Behaviour Policy 2024-2025

This policy should be read in conjunction St Brigid’s Safeguarding Policy, St Brigid’s Anti-bullying Policy, St Brigid’s Uniform and Appearance and St Brigid’s Equality Duty Policy.

St Brigid’s Primary School is committed to creating an environment where the best behaviour is at the heart of productive learning.  Everyone is expected to maintain the highest standards of personal conduct, to accept responsibility for the behaviour and to encourage others so do the same.

Aims

This policy aims to:

• Create a positive culture that promotes excellent behaviour, ensuring that all pupils have the opportunity to learn in a calm, safe and supportive environment
• Establish a whole-school approach to maintaining high standards of behaviour that reflect the values of the school
• Provide a consistent and calm approach and to celebrate the best behaviours
• To use restorative approaches whilst having clear boundaries on what we consider to be unacceptable behaviour, including bullying and discrimination
• Ensure social skills are taught so that children have the tools/skills to work and play in harmony with others

The Local Governing Body believes that in order to enable effective teaching and learning to take place, good behaviour in all aspects of school life is necessary.  It seeks to create a caring learning environment in the school by:

• Encouraging and acknowledging good behaviour and discipline.
• Promoting self-esteem by encouraging pupils to value and respect themselves and others.
• Providing a safe environment free from disruption, violence, bullying and any form of harassment.
• Promoting early intervention. Ensuring a consistency of response to both positive and negative behaviour.
• Encouraging a positive relationship with parents and carers to develop a shared approach to involve them in the implementation of the school’s policy.
• Encouraging children to take responsibility for their behaviour. Explaining and addressing unacceptable   behaviour.

The four Key Values of our Catholic School are

• We are all made in God’s image- each unique and talented.
• To be the best we can be in all things- happy confident and thriving.
• To care for one another- our planet and our community.
• Let everything we think, do and say be a shining example of our faith.

Purpose of the policy

To provide simple, practical procedures for staff and children that

• Recognises behaviour norms and positively reinforces this behaviour
• Encourages children that they can and should make good choices
• Ensures consistency of expectations across the school
• Builds a community which values kindness, care, good temper and empathy for others

Expectation of Adults

We expect every adult to

• Meet and greet at the door ‘good morning’ and to do this with warmth and a smile
• Refer to ‘Ready, Respect, Safe’ in their daily conversations with children
• Establish clear routines
• Highlight and promote positive behaviour – actively catching pupils doing well and giving lots of praise
• Develop positive relationships with all children
• Never walk past or ignore pupils who are failing to meet expectations
• Deal with all poor behaviour in private.
• To be calm and not shout at children
• To use scripts
• Follow up all behaviour with restorative conversations and communication with parents
• Have a clear plan for dealing with low level behaviours and conclude the day positively
• Teach behaviour as part of the weekly curriculum
• Plan lessons that engage, challenge and meet the needs of all pupils
• To promptly discuss behaviour concerns with phase lead and actions already taken to support the child.

Behaviour is managed well where adults know their classes and develop positive relationships with all pupils

Expectation of Phase leaders

Phase leaders (and SENCo’s) are not expected to deal with behaviour referrals in isolation.  If called upon they are there to stand alongside colleagues to support, guide, model and show a unified consistency to the pupils.

• A visible presence around school
• Encourage the use of positive phone calls/ positive postcards amongst their team
• Support behaviour development through phase meetings to ensure consistency of the policy
• Know which children are consistently meeting expectations
• Liaise with SEND team to ensure prompt provision where needed
• Providing new staff with a clear induction into the school’s behavioural culture to ensure they understand its rules and routines

Expectation of Senco Team

• To use behaviour data to target and assess interventions at universal and SEND support in line with Matching Provision to Need document
• To provide support and advice to adults.
• To support teachers in managing pupils with more complex or challenging behaviour so that needs are being met.

The Head teacher and the Senior Leadership Team

• Meet and greet learners at the beginning of the day
• Will be a visible presence around the school
• Celebrate staff, leaders and pupils whose effort goes over and above expectations
• Ensure staff training needs are identified and met
• To support the Senco Team and phase leaders in managing learners with more complex or negative behaviours
• Use behaviour data to target and assess the effectiveness of the behaviour policy and practice

The Governing Body is responsible for

• Reviewing and approving the Behaviour Policy
• Monitoring the policy’s effectiveness
• Holding the headteacher to account for its implementation

