Brighton and Hove Pupil Referral Unit
PUPIL BEHAVIOUR AND DISCIPLINE POLICY
Introduction
Our Pupil Referral Unit deals with a wide spectrum of pupils in a variety of contexts. Naturally, the issue of pupil behaviour is central to our school and this document delineates both the philosophy and practice that informs our work.
It seeks to provide a practical guide for staff in managing behaviour whilst ensuring that practice is grounded in a philosophy that places the needs of the child at its centre. All staff have been involved in the development of this policy and all staff should be familiar with it.
Ethos
The Pupil Referral Unit is committed to inclusive education and securing the greatest possible access to learning and achievement for pupils with emotional, social and behavioural difficulties. Central to our ethos is the belief that pupils’ behaviour can be modified, managed and enhanced in order to enable them to engage with the learning process.
We believe that pupils can be encouraged and taught to control their behaviour and that staff can influence pupils’ behaviour to create environments where learning can take place in a calm, purposeful atmosphere.
Our belief that pupils can work towards autonomous control of their behaviour is tempered by our belief that children and young people need guidance and boundaries. The range of provision at the Pupil Referral Unit is designed to meet the individual needs of the child as much as is possible.
We are convinced that where pupils’ needs are adequately catered for appropriate behaviour is fostered and emotional development is facilitated. This focus on pupils’ individual needs encompasses their curriculum needs and differentiation is a keyword in our approach to teaching and learning.
Promoting Good Behaviour
Creating an appropriate environment to meet pupils’ needs will provide the backdrop against which behaviour can improve and be maintained. However, there are techniques and procedures that further enhance the process that collectively we would describe as Positive Teaching.
This approach entails the systematic and consistent application of sound behavioural principles centred on the positive reinforcement of desired behaviours. Teachers use verbal praise of pupils for both work and behaviour as a basic technique. This may seem an obvious approach but in fact research and our own observations have shown that as a profession we tend to lapse into negative reinforcement and focus on rule breaking rather than giving positive feedback to pupils who are behaving appropriately – most teachers will recognise this as “nagging” pupils.
Verbal praise is reinforced by other rewards such as tokens, stickers and certificates. The different locations will use their own preferred rewards but all find that even the most seemingly disaffected of pupils value these.
Managing Challenging Behaviour
Together with our emphasis on positive reinforcement of appropriate behaviour is an equally consistent insistence on standards of behaviour being maintained.Our most basic rules across the organisation are:
• Follow directions from staff
• Complete all work set to the best of your ability and seek help if needed
• Speak to others with respect – that is without swearing or shouting
• Treat people and property with care
• Keep to areas where you know you are allowed
• Think and negotiate rather than react and demand
Staff at the PRU are expected to respond to all cases of rule breaking and to do so in a calm and measured way. Responses to rule breaking should follow a graded response as outlined below:
• Verbal warning
• Second verbal warning
• Clear choice and consequence given which may include:
- Work separately within class with a support assistant
- Assistance from another teacher (active backup)
- Work in another area with a support assistant
- Work in another area with a teacher or Head of Learning Community
Other strategies will be tried including for example daily phone call home, positive behaviour report, missing portion of break and/or lunchtime.
Where many strategies have been implemented and a pupil’s behaviour continues to be challenging the parent/carer will be contacted and arrangements made for other measures to be adopted. The parent/carer should be informed of any action taken and meetings may be arranged to discuss the next step. Restorative approaches are at the forefront of our work with challenging behaviour and enabling change. If the pupil has damaged property or been physically aggressive a fixed-term exclusion may be considered. In such a case, statutory procedures should be followed and a reintegration meeting with a senior member of staff arranged.
Staff are always able to call on colleagues to support them in preventing and dealing with difficult behaviour. Each location should have a system of “active backup” available separately.
Serious incidents or concerns should be recorded to facilitate analysis of a pupil’s behaviour over a period of time and pupils’ behaviour more generally. This is usually through the behaviour log.
Physical Management of Pupils
Core Value Statements
The following core values are taken from ‘Team Teach’ training and are the basis on which the PRU forms its bedrock of approaches.
• Challenging behaviour is often the result of a breakdown in communication. Staff involved in supporting children should aim to understand what function the behaviour serves and to help the child learn more socially acceptable means of expressing their need for support.
• Behavioural interventions which seek to only control behaviour, rather than understand its meaning, are likely to prevent individuals from making the most of their potential.
• The purpose of the ‘Team Teach’ training undertaken by PRU staff is to support adults’ understanding and management of challenging behaviour, by embedding the teaching of physical techniques within a holistic de-escalation approach, in order to encourage the promotion of socially acceptable behaviours for all concerned.
• 95% of behaviour interactions should involve techniques that do not require physical management
Positive Handling: Positive handling describes a holistic approach to a range of risk reduction strategies which include non verbal, verbal and where ‘reasonable and absolutely necessary’, physical interventions. Positive handling should be supported by documentation which supports the individual and aims to provide security, safety acceptance for recovery, repair and reflection for all concerned.
Core Principles:
• Showing self restraint rather than applying physical restraint; preventing and predicting rather than reacting and responding.
• All significant incidents should be followed by a positive listening and learning process
• “I care enough about you not to let you be out of control.”
• Staff numbers (minimum of 2 involved)
• Minimum force and time & last resort (where possible)
• Techniques that allow for verbal communication and do not rely on pain or “locks” for control.
