Behaviour for Learning Policy
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“Growing together, reaching higher.” BEHAVIOUR FOR LEARNING POLICY 2021-2022 Date of last July 2021 Review period: 1 Year review: Date of next July 2022 Owner: Daniel review: Richards POLICY INFORMATION Named personnel with designated responsibility for Academic Year Designated Deputy Nominated Chair of Senior Person Designated Governor Governors Senior Person 2016/17 Patrick Horner Julie Griffiths Julie Griffiths 2020/21 Daniel Richards Asif Patel Vanessa Willms Policy Review Dates Review Date Changes Made By Whom November Policy created Julie Griffiths 2016 October 2017 Reviewed – specific mention of nitrous oxide in Patrick Horner banned items January 2020 Adapted to incorporate new ‘Parent in School’ Daniel Richards model January 2020 5.3 Searching, screening and confiscation Daniel Richards July 2021 Explicit referral to harmful sexual behaviour. Daniel Richards Minor editing and format changes. Charges where misbehaviour results in damage to school property Ratification by LGB Academic Year Date of Ratification Chair of Governors December Policy ratified by LGB Julie Griffiths 2016 February 2020 Policy ratified by LGB Vanessa Willms Dates of staff training for this academic year (if applicable) Date Course Title Staff 31st October Culture and Ethos: Line up and entry routines All 2016 3-5th January ‘Structure Liberates’ Behaviour for Learning All 2017 Policy and practice training for staff and students September Culture and Ethos: routines and rubrics All 2017 September 2019 Language of de-escalation Teaching January 2020 Using Bromcom to log events and detentions Teaching and classroom based support BEHAVIOUR FOR LEARNING PAGE 2 OF 22 CONTENTS 1. Introduction Page 4 2. The expected behaviour each day by all students Page 5 3. Student acknowledgement and praise Page 6 4. Consequences of poor behaviour Page 11 5. Serious behaviour incidents Page 14 6. Further information about consequences Page 17 BEHAVIOUR FOR LEARNING POLICY PAGE 3 OF 22 1. INTRODUCTION Ark Boulton Academy is committed to ensuring that all students make excellent progress and develop outstanding character. We believe that anyone who is successful must develop self- discipline and be given autonomy to make the right choices. We also want our students to understand their role in developing a common purpose in our Academy, our community and the wider world. This policy has been created to provide a framework for staff, pupils and parents in developing and maintaining an ethos of exemplary conduct. Such an ethos will enable pupils to learn in, and have responsibility for, a calm, purposeful and orderly environment. It will enable staff to work in, and have responsibility for, an environment where learning and teaching are respected and valued. Finally, the policy will allow parents to have confidence their child is learning in an academic environment and is safe, respected and valued. The policy is underpinned by the Student Code of Conduct as this sets out our expectations of students. The Code of Conduct is not an aspiration but a consistent expectation of every student. We believe in our students and we believe each and every one of them wants to conduct themselves to the highest standards and that these high standards will serve them well both at school and into adulthood. The Code of Conduct will enable pupils to develop habits of excellence and foster a sense of inner discipline, self-regulation and respect for the rights of others. We will establish and maintain high standards of behaviour by ensuring our teachers are being consistent about routines and detail. It means addressing a student’s actions when they do not meet expectations, whether this concerns the way uniform is worn, equipment, promptness to class, or actions and language to one another. This firm approach to behaviour will be supported by the strong nurturing relationships between teachers and students. Teachers will support students in working within the Code of Conduct by maintaining high academic expectations, structuring and delivering high quality lessons, creating a strong classroom and school climate for learning, setting and maintaining high expectations of conduct, leading by example, modelling standards and by building character and trust. The principles and techniques by which we will create a strong academy culture and ethos are set out within this policy. Additionally, the academy is adopted a tiered approach to supporting our students when the do not meet the high expectations we have of their behaviour. Ark Boulton uses a ‘parent in school’ approach to ensuring that every student in the academy has a named person attached to them that has responsibility for guiding a student and providing them with the advice needed to model the exemplary behaviour. BEHAVIOUR FOR LEARNING POLICY PAGE 4 OF 22 2. THE EXPECTED BEHAVIOUR EACH DAY BY ALL STUDENTS 2.1 Our Code of Conduct 2.2 Core Routines Routines