Behaviour and Procedures
"At Westerings Primary Academy our children and staff treat each other with respect and tolerance, treating others as we would like to be treated ourselves..."
Local Arrangements for Behaviour
Our aim is to promote an ethos where everyone feels happy, comfortable and confident within our school surroundings. Exceptional behaviour is founded on strong and positive relationships. This policy aims to promote exceptional behaviour, self-discipline and respect; prevent bullying; ensure that pupils complete assigned work; and regulate the conduct of pupils.
At Westerings, we:
• promote and develop self-discipline; awareness and respect for the whole school communities’ needs
• understand, and respect the needs and rights of others
• show a caring attitude for people, property and the environment.
Class Rules / Class Charter
Classroom rules, class charter, should be established promptly at the start of each academic year and negotiated by the children and teachers together. Class Charter; the children and staff will agree a short list (approx. 5-8) rules, rights and responsibilities. These will feature as a document displayed in the classroom, which can be signed by the teacher and pupils to show their agreement to these commitments. They should be:
• Kept simple and understandable.
• Displayed clearly in the room.
• Written as positive statements.
• Used as opportunities to praise and as discreet reminders to individuals.
• Reviewed regularly (at least termly) to cover respect, communication, learning, movement and safety, as well as the needs of the specific cohort.
Effective class and group management skills are the most essential factors in achieving high standards of behaviour. Classroom organisation is important so that children have routine and order in a limited space.
Playground Rules
Playground rules have been created by the children and staff together. These rules are reviewed and discussed in our whole school assemblies, with our Playleaders, Midday Assistants and with our student council members. They are displayed clearly in the playground and everyone is expected to adhere to them.
Behaviour Management and Routines
Positive Behaviour Management and associated reflective conversations should:
a) Develop children’s self-discipline and self-control.
b) Enable children to be on task with their learning.
c) Enhance their self-esteem.
d) Encourage accountability and responsibility for behaviour.
e) Encourage a child to recognise and respect the views and rights of others.
f) Promote values of honesty, fairness, respect for others, property and environment.
g) Encourage co-operation in learning.
h) Encourage responsible independence in learning.
i) Help resolve conflicts and reflect on the choices they made.
To establish the high expectations of behaviour and to ensure our academy can function effectively for everyone, there are times when we need routines that are consistent throughout the academy:
Playground Supervision Break time 10.30 – 10.45 am
We expect high standards of behaviour at break time. All children are expected to be good role models for each other. It is our belief that if children are well occupied, there is less opportunity for issues to arise. Playground games and equipment are available for the children to play with, and significant investment in outdoor activity areas has taken place in recent years to facilitate purposeful playtimes. If any issues do arise then these must be dealt with immediately. Always listen to each side of the story in order to establish what has taken place. Minor misdemeanours can be dealt with through warnings, extra supervision or the child remaining with an adult for the rest of the session. More serious incidents such as hitting, kicking etc, will result in appropriate sanctions (e.g. incident logged on Arbor system, loss of playtime, writing letter of apology etc.). Missed playtimes can be a sanction for poor behaviour choices. At the end of playtime, children are asked to walk to their class lines where they line up quietly and sensibly. Children line up at their class doors where teaching staff will invite the class back into their classroom.
“Staying in” Supervision If a member of staff wishes a child to remain in school during portions of their break time or lunchtime, that member of staff must ensure adequate supervision. A toilet and refreshment opportunity will be offered before the child is required to rejoin lessons.
Lunchtime
EYFS:/Infants 12:00pm - 12:45pm, Juniors: 12:30pm - 1:15pm
• Infant classes will be lined up by teachers and led into the hall at 12:00pm by a midday assistant or from the playground shortly thereafter.
• At the end of Infant lunchtime, a midday assistant will blow the whistle and the children will line up outside classes at 12:45pm.
• Junior children will go into the playground at the beginning of their lunchtime.
• Each class – dinners and sandwiches – will be called for by the mid-day assistant. Children eating school dinners are checked against the daily register as they enter the canteen.
• Children should not be in classrooms unsupervised during playtimes or lunchtimes.
• Any issues regarding behaviour must be dealt with immediately, and not left for the teacher to resolve after lunchtime. A note must be made in the Midday’s book of what has taken place, who was involved and how it was dealt with. A more serious incident must be relayed back to the class teacher at the end of lunchtime and to the supervisor, Mrs Clarke, so that the incident can be logged on Arbor. Senior staff will audit these logs on a weekly basis to look for trends/patterns.
• At the end of Junior lunch time the children will line up outside their classrooms.
• Playleaders (pupils) support younger children by running games and activities.
Lunch time Field Supervision
When children are on the school field, Adventure Golf or down in the woodland areas, members of the midday team will monitor these areas and the playground toilets will be monitored separately. All midday staff on thei field carry First Aid kits. Children are not to leave the field unless they have permission from an adult.
Out of School Supervision
• When children have sports, educational visits etc, offsite, and the staff in charge of the children will be making judgements as to acceptable standards of behaviour in accordance with the Trust's Behaviour Policy.
• If outside coaches/ club leaders are taking a club, they must abide by the Trust's Behaviour Policy. If persistent or unacceptable behaviour is encountered, the trainers/coaches must report this to a member of staff. Persistent poor behaviour may result in a child losing the privilege of attending after school clubs or participating in certain off-site visits.