• Staff safety and protection issues addressed
Physical interventions with pupils should only occur as a last resort where:
• All attempts have been made to divert, defuse and de-escalate the situation. (The aim is to resolve 95% of situations without the need for physical intervention)
• There is a developing risk of serious harm to individuals, including the pupil concerned or an imminent risk of significant damage to property.
• Verbal calming techniques and other strategies have not resolved the situation
All staff should be trained in physical intervention (and alternatives to it) along the lines of accredited training for example Team Teach, SCIP or Maybo techniques. Staff should also be aware of all statutory guidance.
We aim for teachers and teaching assistants at the PRU to have been trained to use Team Teach methods. There will be updated training opportunities to ensure accreditation is up to date (within 2 years of initial training).
Where a physical management has been used the incident should be recorded on the Physical Intervention Report Form. All incidents of serious aggressive behaviour should be noted by staff on the Serious Incident Report Form and other less serious incidents should be recorded in the Pupil Behaviour Log (see appendices).
Parents/Carers
Parents/carers are of course crucial to achieving successful outcomes for our pupils. Parents will be formally involved with any decisions made about their children in the form of interviews for new pupils, IEP reviews and Annual Reviews if applicable. We would also expect though that parents/carers would be contacted (by phone or in writing) on a regular basis where a pupil’s behaviour, positive or negative, warrants it. Wherever possible regular contact and communication is crucial to working together for positive outcomes with behaviour.Our aim must be to promote a partnership with parents/carers in which both sides reinforce the process of change.
Legal Framework
The PRU policy operates within agreed legal guidelines and definitions and follows the Team Teach guidance as follows:
• Offences Against the Person Act 1861
• The Children and Young Persons Act 1933
• Health & Safety at Work Act 1974
• Violence at Work 2003
• Manual Handling Regulations 1992
• The Children Act 1989 / National Minimum Standards
• United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (ratified 1991)
• Human Rights Act 1998
• Disability Rights Act 2001
• The Children Act 2004
• Mental Health Act 2007 Part 2 made amendments to The Mental Capacity Act 2005(MCA) by the intorduction of deprivation of liberty safeguards(MCA Dols)
• Section 93 Education & Inspection Act 2006
• Section 45 Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006
• Use of Force Guidance April 2012 ( England)
• National Minimum Standards Sept 01 2011 ( England – Residential Special Schools and Children’s Homes)
This updated guidance replaces and supersedes DCSF Use of Force Guidance issued August 2011.
Key points:
• School staff have a legal power to use force and lawful use of the power will provide a defence to any related criminal prosecution or other legal action.
• Suspension should not be an automatic response when a member of staff has been accused of using excessive force.
• Senior school leaders should support their staff when they use this power
All members of school staff have a legal power to use reasonable force.
This power applies to any member of staff at the school. It can also apply to people whom the head teacher has temporarily put in charge of pupils such as unpaid volunteers or parents accompanying students on a school organised visit.
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
• restrain a pupil at risk of harming themselves through physical outbursts.
Schools cannot use force as a punishment - it is always unlawful to use force as a punishment.
Every school is required by law to have a behaviour policy and to make this policy known to staff, parents and pupils. The management committee should notify the Head that it expects the school behaviour policy to include the power to use reasonable force.
It is good practice to set out in the behaviour policy, the circumstances in which force might be used.
Any policy on the use of reasonable force should acknowledge their legal duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled children and children with special educational needs.
It is good practice for schools to speak to parents about serious incidents involving the use of force and to consider how best to record such serious incidents.
It is up to schools to decide whether it is appropriate to report the use of force to parents.
Criteria for a serious incident
In deciding what a serious incident is, teachers should use their professional judgement and also consider the following:
• the pupil’s behaviour and level of risk presented at the time of the incident
• the degree of force used
• the effect on the pupil or member of staff
• the child’s age
Pupil complaints
When a complaint is made the onus is on the person making the complaint to prove that his/her allegations are true – it is not for the member of staff to show that he/she has acted reasonably.
Suspension must not be an automatic response when a member of staff has been accused of using excessive force.
Suspension
If a decision is taken to suspend a teacher, the school should ensure that the teacher has access to a named contact who can provide support.
Governing bodies should always consider whether a teacher has acted within the law when reaching a decision on whether or not to take disciplinary action against the teacher.
As employers, schools and local authorities have a duty of care towards their employees. It is important that schools provide appropriate pastoral care to any member of staff who is subject to a formal allegation following a use of force incident.
Unacceptable Risk
A panel of experts identified that certain restraint techniques presented an unacceptable risk when used on children and young people. The techniques in question are:
• the ‘seated double embrace’ which involves two members of staff forcing a person into a sitting position and leaning them forward, while a third monitors breathing
• the ‘double basket-hold’ which involves holding a person’s arms across their chest.
• the ‘nose distraction technique’ which involves a sharp upward jab under the nose.
Search for Weapons and Prohibited Items
Reasonable force may also be used in exercising the statutory power, introduced under section 45 of the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 (and re-enacted by Section 242 of the ASCL Act 2009), to search pupils without their consent for weapons.
Head teachers and authorised staff can use force as is reasonable given the circumstances to conduct a search for the following prohibited items1: knives and weapons, alcohol, illegal drugs, stolen items, tobacco and cigarette papers, fireworks, pornographic images, any article that has been or is likely to be used to commit an offence, cause personal injury or damage to property.