Co-op Academy Princeville wishes to provide a school environment that is safe and stimulating for the children in our care. In order to ensure that this is so, we have introduced a policy with set procedures to create a calm, secure and happy working environment for all.

Aims

To implement procedures for managing behaviour which are supported and followed by the whole school community – parents, teachers, children and Governors – based on a sense of community and shared values.
To foster a caring, family atmosphere, in which teaching and learning can take place in a safe and happy environment.
To provide a safe, nurturing environment that takes into consideration the life experiences and background of our pupils.
Through the School Curriculum, to teach moral values and attitudes, as well as knowledge and skills that promote responsible behaviour, self-discipline, self-respect, tolerance and respect for other people and property.
To provide a curriculum that exposes children to a wide variety of social contexts where different behaviour codes are required.
To make clear to children the distinction between minor misdemeanours and serious misbehaviour and the sanctions that will follow any misbehaviour, placing the emphasis on discipline rather than punishment.
To resolve behavioural problems in a caring and sympathetic manner as they occur, in the expectation of achieving an improvement in behaviour.
To promote the Co-op Ways of Being; Do what matters most, Be yourself, always, Show you care, Succeed together.

The school’s values guide all work with children when dealing with behaviour management; the Vision, Mission and Aims of the school are included at the back of this policy.

Consistent Approach

All members of the school community should respect one another.
All children should acknowledge the authority of, and respect, their teachers and other adults.
Co-op Academy Princeville expects children to be well-behaved, well-mannered and attentive; e.g. Children address adults using their names (Mr Smith etc.); they say please and thank you; they hold doors for each other and say “After you.”
Children walk in lines, with hands by their side, without talking around school.
All children should show regard for their fellow pupils.
All children should respect their own and other people’s property and take care of books and equipment.
Children should wear clean clothes, preferably school uniform, every day.
Children are expected to be punctual.
If a child has a disagreement with another child, it should be reported to a member of staff, who will take appropriate action.
Physical violence is never acceptable, neither is retaliation. Repeated or serious incidents will lead to exclusion.
Foul or abusive language should never be used.
Sexist, homophobic or racist language should never be used.
Incidents should be dealt with straightaway.

NB. The Department of Education’s publication ‘Behaviour and Discipline in schools - Advice for headteachers and school staff’ (January 2016) states that teachers have the power to discipline pupils for misbehaving outside of the school premises “to such an extent as is reasonable” page 9.

Positive Behaviour Management

At Co-op Academy Princeville, teachers teach good behaviour rather than criticise poor behaviour.
All adults model the courtesy, respect and behaviour codes expected of pupils at all times.
All adults model the behaviour they expect of pupils, for example not talking in assemblies.
All adults talk about behaviour explicitly e.g. prepare children by making it clear what is expected in different situations; admire examples of thoughtful or caring behaviour; help children to learn from one another.
All adults reinforce rules and systems rigorously so that the children learn to adopt safe practices.
Adults spend time discussing behaviour when things have gone wrong so that children can learn from mistakes and cope with difficult situations positively.
Adults spend time resolving friendship differences working to develop children’s understanding and sense of justice, forgiveness and reconciliation.

Behaviour Strategies and Teaching Good Behaviour

Adults at Co-op Academy Princeville believe that children need the support of a scaffold around them in order to help them to assume appropriate behaviours. We believe that children need to be taught a wide range of skills in order to feel comfortable in all the situations in which they may find themselves. We believe that poor behaviour usually results from children being uncertain, anxious or unfamiliar of the expectations. We have developed a range of contexts for teaching good behaviour:

Nurture & wellbeing activities

Curriculum

Class teachers’ own incentive systems

FS/KS1 Behaviour reward chart

Pastoral team (see policies and systems)

Extra-curricular activities (forest school)

The school maintains professional relationships between children and adults. Adults are positive role models that set high expectations within a caring learning environment, but they expect children to do their very best at all times.

