: 90% - 94% attendance and / or punctuality are having a negative effect on the pupil’s progress.

Poor: Less than 90 % attendance and / or punctuality seriously affect the pupil’s progress. If persistent the pupil’s lack of attendance will be referred to the local authority.

Appendix 2:

Countess Anne School; A Church of England School Incident Report Form.

Brief outline of the incident, date and time.

Questions:

Replies:

Action taken:

Action to be taken:

Reflections:

Incident dealt with:

If needed, incident followed up by:-