Good Behaviour Policy- Our Lady of Lourdes School RC Primary

Good Behaviour Policy

Our Lady of Lourdes RC Primary School

Our Mission Statement:

We are a Catholic school.

We strive to be a sign of Christ’s presence in the world

We follow Jesus.

Rights Respecting Schools
From Article 3:
The best interest of the child must be a top priority in all things that affect children.
From Article 28:
Discipline in school must respect a child’s dignity.

Review Date: Autumn Term 2017

Policy Statement

Our Lady of Lourdes School is a CatholicSchool. As such, the behaviour of everyone concerned with the school is influenced by our Mission Statement.

We are a CatholicSchool.
We strive to be a sign of Christ’s presence in the world.
We follow Jesus.

Jesus Christ is our model. His teachings are the basis for all our actions. In the light of these teachings we believe that every member of the school community needs to be valued and treated with respect and courtesy. To fulfil this need effectively there is a behaviour policy.

Aims of the Policy

To have a consistent approach to behaviour agreed across the whole school community.
To encourage a secure, calm and purposeful atmosphere and learning environment.
To foster positive caring attitudes towards everyone, where achievements at all levels are acknowledged and valued.
To make boundaries of acceptable behaviour clear and to raise awareness about appropriate behaviour.
To encourage increasing independence and self-discipline so that each child learns to accept responsibility for his/her own behaviour.

We are a UNICEF Rights Respecting School:

  • We make clear our expectations of good behaviour
  • We promote mutual respect
  • We encourage children to take responsibility for their own actions and behaviour
  • We set, through our example, standards of behaviour
  • We praise good behaviour both publicly and privately
  • We teach children about their rights and their responsibilities.

Rights and Respect– For Teachers

All teachers and pupils are individuals. However teachers are adults; pupils are children; teachers have a responsibility to teach them to be responsible members of the community.

Teachers take their role very seriously. Their primary concern is that pupils learn as much as possible to prepare for their lives.

To do this will sometimes mean managing pupil behaviour and taking decisions that will affect them. It is the teacher’s responsibility to ensure that there is a secure and purposeful atmosphere in class.

Teachers have the responsibility to maintain appropriate behaviour in pupils in a way that is fair, firm and consistent for different pupils in different classes.

Rights and Respect - For Pupils

A Rights Respecting School Charter has been drawn up and is displayed around the school :-

Rights / Respect
We all have the right to learn. / I show respect by being in school regularly and on time.
I show respect by demonstrating good learning behaviours.
I show respect by completing my home learning.
We all have the right to be safe. / I show respect by following instructions.
I show respect by followinghealth and safety rules.
We all have the right to be included. / I show respect by including everyone in my games and activities.
We all have the right to be respected. / I show respect by treating everyone as an equal.
We all have the right to a voice. / I show respect by listening to the views of others.

Setting Expectations in Behaviour

In the Classroom

At the start of each year each class will discuss and establish a class charter linking their rights and their responsibilities. This is moulded by our Mission Statement and the UNICEF Convention on the Rights of the Child. The rules will be positive not negative instruction, be age appropriate and make reference to:

Working to the best of our ability / using our talents

Respecting others

Listening to others

Staying safe.

Language linking responsibilities to rights will be used to promote desired behaviours. A resulting class charter will be clearly displayed in classrooms and directly affect attitudes towards the behaviour of everyone in the classroom, pupil and teacher alike.

Playground and Dinner Hall Charters are also displayed around the school.

Celebrating Achievement and Appropriate Behaviour

Recognising, sharing and celebrating achievement is an important part of our lives. Such an approach creates a positive environment in which pupils can develop an understanding of relationships with others and a sense of self-discipline.

Nursery

In Nursery a kindness tree is used to highlight positive acts. The teaching staff write the name of the pupil and a short description of the kind act and place this on the kindness tree.

Stickers are also frequently used to reinforce positive behaviour.

Reception

Class Dojo Points

Pupils in Reception will also be awarded Class Dojo points for certain positive behaviours. Parents will be able to access their own child’s Dojo account and therefore will be able to share in their good behaviour and achievements at school.

If a pupil achieves at least 5 Dojo points in a week, they will be given a special sticker on a merit card. Once they have 10 stickers they visit the Assistant, Deputy or Head Teacher, where their achievements will be celebrated. Pupils may also be recognised in assemblies for their use of positive behaviour.

Year 1 and Year 2

Pupils in Reception will also be awarded Class Dojo points for certain positive behaviours. Parents will be able to access their own child’s Dojo account and therefore will be able to share in their good behaviour and achievements at school.

Merit Cards or Merit Books

Merits will be a system of recognising pupil’s efforts in trying to follow the behaviour code and demonstrating good learning behaviours in all areas of school life. Pupils will be awarded a merit, which will be entered into the pupil’s merit card or merit book.

Year 1 and Year 2: Merit Cards

The aim is for a child to get approximately 2-3 merit cards a year – 1 per term.