St Brigid’s School Rules

Recognition and rewards for effort

1. Verbal praise
2. Silver opportunities 4 times a day
3. Gold opportunities twice a day (ringing of the gold bell) This is tracked daily on a register list. 
4. Positive phone calls home / positive conversations with parents/carers
5. Friday Captain’s table for 6 golds in a week
6. Weekly class mascot for the class that has shown an excellent effort in meeting the behaviour high expectations.  15 minutes’ special time for winning the mascot.
7. Special mentions in Friday assembly

Dealing with poor behaviour

We expect every adult to

• Develop positive relationships with all children
• Never walk past or ignore pupils who are failing to meet expectations
• Deal with all poor behaviour in private. 
• To be calm and not shout at children
• To use the scripts
• Follow up all behaviour with restorative conversations and communication with parents

Misbehaviour is defined as:

• Disruption in lessons, in corridors between lessons, and at break and lunchtimes
• Non-completion of classwork or homework
• Poor attitude

Serious misbehaviour is defined as:

• Repeated breaches of the school rules that lead to unreasonable high level disruption of children’s right to learn
• Any form of bullying, harassment or discrimination such as racist, sexist or homophobic behaviours (please see Anti-bullying Policy)
• Physical violence or verbal aggression directed towards an adult or pupil
• Use of object/weapons to hurt others
• Serious/ continued bullying incidents
• Vandalism leading to significant damage of school property and resources
• Possession of any article a staff member reasonably suspects has been, or is likely to be, used to commit an offence, or to cause personal injury to, or damage to the property of, any person (including the pupil)

Decision to suspend will be made by the Headteacher (and in her absence the Deputy) If decision to suspend then meeting with parent followed by letter to parent explaining reasons for suspension, length of suspension, arrangements for accessing school work and the back to school meeting

Serious Misbehaviour or highly disruptive behaviour

Behaviours

Physical or verbal aggression directed towards an adult or pupil

Racism

Use of object/weapons to hurt others

Serious/ continued bullying incidents

Significant acts of violent

Following an investigation, consideration will be given to the context and seriousness of the behaviour.  Strategies and consequences could include the following

Decision to suspend will be made by the Headteacher (and in her absence the Deputy)

If decision to suspend then meeting with parent followed by letter to parent explaining reasons for suspension, length of suspension, arrangements for accessing school work and the back to school meeting

Only in an extreme case would the decision to permanently exclude be taken. Appropriate procedures will be followed

Playtimes/Lunchtime

If there are concerns at playtimes or lunchtime then teachers on call/ LOs respectively will fill in a cause for concern sheet which is given to the member of SLT on call after modifying and managing any poor behaviour.

Suspensions

In order for children to achieve their maximum academic potential in the school they must feel safe from physical and verbal aggression and disruption.  If a child seriously breaches the school’s behaviour policy and if the pupil remaining in school would seriously harm the education or welfare of the pupil or others in the school, the Headteacher may take the decision to exclude for a fixed period.  If this decision is taken, work will be set for the pupil to complete at home.  Following the suspension, the pupil and parents will meet with the Headteacher/ Deputy Head and SENCo to discuss the pupil’s reintegration to school and the best way forward to support the child.  Each day is a new day.

Permanent exclusions

Permanent exclusion is seen as a very last resort after all reasonable steps to avoid exclusion have been put into place.  Permanent exclusion should only occur when risk assessment indicates that to allow the pupil to remain in school would be seriously detrimental to the education or welfare of the pupil concerned or to other pupils at the school

Safeguarding

The school recognises that changes in behaviour may be an indicator that a pupil is in need of help or protection. We will consider whether a pupil’s misbehaviour may be linked to them suffering, or being likely to suffer, significant harm.  Where this may be the case, we will follow our safeguarding policy, and consider whether pastoral support, an early help intervention or a referral to children’s social care is appropriate. Where there is suspected child on child abuse please read St Brigid’s Safeguarding Policy 2023

Inclusion

God made everyone unique. For St Brigid’s as a school, this means responding to the different talents and needs of all our children so that they can achieve their true potential. Reasonable adaptations should be made for children who struggle to make good choices.

All teachers are expected to anticipate likely triggers for misbehaviour and put in place preventative support. This may require work with Phase leaders, SENCOs and in some cases, the Headteacher and the Deputy Headteacher.

It is also important to remember that all behaviour has meaning and that a restorative approach can help unpick the reasons for the behaviour rather than a purely punitive approach. Understanding a person’s behaviour is the first step to preventing and reducing behaviour incidents.

There can also be a number of reasons for children to struggle with positive engagement, for example: understanding, language, culture, previous experiences, disabilities, attitude, family context, attention span, trust, self-concept to name a few. This can lead to different responses, such as: freeze, fight, flight or submit.

