SP6 Behaviour Support Policy

Aims:

  • To provide a positive behaviour support framework within which the student’s learning is promoted
  • To use positive reinforcement of appropriate behaviour
  • To help students understand what is appropriate behaviour and aid their progress towards greater self-management / self-regulation.
  • To support all staff in effectively managing behaviours that may cause harm to self or others
  • To ensure our staff fully understand their responsibility for due diligence in the care and education of our young people.
  • To promote reflective practice in positive behaviour support at all levels.

Purpose:

  • To provide a transparent and consistent approach to behaviour support and management across the school to meet the highly specific needs of our young people
  • To promote behaviour which maximises independence by supporting personal dignity and respect for others
  • To ensure that behaviour can be viewed as both a positive or negative aspect of a young person’s conduct and is often a communication tool for complex PMLD learners.

Definitions:

Appropriate behaviour at Pears Centre School is defined as:

  • Understanding that others have rights, feelings and opinions
  • Helping to make the school a safe, pleasant, and happy place to learn in
  • Communicating with others in an appropriate way
  • Listening to others
  • Helping to keep the school clean, tidy and undamaged
  • Looking after property
  • Respecting each other’s right to space, safety and dignity
  • Being kind to oneself

Organisation:

Rewards:

Good and outstanding teaching routinely uses the following rewards:

  • Smile or other sign of approval
  • Verbal or tactile praise
  • Written praise
  • Mentions given
  • Praise passed on to others
  • Put work on display
  • Weekly Wow awards
  • The School holds a weekly celebration assembly for all young people and students receive Head Teacher awards for being nominated by their class as the ‘Star of the Week’
  • Communication with parents or carers
  • Young people hang their picture on our achievement tree to help celebrate their success with termly recognition for the most nominations.

All staff at Pears Centre School are expected to use all of the above as often as they are able for every pupil. All staff are expected to support students to make appropriate choices and behave in an appropriate way for their individual profile of needs throughout the school day.

Students review work and progress at the end of each lesson and at the end of the school day. Certificates are awarded for good achievement and are presented to the students in assembly.

Sanctions:

Good and outstanding teaching routinely uses the following sanctions:

  • Look of disapproval
  • Requesting an apology (where cognition allows)
  • Planned ignoring
  • Moving away from situation within the classroom
  • Verbal feedback and/or firm voice
  • Communication with parents and carers

All staff at Pears Centre School will at times use all of the above. However we would rather reward appropriate behaviour than use a sanction. We wish for all students to complete the school day successfully, so encourage the use of distraction, re-direction or time to calm techniques to refocus learning.

The use of Restrictive Physical Interventions (RPI) at RNIB Pears:

At Pears all class based staff, after their _ weeks are trained in the use of PROACT SCIPr, as our behaviour support model across the site. This method places a high level of focus on prevention, de-escalation, distraction and re-direction techniques. PROACT SCIPr – UK is a BILD accredited whole approach to behaviour support which focuses on staff being proactive and using prevention, de-escalation, distraction and re-direction techniques.

We feel that PROACT SCIPr offers the best opportunity for our young people to self-manage and make the right choices improving the quality of their life and improving their life choices.

The school has two training and experienced PROACT SCIPr instructors who lead induction and foundation training for new staff and refresher training annually.

The PROACT SCIPr philosophy ‘the whole approach’ underpins everything we do at RNIB Pears School.

What is Reasonable Force? (DFE Guidelines 2013)

  1. The term ‘reasonable force’ covers the broad range of actions used by most school staff at some point in their careers that involve a degree of physical contact with students.
  2. Force is usually used either to control or restrain. This can range from guiding a pupil to safety through to more extreme circumstances where a student needs to be restrained to prevent violence or injury.
  3. Out positive behaviour support model PROACT SCIPr trains staff to be pro-active 70+% of the time to prevent challenging behaviours, to use reactive techniques such as distraction/firm voice 20+5 of the time and to use approved physical interventions under 10%.
  4. Restraint means to hold back physically or to bring a pupil under control. It is typically used in more extreme circumstances, for example when two pupils are fighting and refuse to separate without physical intervention.
  5. School staff should always try to avoid acting in a way that might cause injury, but in extreme cases it may not always be possible to avoid injuring the pupil.

Exclusion from Learning:

RNIB Pears recognises that student behaviours that are deemed to be "challenging" are usually attempts to communicate feelings, wishes and frustrations. They may also be an indication that a student is unwell. With this in mind, staff will endeavour to interpret the behaviour exhibited and to react accordingly. RNIB Pears Centre operates a 'No Exclusion' approach to behaviour management. If student behaviours were to become too high risk, the school would, however, need to consider the appropriateness of the placement and work with the young person, their family and the funding authority to review the placement at RNIB Pears.

All students have a behaviour support plan that details both positive behaviours exhibited by the young person and appropriate ways of managing an individual's challenging behaviours. This includes particular ways that the individual responds to reward as well as acceptable interventions that may be used.

Student dignity and safety are paramount at all times. Any incidents of challenging behaviour and/or the use of sanctions are noted on the pupil's behaviour record sheet in their liaison book, and any accident or incident forms completed. It is important that the students are debriefed about their behaviours and why any sanctions may have been used. They also need to be offered an opportunity to debrief and discuss acceptable and alternative behaviours.