Once they have 10 stickers on their merit card, they take their card to the Key Stage 1 Phase Leader for a special sticker in the middle of the card. They can then take it home that day. For subsequent completed cards the pupils may take them to the Deputy Headteacher or to the Headteacher. They may also be recognised in celebration assemblies.

Year 3 to Year 6: Merit Books

Pupils from Year 3 – Year 6 have behaviour books, where each merit is recorded.

12 Merits the Phase Leader will give pupils a certificate to mark their achievement. (10 merits in KS1)

18 Merits the Deputy Head teacher will give pupils a certificate to mark their achievement. (20 merits in KS1)

25 merits the pupils will be given a certificate and Silver Star pin at assembly by the Head teacher.

50 merits pupils are awarded a Gold Star and certificate presented by the Head teacher. Pupils may take these certificates home to share with their parents. Pupil’s record books will be available for parents to see on Open Evenings.

There is an expectation that most pupils will receive at least 20 merits each year.

Stars of the Week

Within each classroom individual pupil’s achievements are recognised in weekly awards e.g. ‘Stars of the Week’. One or two members of each class will be nominated weekly for excellence within a curriculum area or for their positive learning behaviour. They will sit at the front of the whole school assembly to be congratulated.

House Points

Pupils from Y2 – Y6 are in one of four school houses. Points are given for good behaviour, manners and work. These are put onto the House Chart in the classroom. At the end of the week the class Rights Respecting School Ambassadors add up the points and give them to the Y6 RRS Ambassadors. The house with the highest number of points for that week receives a reward usually 15 minutes additional playtime on Friday afternoon.

Playground Support for Pupils in KS1 & Early Years

Early Years Shepherds Across the year all year 6 pupils act as ‘Early Years Shepherds’ on a rota basis throughout the lunchtime period. The shepherds will help the pupils in the dining room and support them in the playground. At wet plays the EYS support the reception pupils in their classroom. Fromthe Summer Term of each year this duty is passed to Y5.

Guardian AngelsSome pupils may have specific difficulties during the lunchtime and benefit from the individual support of a Year 6 volunteer pupil. These volunteers are referred to as ‘Guardian Angels’.

There is a designated ‘quiet area’ in the KS2 playground and pupils are to respect this area and the needs of the pupils asking to use it.

If pupils from Reception or Year 1 feel lonely or worried in the playground at lunchtime or playtimes then they are asked to wait at an area identified as the ‘Friendship Stop’. Some Year 2/3 pupils may be asked to act as ‘Friendship Monitors’.

Strategies for pupils to use to manage a potentially difficult situation:
  1. Say firmly but politely “I don’t like it when you do that – please stop”. (It’s a good idea to look the person directly in the eye when you say this and walk away from the situation after you have delivered this message). At this point you may need to tell an adult straight away depending on how serious the incident is.
  2. If the problem continues – repeat your request but this time tell them you will be seeking adult help, e.g. “I’ve asked you to stop – now I’m going to tell an adult”.
  3. Tell an adult in school.
  4. Keep telling adults – don’t let the person threaten or frighten you.

Strategies for Dealing with Inappropriate Behaviour

Although we always wish to stress the positive nature of a pupil’s behaviour, we accept that there will be occasions when she/he may not accord with our Behaviour Codes and behave inappropriately. These occasions cannot be ignored and the teacher will invite all affected pupils to discuss the difficulties.

Guidelines for Resolving Episodes of Misbehaviour

We encourage pupils to take responsibility for their own behaviour.

We ask them to consider alternative choices.

Where possible we encourage pupils to try to resolve disagreements themselves.

  • Pupils listen to each other without interruptions.
  • Pupils are encouraged to maintain eye contact.
  • Each pupils has a turn to say:
  1. What the other(s) has/have done to upset them.
  2. How they feel about it.
  3. How they would like them to behave in future.

Mutual respect in this discussion is paramount. Pupils must listen carefully and wait their turn – they are discouraged from interruption or argument. Persistent interruptions will result in exclusion from the discussion.

If the pupils cannot resolve the conflict after a reasonable time, then the adult maydecide to make a judgement and make appropriate decisions. All pupils should be encouraged to understand the decisions made. They may not always agree.

Procedures are designed to allow pupils to understand their mistakes. Therefore there should always be a route to work back to behaving in an acceptable way.

Nursery

In Nursery if a pupil does not follow the class or school rules, they are reminded of what appropriate behaviour they should use. If the negative behaviour continues, then they will be asked to sit on the ‘calm chair’ for a short while to think about their behaviour.

Reception

Reception also use a ‘weather chart’ reward system for behaviour. All the pupils have a named gold coin, this is placed at the beginning of each day in the blue sky section of the weather chart. For instances of positive behaviour, the pupil will be rewarded by moving up the chart to the sunshine section, further positive behaviour leads to a rainbow, where a sticker will be awarded to the pupil.