Positive Behaviour Management
These are the systems and processes that have been agreed by the whole staff in order to promote positive behaviour consistently across the academy. They have been shared with pupils and parents. Children receive Dojos as positive recognition of exceptional behaviour and attitude. Dojos are collected by children electronically (using the ClassDojo system) and then tallied up at the end of each term. Children earn rewards (NutNotes - currency to use within our school shop) for the more Dojos collected.
We have 4 school houses at Westerings – Badgers, Foxes, Squirrels and Woodpeckers. Throughout the academic year, children get to work alongside (or compete against!) each other in their house groups e.g. Sports Days. Older children often get to be role models for the younger pupils in their house groups; they act as good role models. Our children show pride in their house groups and work hard to set high standards to achieve points for their house. House Points can be awarded to individual children for exceptional behaviour, attendance, playtime/lunchtime behaviour and other positive attitudes. These are tallied at the end of the year - one house wins the House Cup!
Agreed behaviours and actions that will be rewarded with Dojos.
Each teacher sets the range of positive behaviours that can lead to Dojos being given, using their app/desktop site of ClassDojo.com. In addition to these, we also have our whole-school values which pupils can earn Dojo points for. Outstanding work, effort, politeness, kindness, positive attitude, supporting others, good manners and exceeding expectations are some examples.
Sanctions
Pupils have a right to expect fair and consistently applied sanctions for poor behaviour, which make a clear distinction between serious and minor infringements of behavioural expectations.
• Teachers have statutory authority to discipline pupils whose behaviour is unacceptable, who break the school rules or who fail to follow a reasonable instruction. The responsibility also applies to all paid staff (unless the Headteacher says otherwise) with responsibility for pupils, such as LSAs.
• Teachers can discipline pupils at any time the pupil is in school or elsewhere under the charge of a teacher, including on school visits.
Teachers can also discipline pupils in certain circumstances when a pupil’s misbehaviour occurs outside of school considering behaviour that poses a threat to another pupil or member of the public or could have repercussions for the orderly running of the academy or could adversely affect the reputation of Westerings.
Teachers can confiscate pupils' property
Sanctions are proportionate to the behaviour, and staff will have reasonable grounds (substantial evidence or belief) to apply these (i.e witnesses or an acknowledgment of transgression).
Members of staff have the power to use reasonable force to prevent pupils committing an offence, injuring themselves or others, or damaging property, and to maintain good order and discipline in the classroom. (See physical handling and Intervention policy).
Other strategies we use at WPA:
These are the systems and processes that have been agreed by the whole staff in order to promote positive behaviour consistently across the academy. They have been shared with pupils and parents.
Strategies for addressing misbehaviour
• Disempower the behaviour- praise other children in the class for the correct behaviour (good role models).
• Use of positive phrasing- avoid “stop running” “don’t throw the pen”. Change to “walk in the corridors” “put the pen on the table please”.
• Use please and thank you to give the illusion of choice- “Can you go and pick that up, thank you.” “ What would you like to do, sit on your seat sensibly or sit on the floor?”
• Avoid empowering the behaviour by shouting or losing your temper.
• Reminding child of expectations of year group and class rules and/or playground rules.
Strategies for reflecting, repairing and restoring
Following a behaviour incident, the child is to be made aware of the consequences of their actions and to be sanctioned accordingly. If they have hurt another child they are to be made aware how they have hurt them and how they would feel if it happened to them.
If a child has damaged property, the parent and the child are to be made aware of the cost/time to repair the damages. Children should apologise for incorrect behaviour to those involved. When analysing the roots of the inappropriate behaviour, use STAR Analysis sheets which links to emotional responses and choices (see appendices).
Further guidance on Behaviour can be found in our POLICY, and includes additional information on SEND, Positive Handling, use of reasonable force, monitoring and recording, Equal opportunities, beyond the gate, confiscation, parental responsibilities and much more.
BULLYING
Race Relations
We record and investigate all racist incidents and take allegations of racist incidents incredibly seriously.
Definition of a racist incident
‘A racist incident is any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person.’
This definition emphasises perception, so that if anyone thinks an incident is racist it will be recorded and investigated as such, however minor it may seem.
Incidents involving children and adults will be recorded whether or not those responsible intended their behaviour to be racist. It should also be noted that a racist incident does not necessarily have a victim.
Exclusions: We follow DFE guidelines when considering the suspension/exclusion of a pupil. Further details can be found here.
Local Procedures
Parents/carers will be contacted if their child is involved in any way in an alleged racist incident and they will be kept informed of the progress and outcome of any investigation.
Any incident that is alleged or perceived to be racist will be recorded and if, following investigation, it is concluded that it is not racist, this outcome will be noted on both the academy record of the incident.
Termly reports of incidents - information will be kept at school level, in line with other records on behaviour and incidents of bullying.
Embracing Differences
As part of our curriculum, in PSHCE lessons, Circle Times and Collective Worship, children learn to embrace similarities and differences between people and the richness of culture and experience that result. They learn to consider the feelings of others and to treat others as they would like to be treated themselves. To aid their understanding that the wider UK Society is a much more diverse mixture of different cultures, backgrounds, faiths and race than may be in their own experience; we aim to give our children practical experiences of working in a variety of settings to foster respect and understanding as well as preparing them for their future life.