Relation to School Aims:

  • To provide a positive, safe, caring learning environment where every person is valued as an individual
  • To promote self-esteem, confidence and awareness in students and staff
  • To encourage the exploration and understanding of values and moral issues
  • To encourage the students to enjoy the process of learning, and to develop their capabilities to learn skills for life
  • To support our young people toward greater independence

Developing Behaviour support plans:

The behaviour support plans for our young people are developed involving school and care staff under the guidance of the behaviour support specialist.

The focus is on recognising and promoting positive behaviour and having a consistent whole site response to challenging behaviours.

The draft behaviour support plan is agreed by the Head teacher and the Registered Manager of the Children’s home, and shared with families, social workers and all staff in the school and children’s home.

All staff are fully trained in the PROACT SCIPr UK model of positive behaviour support and follow the behaviour support plan developed for each young person, ensuring they adopt best practice at all times. The on-site PROACT SCIPr instructors constantly review accident/incident reports and monitor practice, providing additional support whenever it is required. Staff undergo an initial 2 day induction and foundation PROACT SCIPr -UK training course, which is fully accredited by, and risk assessed, by BILD. Staff have annual/day refresher training and all instructors undergo re-certification on an annual basis. Behaviour support plans identify the appropriate PROACTIVE, REACTIVE and Interventions for each young person, and staff are tasked with consistently implementing the guidance in the behaviour support plan. The behaviour support plan is reviewed every 6 months or more frequently if concerns are raised about increased frequency of challenging behaviour. We ensure full consultation with everyone who is involved in our young peoples’ care, development and learning including teachers, teaching assistants, parents, carers, social workers, IRO’s and representatives of the local authority and commissioners.

We recognise that certain individuals might require physical intervention or restraint to protect themselves or others from significant harm. The young person’s safety and wellbeing is of paramount importance when considering using any form of physical intervention.

  • In the case of those interventions that are planned and predictable the permitted actions are to be found in the individual’s behaviour plans and risk assessments.
  • In an emergency situation physical interventions or restraints my need to be used as a duty of care (ie young person running into a road, young person strangling a member of staff or another child).
  • In an emergency staff have a duty of care to use interventions. Emergency or unplanned interventions are used on the spur of the moment without previous preparation or discussion. When using the intervention, you must consider speed, timing, self-control and judgement. Planned interventions are agreed procedures in response to anticipated procedures and clearly defined behaviours.
  • When intervention is used it must be :

Reasonable, proportionate, necessary and in the best interest of the child (as highlighted in Warwickshire Safeguarding Children’s board policy and guidance statement), For example if they have removed their clothes they must be at the stage they can redress before leaving this area before maintaining their dignity.

  • If young people are distressed and becoming a risk to themselves or to the staff, staff may need to encourage the young person to remain in a safe space where they can be monitored. Staff should be ready to respond to the young person as they begin to calm, monitoring and observing. If they attempt to leave the safe space before ready, staff should confirm with them what they need to do before they can leave the area. If the zip on the safe space has to be held closed, the restrain book must be fully completed and brought immediately to the Head teacher or SLT on site.
  • If there is a possibility that a young person may need to be restrained in a safe space it must be recorded in their behaviour plan and signed off by behaviour nurse specialist / social worker / registered manager / key worker / head teacher.
  • All young people should be monitored by staff after any physical interventions, and referred to a qualified nurse or medical practitioner if needed.

De-Briefing:

RNIB Pears Centre for Specialist Learning recognises the importance of a debriefing for staff and young people when they have been involved in an incident. PROACT SCIPr training highlights the importance of staff debriefing after an incident involved emotional and physical responses.

‘Following an incident in which restrictive physical interventions are employed both staff and service users should be given separate opportunities to talk about what has happened in a calm and safe environment. Interviews should only take place when those involved have recovered their composure. Post-incident interviews should be designed to discover exactly what happened and the effects on the participants. They should not be used to apportion blame or punish those involved. If there is any reason to suspect the service users or the member of staff have experienced injury or severe distress following the use of physical intervention they should receive prompt medical attention.’ (Department of Health, Guidance for Restrictive Physical interventions)

De-Briefing Procedure:

For the young person:

  • Theclass leader / team leader must meet with the young person for a debrief within 5 days of the incident, part of the discussion must be about how the young person is feeling about the incident and following on from the incident. Class teacher/team leader to also record body language/gestures etc.
  • Comments and action plan following on from the incident must be included in the weekly behaviour analysis for the individual young person.

For Staff:

  • This procedure is to be followed after a member of staff has experienced an incident with a young person showing challenging behaviours or distress.
  • A member of staff or agency worker involved in an incident as described above must report it to the management team if working in the children’s home and a teacher if working in the school, the therapy team need to report to either depending on where the incident occurred.
  • For some members of staff the reporting of the incident may be debriefing enough for others they may need a more formal debriefing (they may need more than one) involving their line manager.
  • Once the formal debriefing has taken place the debriefing form needs completing and passing on to the lead PROACT SCIPr instructor and Behaviour nurse specialist.
  • The lead instructor will review the form and take any necessary action.

Once completed the forms will be confidentially stored

SP6 Behaviour Policy