St Luke’s CE Primary School Behavioural Policy
Children come to school to learn. They learn about academic subjects, creativity and about their feelings, emotions and relationships. We do not expect children to come knowing all there is to know about the academic subjects nor do we expect children to know all there is to know about being a social being. Children develop that knowledge and understanding through experience, the ethos of the school and the taught curriculum. Our Christian foundation means that forgiveness is a cornerstone of our behaviour, emotion and relationship work. We have taken the prayer of St Francis as our text to live by:
Make me a channel of Your peace
Where there is hatred, let me bring Your love
Where there is injury, Your pardon Lord
And where there’s doubt, true faith in You
Make me a channel of Your peace
Where there’s despair in life, let me bring hope
Where there is darkness, only light
And where there’s sadness, ever joy
Oh Master, grant that I may never seek
So much to be consoled as to console
To be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love with all my soul
Make me a channel of Your peace
It is pardoning that we are pardoned
In giving to all men that we receive
And in dying that we’re born to eternal life
Teaching about feelings and relationships is done through our Character Education and PSHE. Children are also given opportunities to learn about feelings and relationships through the way we help them resolve any difficulties. We explore what happened to them, how that made them feel, how it made others feel and how we could change the outcome. For example, two children who have fallen out in the playground are given time to calm down, time to explain what they felt had happened to them, time to listen to the other side of the story and then time to explore what could have been done differently ‘when I thought he was being unfair I could have told him.’ ‘When we were arguing we could have asked a buddy or an adult to help us.’
For the majority of our children behaviour, relationships and emotions are managed through the everyday behaviour practices.
- An understanding of the school rules:
Try to be the best you can be and have a positive attitude.
Be ready to learn.
Do as you are asked first time.
Be honest with yourself and others.
Treat people the way you want to be treated and use friendly words and behaviour.
Respect each other and the things around you. - Positive reinforcement for doing the right thing through; praise, House Points, Super Student Badges, Stickers.
- Time to reflect when things have gone wrong. This may be in a child’s own time such as playtime, in another classroom or with the Headteacher whichever is the most appropriate for the child at that time.
- Discussing difficulties a child is having with parents to come up with an agreed plan to support the child.
Sometimes there are situations or individuals that fall outside this day to day support for the child, just as there are children who need individual academic support, for example:
- Bullying – this is defined as actions that are Several Times On Purpose, it is not children falling out, even if they keep falling out. If there is an allegation of bullying it is fully investigated. The child who has been made to feel uncomfortable by another is supported. The child who has made another feel uncomfortable is supported to understand the consequences of their actions and why they are inappropriate. A plan is devised with the people involved to help prevent a reoccurrence. Children will be encouraged to tell, and tell and tell to make sure things do not keep happening. Incidents of bullying are recorded.
- Derogatory language such as homophobic, racist, sexist, abelist etc. It is made very clear that such language is intimidating and will not be tolerated. If a child is accused of using such language the incident will be investigated and if it is found that they have used derogatory language why that language is inappropriate is explained. Should there be another incident of the same kind of language a plan will be put in place to support the child to develop more inclusive underlying beliefs about the world and the people in it.
- Peer on Peer abuse – If there is an incident of peer on peer abuse this will be investigated. The underlying causes of such behaviour will be explored a risk assessment will be undertaken and a support plan put in place.
- Children who have experienced trauma or have attachment difficulties may well find it difficult to self-regulate and the behaviour strategies outlined above may well not work. School will work with the child, parents and outside agencies to develop an individual plan to help the child. This may involve strategies such as co-regulation, reframing questions and thoughts and the Five to Thrive neurological sequence. Risk assessments may need to be undertaken to keep other children safe. Other children may need to be helped to understand that the child is not ‘naughty’ but is not able to operate the way they can at the moment.
These are just some examples of occasions where children will need more or different from the standard behaviour management.
For all incidences of unwanted behaviour, the same principals apply, investigate, everyone to gain understanding, learn from it if possible and forgive.