If a pupil displays negative, or inappropriate behaviour, the coin with the pupil’s name on is moved down into the cloudy section, where the pupils are reminded of what appropriate behaviour they should be using. If the negative behaviour continues, then the pupil’s coin is moved into the rainy section of the chart, this means time out will be given for the pupil to reflect on their behaviour. If a pupil is persistently on the rainy section parents will be informed. The pupils move back up the chart by showing acts of positive behaviour.

Year 1 to Year 6: Traffic Light Display

Year 1 use Green – Amber –Red -Time out

Year 2 to Year 6 use Green – Amber – Red

All pupils start each day on Green.

All pupils are made aware of behaviour expectations in school (see above).

Warning

If there is persistent low level misbehaviour pupils can be reminded of what is appropriate by a look, a gesture, a word, a point to behaviour code, a move closer to them or an encouragement. The focus is on work rather than comment on misbehaviour (e.g. what’s the next thing you have to do).

The reason for the warning is to ensure that pupils understand their mistakes. There is always a route to work back to behaving in an expected way. Also it ensures that the Policy can be applied to all pupils, even those with specific behavioural difficulties.

Continuation of undesired behaviour – move colour

If there is a repeat, the pupil receives a warning that a continuation of the behaviour will result in moving down a colour. If it is repeated, then the pupil is asked to move their name down a colour from green to amber, or amber to red.

Teacherswill at this stage move the pupils name down a colour.If possible the pupil will move their own name down.

Differentiation: some pupils will need more or less ostentatious, obvious or unambiguous reminders and warnings than others.

Pupils moving on to red receive an automatic half sanction.Year 1 pupils moving on to Time out will receive an automatic half sanction. This it to give them an additional step which is more suitable to their age.

Sanctions

A full sanction will be given as a result of swearing, lying, fighting or other more major breach of our behaviour code. There should also be an immediate consequence e.g. missing playtimes for the rest of the day (including lunch play).

Half sanctions are given immediately as a result of lower level incidents of unacceptable behaviour orrepeated incidents of not following the relevant charters as detailed above. There should be an immediate consequence for this such as missing 15mins of play.

In Year 5 and Year 6If the pupil is moved to orange, then this results in a loss of 5 minutes of playtime. If they receive half a sanction, then they lose 15 minus of their break or lunchtime.

After 3 full sanctions (2 in KS1)in any school term the pupil will be sent to the Phase Leader. The visit will be recorded by the teacher on the record book. There will be a withdrawal of privileges* for one week and parents notified by letter. Any further sanctions, up to 5 sanctions will result in withdrawal of privileges.

*Loss of privileges will include for example:

  • Missing a playtime,
  • Doing an activity at home,
  • Taking time out in another classroom
  • Community service.

After 6 sanctions (4 in KS1) in any school term the child will visit the Deputy Head teacher. Further loss of privileges and formal written contact with parents. The pupils will be put on report with weekly meetings with the Head teacher, pupil and parent.

After 9 sanctions (6 in KS1) in any school term the child will visit the Head teacher and in discussion with parents exclusions may be necessary.

For pupils in Years 3 to Years 6, each term they build on merits previously received, while starting a fresh with regards to sanctions.

Lunchtime and Playtime
Any unacceptable behaviour at lunchtime will be dealt with by the duty staff who will liaise with the Class Teacher when necessary.

Other informal systems are used to support the behaviour policy throughout the school. These may include Star of the Week, house points, Dojo Points etc.

Health and Safety Rules

How to be safe in school:
Do listen carefully to advice from adults
Do be sure to think about what you say
Do show respect and good manners to all the adults
Do always tell the truth
Do line up sensibly
Do be friendly and kind to others
Do give everyone a chance to join in
Do follow the play structure rules
Do listen to each other’s views.

Play fighting is not allowed at Our Lady of Lourdes School

Pupils have the right to a safe environment. A few simple rules will help us make sure that the school is a safe place. Everyone is asked to observe the following points:

  • Sun cream, lip balms and Vaseline not ordinarily be brought into school but put on before school.(Under exceptional circumstances e.g. a very hot summer these may be brought in following a written request from parent and self-administered in the first aid room).
  • Only monies for dinners, school outings or special collections should be brought to school
  • Sweets and toys should be left at home.
  • Exits should be kept clear of prams and pushchairs
  • Bicycles should be kept locked whilst on site in the ‘cycle park’.
  • Bicycles, scooters, skateboards and skates are not allowed to be used in the playgrounds before, during or after school except in supervised sessions.
  • Permission must be sought by pupils before entering the building at playtime or lunchtime.
  • Pets should not be brought onto school site.
  • Ice-creams and hot drinks should not be brought onto the school site.
  • Smoking is not permitted on the school premises.
Pupil’s Involvement

It is very important for the pupils of Our Lady of Lourdes School not only to understand the behaviour code but also regard it as their own. Throughout the process of drawing up this behaviour policy we have sought the views of the pupils. With such ownership they will feel that they had a part to play in its formation.