There needs to be a tailored approach to supporting children who present with challenging behaviours.(see Preventing Reoccurrence of Misbehaviour Section below). This needs to be regularly reviewed with both child and parents. Where necessary, outside agencies may be brought in to support the child eg Early Help (with parental consent), play therapy (with parental consent), brain training (with parental consent) and counselling (with parental consent).

When children struggle with their behaviour, we are committed to working with both the child and the parents in a variety of ways and this has been very successful to date. Every child is different and unique and we continue to find new ways to support different children in different situations. When children are struggling with challenging behaviours, it is essential for parents to work with the school and outside agencies to address it.

Recognising the impact of SEND on behaviour

The school recognises that pupils’ behaviour may be impacted by a special educational need or disability (SEND). When incidents of misbehaviour arise, we will consider them in relation to a pupil’s SEND, although we recognise that not every incident of misbehaviour will be connected to their SEND. Decisions on whether a pupil’s SEND had an impact on an incident of misbehaviour will be made on a case-by-case basis. When dealing with misbehaviour from pupils with SEND, especially where their SEND affects their behaviour, the school will balance their legal duties when making decisions about enforcing the behaviour policy.

The legal duties include:

Taking reasonable steps to avoid causing any substantial disadvantage to a disabled pupil caused by the school’s policies or practices (Equality Act 2010)

Using our best endeavours to meet the needs of pupils with SEND (Children and Families Act 2014)

If a pupil has an education, health and care (EHC) plan, the provisions set out in that plan must be secured and the school must co-operate with the local authority and other bodies

As part of meeting these duties, the school will anticipate, as far as possible, all likely triggers of misbehaviour, and put in place support to prevent these from occurring. Any preventative measures will take into account the specific circumstances and requirements of the pupil concerned. These may include:

Short, planned movement breaks for a pupil with SEND who finds it difficult to sit still for long

Adjusting seating plans to allow a pupil with visual or hearing impairment to sit in sight of the teacher

Training for staff in understanding conditions such as autism

Use of calm spaces where pupils can regulate their emotions during a moment of sensory overload

Adapting sanctions for pupils with SEND

When considering a behavioural sanction for a pupil with SEND, the school will take into account:

Whether the pupil was unable to understand the rule or instruction?

Whether the pupil was unable to act differently at the time as a result of their SEND?

Whether the pupil is likely to behave aggressively due to their particular SEND?

If the answer to any of these questions is yes, it may be unlawful for the school to sanction the pupil for the behaviour. The school will then assess if it is appropriate to use a sanction and if so, whether any reasonable adjustments need to be made to the sanction.

Considering whether a pupil displaying challenging behaviour may have unidentified SEND

The school’s special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) may evaluate a pupil who exhibits challenging behaviour to determine whether they have any underlying needs that are not currently being met. Where necessary, support and advice will also be sought from specialist teachers, an educational psychologist, medical practitioners and/or others, to identify or support specific needs. When acute needs are identified in a pupil, we will liaise with external agencies and plan support programmes for that child. We will work with parents to create the plan and review it on a regular basis.

Pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)

The provisions set out in the EHC plan must be secured and the school will co-operate with the local authority and other bodies. If the school has a concern about the behaviour of a pupil with an EHCP, it will make contact with the local authority to discuss the issue. If appropriate, the school may request an emergency review of the EHCP.

Preventing recurrence of misbehaviour:

As a school we are committed to using a range of initial intervention strategies in order to reduce likelihood of suspension or permanent exclusion in addition to the strategies outlined in our behaviour system. The aim of all interventions is to identify and address underlying factors leading to misbehaviour and to assess the appropriateness of the provision in place for the child.  Working with a range of agencies and outside providers, we offer play therapy, counselling, brain training, intervention work with Global Policing. We also work with local partners, for example alternative provision for short term interventions and the pupil referral unit for advice and support. In addition, we are proactive in working with Early Help. Where a child has an EHCP we work closely with the LA Send team to review provision. Where a child has spent time in alternative provision or a pupil referral unit, there will be a plan for re-integration which will be regularly reviewed.

Behaviour Support Plans

If a pupil regularly displays behaviour that disrupts theirs and others learning as well as disrupts the safety and stability of the classroom, a personalised strategy in the form of a behaviour support plan is required.   Our school operates a ‘graduated response’. As a school we use the Matching Provision to Need Tool (see page 13- Social, Emotional and Mental Health) to ensure that reasonable adjustments and supportive plans are put in place to help those who need it.

PLEASE READ THE FULL BEHAVIOUR POLICY