Worth Valley Primary School Behaviour Policy

Worth Valley Primary School – Behaviour Policy

Philosophy

At Worth Valley we believe that our children should be able to learn in a safe environment, that their learning should not be interrupted by poor behaviour and that every member of staff, child and parent must take full responsibility to ensure that we achieve this. The school rules should be clearly understood and promoted and encouraged at all times using positive strategies and methods. The school rules are:

 Do as you are asked first time by adults in school.  Keep your hands and feet to yourself.  Care for and respect other people, equipment and property.  Put up your hand if you wish to speak and wait to be asked by an adult.  Always walk inside the school.  Sit quietly and listen in assembly.

 To enable teaching and learning to take place in a calm, orderly atmosphere and promote good relationships between all.  To create an ethos in which individuals feel valued; where personal effort is encouraged and to ensure the promotion of high morale.  To ensure that a consistent system is in place throughout school, that is understood by all children, parents, members of staff and visitors.  To stress the importance of being positive in our attitudes, to reward rather than chastise, to praise rather than reprimand.  To ensure that all pupils and staff are aware of what we, as a school, consider to be acceptable behaviour in any given situation.  To encourage children to understand that good behaviour brings about progress in their learning and rewards.

Guidelines

 Expectations of good behaviour will be equally high for all children.  Good behaviour will be rewarded for all children.  Disruptive behaviour will be identified at an early stage and strategies developed for supporting children’s needs.  Disruptive classroom behaviour will be dealt with by the class teacher using the 5 stages outlined in the policy.  ‘Time-out’ – if a pupil needs time-out of the class, they must be accompanied by an adult to an alternative supervised setting. This is usually for a limited period of 5 minutes. However, in exceptional circumstances, this may be longer.

WVPS Behaviour Policy Dec 2010 1 Rewards

Good choices are rewarded by:

 Pupil of the week certificates given out at parents’ achievement assembly  Class merits recognised by bronze, silver, gold and platinum badges and certificates  Golden Time – 35 minutes Golden Time is awarded to each pupil at the beginning of each week. A selection of activities will be offered on Friday afternoons and pupils can choose an activity. Pupils will have the opportunity to work with pupils of all ages throughout the school. Pupils who do not lose Golden Time minutes during a half term will be entered into a prize draw. The winners of the draw will receive a gift voucher and come to school in non-uniform for the day.  Class Rewards – when a class behaves well as a group, an adult may wish to recognise this by awarding a 20p voucher. Pupils will work together as a class to decide in advance what they would like and then save up until they have enough vouchers to exchange them for their chosen reward.  ‘Sean the Sheep’ lunchtime behaviour raffle  End of year prize giving

Unacceptable Behaviour:

 Bullying/Name calling  Fighting  Racial Abuse (This must be reported to the headteacher or the deputy head)  Being rude to adults  Swearing or spitting  Calling out/inappropriate talking in class or assembly  Running off  Unnecessary movement around the classroom and distracting others  Disregard of other people’s/school property

Consequences of unacceptable behaviour

Unacceptable choices will result in the following steps:

 Stage 1 - Pupils will be asked to stop the unacceptable behaviour, will receive an explanation of why it is unacceptable and what is expected of them.  Stage 2 – 5 mins Golden Time is lost and recorded on the class record sheet.  Stage 3 – Further 5 mins Golden Time is lost and the pupil is sent to the partner class for 5 mins with a timer.  Stage 4 – Further 5 mins Golden Time is lost and the pupil is sent to SLT member.  Stage 5 – Further 5 mins Golden Time is lost and SLT makes a phone call home and an after school detention is arranged.

Each day is a fresh start and pupils return to stage 1.

Minutes of Golden Time can be earned back but this must take some considerable effort from the child.

WVPS Behaviour Policy Dec 2010 2 Pupils who have lost 20 mins of Golden Time throughout the week are to be sent to the SLT to discuss their behaviour.

In some instances children can be moved straight to stage 4/5 (SLT intervention), for behaviour that is ‘extreme’.

NB For some children the whole school behaviour system is inappropriate and alternative strategies will be employed. These will be discussed between the SENCo and the class teacher.

Bullying:

Incidents of bullying, involving a child or group of children in a more powerful situation picking on a child in a less powerful situation, must be reported to the Head Teacher who will investigate the matter and take action.

Pupils who bully others will have their names recorded on a serious incident record and will be withdrawn from the playground for a specified length of time. If pupils persist in their misbehaviour, their parents will be asked to come into school to discuss what action to take.

Each case will be treated individually according to the circumstances and the action taken in one case will not set a precedent for another.

Extreme Behaviour:

This might include:

 Verbal abuse to adults – comments, swearing or suggestions which could cause deep offence  Physical abuse of adults  Persistent and deliberate hurting of other children  Persistent to defiance to adults, both verbally and non-verbally  Persistent disregard of other people’s/school property  Racist behaviour  Bullying – including homophobic bullying

Consequences of Extreme Behaviour

Incidents of extreme behaviour will be looked at on an individual basis by the Head or Deputy. Sanctions will reflect the severity of the incident and may include;

 Phone call / letter to parents  After school detention (this would be after consultation with parents and written permission from parents received)  Internal exclusion – working in an alternative location to the class  Fixed term exclusion

In extreme circumstances it is possible that a child may be permanently excluded.

WVPS Behaviour Policy Dec 2010 3 Lunchtime behaviour

Good behaviour is rewarded through a prize draw. Children who are ‘spotted’ doing the right thing are given a raffle ticket which is drawn during celebration assembly.

Unacceptable behaviour at lunchtime is recorded by the SLO. After three recorded incidents a letter inviting parents/carers into school to discuss behaviour is sent.

Loss of Golden Time, letters to parents, detentions etc are recorded in the class behaviour file.

This behaviour policy was reviewed by staff and governors.

Signed: Chair of Governors

Date of next review: September 2011

WVPS Behaviour Policy Dec 2010 4