Rewards

All the children will start on the cloud, if they remain there for the entire day they will collect one dojo, which will then accumulate for the week. Children earning 5 or more Dojos in a week will take part in a Friday treat, as decided by the class or bubble (See behaviour script). Additional dojos will be awarded at the end of each session for those pupils following the new school rules regarding Covid-19.

Some examples of these treats could be: a ‘beat the teacher’ game on the whiteboard, dancing, individual games on tables, craft activity.

Sanctions

The adults at Co-op Academy Princeville do not let things pass; every incident or example of less than our best is tackled in some way. We believe that tackling small actions consistently reinforces the messages about good behaviour to children.

In all disciplinary actions it is essential that the child knows that it is the behaviour which is unacceptable, not the child as a person.

Procedures for Dealing with Major Breaches of Discipline

An oral warning by the Head Teacher concerning future conduct.
Withdrawal to another part of the classroom for a fixed time (with timers used as a visual reminder for children)
Withdrawal to another part of the classroom for the rest of the session.
Sent to a member of SLT to discuss behaviour.
Use of a behaviour card: Assistant/Deputy Headteacher (Yellow Card) or Headteacher (Red Card). Use of behaviour cards is graduated by senior leaders in response to the frequency or severity of the behaviour/incident.
Fixed term exclusion (term 1 – 5 days)
A phone call to parents informing them of their child’s behaviour.
A letter to parents informing them of their child’s unacceptable behaviour.
A meeting with parents, at which a warning is given about further sanctions, unless there is an improvement in the child’s behaviour - to be held remotely.
Daily report to the Head Teacher to confirm that behaviour has been satisfactory (term: one week)
If the problem is severe or recurring – referral to the Inclusion Manager or Pastoral Team
A case conference with parents and support agencies.
Internal Exclusion, and Fixed Term Exclusions may be used where appropriate.
Permanent exclusion, after consultation with the Governing Body and the LEA. Parents have the right of appeal to the Governing Body against any decision to exclude their child. (see exclusions policy)

NB: This is not an exhaustive list; each case will be dealt with individually

Procedures for Dealing with Minor Breaches of Discipline

Redirect to another activity
Talk to the child – Playtime/lunchtime

Where children have taken responsibility for their actions; e.g. told the truth immediately, said that they are sorry, named their own sanction appropriately; sanctions are reduced to reflect the lessons learned. Adults model the importance of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Parents

Parents can help by recognising that an effective School Behaviour Policy requires close cooperation between parents, teachers and children. Parents should discuss the school rules with their child, emphasising that they support the rules.

Attending Parents’ Evenings and parents’ functions and by developing informal contacts with school helps to reinforce their support for the Policy. Learning and teaching cannot take place without sound discipline and parents should recognise that staff will deal with behaviour problems patiently and positively. These will be carried out remotely (e.g. over the phone) during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Responsibilities of Adults in the school

Adults must implement and model the Positive Behaviour Policy at all times.
Teachers must discuss appropriate behaviour with children in anticipation of the many different contexts that they are introduced to in school.
Teachers must recognise their duty to minimise the possibility of inappropriate behaviour by:

providing interesting, challenging and well-paced lessons that motivate and engage the interest of pupils
carefully organising their classrooms; and
supervising movement around school

Support staff must be in their assigned positions ready to supervise children properly.
Every opportunity to build children’s self-esteem through direct and indirect praise and positive reinforcement must be exploited by all adults.
Teachers and other adults must ensure that all interactions with children are characterised by positive language. Adults talk to children in a polite and respectful manner, modelling the behaviour codes they expect from the children at all times.
Raised voices and a change of tone of a voice are sometimes necessary in certain circumstances to indicate levels of disapproval but adults must never present themselves as out of control or in danger of breaching the spirit of this policy.

Through their actions and discussions with children, adults model forgiveness and reconciliation to resolve situations and provide learning experiences for the children.

Zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment and sexual violence

The school will ensure that all incidents of sexual harassment and/or violence are met with a suitable response, and never ignored.

Pupils are encouraged to report anything that makes them uncomfortable, no matter how ‘small’ they feel it might be.

