Lea Nursery School

BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT POLICY

INTRODUCTION

Lea Nursery School’s Policy on behaviour management is informed by the Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL) and the Family Links Programme. The majority of staff have received training in both aspects.

The School seeks to promote behaviour based on mutual respect between all members of the School community. Staff encourage the highest standards in collective and self discipline.

The ethos of the School and the planning of the broad curriculum, promote the attitudes and values necessary for individual children to contribute positively to their own personal development and to that of the School. These attitudes and values are further encouraged through a system of rewards and sanctions. It is noted that a lack or poor discipline can be the result of problems within the family unit or the lack of social skills.

There is a great deal of support given to children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties - some of whom may or may not be statemented. Teaching and support staff offer individual support to children who experience emotional/behavioural difficulties.

Emotional and behavioural difficulties take many forms, i.e.

  • a child may become withdrawn;
  • unable to make friends;
  • a child may be unable to concentrate;
  • a child may become disruptive and/or aggressive.

In such cases the causes of the emotional/behavioural difficulties should be determined (see later section on 'Health' related causes) and strategies may well be needed to build or rebuild the teacher/child relationship. The child will be encouraged to talk about their feelings. In certain cases tangible rewards may be offered in return for improved behaviour and effort. The use of Positive Behaviour Management often leads to successful improvements.

Close liaison with all concerned individuals and agencies, e.g. parents, teachers, Education Welfare Officer, Education Psychology Service, Social Services, etc. is essential for effective modification of the child’s behaviour.

We believe that in dealing with children:

  • Do’s work better than don’ts ( e.g. walk instead of don’t run)
  • Praise works like magic in reinforcing positive behaviour.
  • Empathy helps people to feel understood.
  • We will enable the children to be clear about the positive and negative choice of behaviour and the positive and negative consequences that follow.

GENERAL MANAGEMENT

  • all children have a right to work in a calm, supportive and purposeful atmosphere;
  • details of children with special educational needs are available for all temporary and permanent teaching staff to quickly identify and resolve problem areas;
  • staff share problems that they have with specific children, information about the children and strategies for dealing with the specific problem/individual on a regular basis.

HEALTH RELATED CAUSES OF EMOTIONAL/BEHAVIOURAL DIFFICULTIES Many instances of emotional/behavioural difficulties are caused by undiagnosed medical/psychological problems such as hearing loss, visual impairment or depression. A known medical condition, such as epilepsy or asthma, even when effectively managed by medication can cause emotional/behavioural difficulties. The treatment itself can sometimes cause side effects that may lead to emotional/behavioural difficulties.

The School recognises the importance of INSET on emotional/behavioural management. Further INSET will be provided if required.

STAFF

All staff have responsibility for pastoral care. This includes:

  • giving rewards and sanctions;
  • watching out for children who are behaving out of character;
  • looking for signs of distress and upset;
  • through talking and listening to children, suspected occurrences of non-accidental injury or child abuse can be picked up and reported to the Headteacher for further investigation.

REWARDS

Rewards are a very powerful tool for staff to use. The general practice of classroom management involves many rewards being given to children on a daily basis. These include:

  • verbal praise and stickers.

SANCTIONS

Under normal circumstances a clear distinction is made between minor and more serious offences, e.g. problems in the classroom should initially be dealt with by the staff. The staff use sanctions which are appropriate to the particular offences in a flexible manner, i.e. by considering individual circumstances. Only in severe cases or those exhibiting no signs of improvement should the Headteacher become involved.

ACTION TO BE TAKEN

In many cases of inappropriate behaviour there are offenders and victims. In such a case we talk to the suspected victim, the suspected offender and any witnesses (if appropriate). If any unacceptable behaviour is confirmed, the following action will be taken:

Help, support and counselling will be given as is appropriate to both the victims and the offenders.

We support the victims in the following ways:

  • by offering them an immediate opportunity to talk about the experience with a member of staff or their keyworker if they choose;
  • by discussing appropriate and inapt behaviour in circle time;
  • informing the victim's parents/carers but at the same time respecting that the offender’s name is kept confidential;
  • by offering continuing support when they feel they need it;
  • by taking one or more of the three disciplinary steps described below to prevent more bad behaviour by the offenders.

We also discipline, yet try to help the offenders by talking about what happened to discover why they offended. Sometimes this can be best conducted in private or public (within the class) or possibly with the victim present - great care, experience and knowledge of the individuals is necessary for an appropriate choice to be made to avoid damage to relationships and children’s self-esteem.

The most powerful sanction is the disapproval of individuals who an offender respects, e.g. his/her peers, a parent or a particular teacher. Teachers should also have opportunities to learn from what has happened. The school makes every effort to create a climate in which any sanctions will:

  • have the greatest effect;
  • preclude any reoffence.

We also continue to work with the offenders in order to get rid of unsociable attitudes as far as possible - this may involve the assistance of outside agencies.

Staff may also take one or more of the disciplinary steps described below to prevent more bad behaviour.

STEPS

The offenders may:

  1. be warned to stop offending;
  2. be given time out to calm down ( see appendix)

3.have their parents/guardians informed (parents may be called in to the School);

4.be withdrawn from participating in a particular activity.

N.B. In the cases of racist or sexist behaviour see the relevant policies.

Monitoring Behaviour

The Nursery keeps a diary where instances of inappropriate behaviour are logged, if

these are repeated by the child. The purpose of keeping a log is to monitor the

impact of positive behaviour strategies and to involve other agencies if further

support is needed.

OUTSIDE AGENCIES.

All schools have a wealth of experience amongst the staff and by applying this valuable resource appropriately most problems can be resolved without recourse to specialist help. However on certain occasions help may need to be sought from outside agencies.

Reviewed and updated
Approved by staff and governors