are familiar actions or approaches that a teacher or a student uses on a regular basis in order to set the right climate for learning and to aid efficiency. When they operate at their best they are non-intrusive, but effective in their execution. Not every recurring event or situation is covered by a routine and there may be differences in how routines are carried out from department to department. The reasons for this may be pedagogical or practical (e.g. areas of the academy where classroom doors are closer together make line-ups in the corridor impractical). In all cases it is important to define the behaviour and responses we expect for each routine with students. It is only through clearly expressing, demonstrating and practicing routines with students that they will become fully competent and as a result the purpose of the routine is realised. “Your instincts will tell you that you are wasting time (teaching routines), but the opposite is true. Look at it as making an investment.” - Doug Lemov, ‘Teach Like a Champion’ BEHAVIOUR FOR LEARNING POLICY PAGE 5 OF 22 2.3 Principles behind routines from ‘Teach Like a Champion’ • Efficiency is everything: Teachers like the illusion of control, and sometimes want to slow down so they can enjoy it for longer, basking in its warm glow. Actually, the goal is doing it 100% right, as fast as possible. • Low narration: Once they are fully taught (though they must be explicitly taught to begin with), a good routine needs only short prompts and reminders. These are often non-verbal. This lets teachers watch for non-compliance, or prepare other elements in the classroom. • Least invasive intervention: When students have slipped and are not behaving as you want them to - use non-verbal cues and/or correct them anonymously. • Plan what you want: You have to pay attention to detail, here. Students have to be told exactly what to do, when, how and with whom. • Tight transitions: Interruptions are not part of the procedure. Plan for, and practise routines until the transition is tight and interruption free. • Procedure is culture: Shared routines must feel like they belong to everyone in your classroom. Teachers can change the culture by creating and teaching routines for the elements of that culture that they want to see more of. Specific information on each routine can be found in the supporting routine rubric. 3. STUDENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND PRAISE We want students to be motivated by the intrinsic value of achievement; however, we are committed to acknowledging students for developing good learning habits. Students will be told individually and collectively (as a teaching group, form group or year group) when they have met the academy standards for good behaviour. We want them and their parents to know how they are doing what is expected of them. Good behaviour will be recognised both informally and formally. 2.1 Precise Praise 2.2 Postcards 2.3 Student Appreciation Weeks 2.4 Weekly Year Assemblies 2.5 Half termly Year Assemblies 2.6 Termly Achievement Assemblies 2.7 Annual Awards 2.8 Student Leadership 3.1 Precise Praise Staff will reinforce behaviour as specifically as possible and focus on actions that students can choose to do. A student can’t decide to be a natural in a subject, or decide to be high ability, but a student can decide to work hard and persevere. BEHAVIOUR FOR LEARNING POLICY PAGE 6 OF 22 Key Idea: Differentiate Acknowledgement from Praise: • Acknowledge when expectations have been met (“Thank you for being ready on time” and “I see that we’re ready on time”). • Praise when expectations have been exceeded (“I love that some people going back and revising even though I didn’t ask you to.”). Praising when expectations have simply been met only serves to undermine those same expectations. Modulate and Vary Your Delivery: Generally, privacy is beneficial with critical feedback (as private as possible, as public as necessary). With positives, unpredictability of form can make the feedback memorable and provide cover for critical private interactions. Staff should pay attention to volume and degree of privacy and vary delivery. Use Objective Driven Praise: Staff can, and should, reinforce not only behavioural and social actions but academic ones as well. (“I see people carefully lining up the decimal place as they work”). Note: This implies that positive reinforcement is something you can strategically plan into your lessons and your culture more broadly. Genuine Positives: Students discount insincere praise and often read it as an indication that their work is inferior. Balance positive reinforcement with constructive criticism. Be honest and candid. Introduce variation of delivery (see above) to keep from sounding canned. Talk to students directly. BEHAVIOUR FOR LEARNING POLICY PAGE 7 OF 22 3.2 Attitude to Learning – ‘Leading the Way’ At the end of each half term all teachers will be required to submit an ‘Attitude to Learning’ score for all students.