The school’s response will be:

Proportionate
Considered
Supportive
Decided on a case-by-case basis

Sanctions for sexual harassment and violence may include:

A red behaviour card, including monitoring and daily parental involvement
Internal Exclusion
Formal exclusion
Restorative measures

The school has procedures in place to respond to any allegations or concerns regarding a child’s safety or wellbeing. These include clear processes for:

Responding to a report
Carrying out risk assessments, where appropriate, to help determine whether to:

Manage the incident internally
Refer to early help
Refer to children’s social care
Report to the police

Please refer to our child protection and safeguarding policy for more information (available on the academy website).

Serious incidents are recorded on CPOMs.

CPOMs Serious Incident Record

This is used to record:

Any incidents involving a child, or anyone employed in school, resulting in personal injury or damage to property
Loss, theft, or damage to property
Any other incidents or matters of a serious nature.

These incidents are ones that might give rise to disciplinary or legal action or become a matter of public interest (for example confrontational incidents, absconding, etc). We report to the LEA on any incidents of this nature.

CPOMs Discipline Record

The school uses CPOMs to record all incidents that need to be communicated to senior staff in the school. The school employs different codes to indicate the level of concern.

Exclusion must always be recorded. This is for serious occurrences of challenging behaviour (see exclusions policy).

Intervention

If a child attacks another child or adult violently and refuses to calm down, then physical restraint is necessary. All adults are aware of the government document Use of reasonable Force July 2013 and are aware of the law in relation to handling children.

Schools can use reasonable force to:

remove disruptive children from the classroom where they have refused to follow an instruction to do so;
prevent a pupil behaving in a way that disrupts a school event or a school trip or visit;
prevent a pupil leaving the classroom where allowing the pupil to leave would risk their safety or lead to behaviour that disrupts the behaviour of others;
prevent a pupil from attacking a member of staff or another pupil, or to stop a fight in the playground; and
restrain a pupil at risk of harming themselves through physical outbursts. (Page 5)

A Positive Handling Incident entry is completed on CPOMs and the situation discussed with the Head Teacher or SLT member responsible for pastoral care who will work with the member of staff and parents to devise an action plan to meet that child’s and the school’s needs. This might include the involvement of other agencies – Social Services, Psychological Service, Pupil Referral Service, etc.

All incidents of positive handling are reported to parents at the first opportunity.

The school has a Positive Handling Policy, and this is available on the school website.

Script for behaviour procedure

We will always look for children doing the right thing and behaving well.

Say the “name of the child” raise a finger and say ‘that’s 1 you have…’ - no more talking make sure you look directly at them. When saying “that’s 1”, wait 5-10 seconds to give the child a chance to self-correct before continuing.
Child acts out again (can be different behaviour) - you say, ‘that’s 2 you have…’ Again, no more talking or showing emotion. Avoid engaging the child in an argument.
Child acts out again- you say, ‘that’s 3 you have…’ child is then led to a ‘time-out’ space within the classroom and given a timer with X minutes (Rule is typically one minute per year…i.e. age four = four minutes). If the child tries to talk or is acting out in time-out, pick your battles. Disengage and don’t pay attention to them.
When the time out has been served, tell the child why they have reached step 3 on the behaviour chart. Once this is done the child continues with the day.
In cases where a child hits or swears, you immediately go to ‘that’s 3 you have...’ They don’t get multiple chances to hit or swear at others. In this case, it is important to explain to the child that a specific word is not acceptable.
Names need to be taken off from the behaviour chart at the end of the day. Every day should be a ‘fresh start’.
If the child goes through the 1, 2, and 3 process twice a day the Key stage Assistant Head Teacher needs to be informed who will liaise with the HT/DHT/AHT Leading Inclusion to discuss the monitoring process (report card).
If a report card is issued the class teachers will set three behaviour targets for the child for the week.
Positive behaviour will be rewarded with dojos. All the children will start on the cloud if they remain there for the whole day they will receive one dojo. Each child can be awarded 5 dojos per week, plus bonus dojos for carefully following the new school rules. Class targets are set, with the reward agreed with the school council at the beginning of each half-term.

Behaviour Policy