Introduction

As a Church school, we believe that every member of our school community should have an equal opportunity to achieve his or her full potential, regardless of race, colour, gender, disability, special educational needs or socio economic background. 

We believe that it is the right of everyone within the school community to

  • Feel and be safe
  • Be respected and receive fair treatment
  • Be able to learn

At Embsay School we believe that good behaviour and discipline are essential to successful teaching and learning. We feel it is important to have high expectations of behaviour from all pupils. We expect pupils and staff to behave to others as they would hope to be treated themselves. We value parents as partners in establishing good behaviour and discipline.

Our Aims

All staff at Embsay Primary School aim to:

  • Provide a safe, purposeful and happy environment.
  • Promote self-discipline, courteous behaviour and good manners.
  • Encourage and develop in the children in our care a respect and concern for themselves, other people and the environment.
  • Value and respect the unique contribution of each child in order to develop self-esteem and self-confidence.
  • Develop a clear understanding of behaviours that are acceptable and unacceptable and a clear sense of right and wrong.
  • Be consistent in our approach when dealing with a behavioural issue
  • Provide a personalised approach to the specific needs of particular pupils

Objectives

  • To give guidance to enable the children to develop their relationships, to think and solve problems themselves and to take responsibility and accept the consequences of their actions.
  • Throughout the learning process to respect the children as individuals. By treating them with respect we hope they will learn respect.
  • To involve parents in a constructive way from an early stage.
  • To provide a working environment in school that gives the children clearly defined limits of behaviour that are easily understood by pupils, staff, governors and parents.

These aims and objectives are underpinned by the Christian ethos of our school, and are supported by our school community, regardless of any specific beliefs.  

The different aspects of children being responsible for their own relationships and showing kindness and respect to everyone can be summarised in the following way: 

Attribute 

What it means 

R 

Respect everyone 
  • Keep hands and feet to ourselves 
  • Speak politely to everyone 
  • Always use good manners, verbally and in behaviour round school 

E 

Encourage each other 
  • Give praise (say well done) 
  • Give genuine feedback to help our friends’ (and peers’) learning improve 

S 

Speak truthfully 
  • We are honest 
  • We speak truthfully about others and what they have done/we have done to them 
  • We say/recognises what we have done and admit when we have done something wrong/made a bad choice and apologise for this 

P 

Practise, persevere and make progress 
  • We try again and again to improve our skills 
  • We do not give up 
  • We revisit our work with pride 

E 

Embrace mistakes 
  • We learn from our errors 
  • We look at mistakes as a way of moving our learning forward 

C 

Consider our choices 
  • We think before we act 
  • We know we always have a choice 

T 

Thrive together as a team 
  • We work together 
  • We help each other and celebrate achievements of other children as well as our own 

How We Encourage Good Behaviour

  • Our school expects that all adults will set a good example through courtesy, consideration, respect and encouragement.
  • We aim to promote active involvement in the many aspects of school life.
  • We aim to maintain good channels of communication and provide a welcoming environment.
  • The whole school curriculum supports and encourages the spiritual, moral, cultural and physical development of children.
  • Children are actively involved in making decisions about their behaviour through class and school discussions. We are aiming for socially acceptable behaviour that will allow the school to function harmoniously. To facilitate this we have agreed the common set of attributes summarised in our RESPECT acronym above, which is displayed throughout the school.

Codes of behaviour in and around school

In the classroom

Children will make good use of their teaching time and remain on task during lessons.

There will be times when movement is limited.

Children will be prepared to listen carefully to any adult or to another child who may be talking.

Children will be polite and use “excuse me”, “please” and “thank you” when talking to any adult or child.

In the classroom staff will follow the guidance on encouraging positive behaviour and sanctions as outlined.

Movement around school

We expect children to:

  • walk around school.
  • wherever possible keep to left hand side of corridors
  • hold doors open for each other.
  • go in and out of school quietly.

In the dining hall

We expect children to:

  • use good table manners.
  • line up and move around the hall quietly as instructed.
  • talk quietly to their friends on their own table.

Lunchtime staff will encourage children to follow the guidelines at all times.  

In the playground

We expect children to:

  • play games fairly.
  • share.
  • take turns.
  • not allow one person to be excluded from a group of children.
  • look after someone who is hurt.
  • play where they can be seen.
  • remain within the school grounds
  • report incidents to staff.

Rewarding Good Behaviour

Our school believes that children should be rewarded on an individual, class and whole school level to promote identified areas of positive behaviour and good citizenship.

Individuals are rewarded for demonstrating acts of positive behaviour and these are encouraged through the use of verbal feedback, gestures, special stamps, certificates, privilege time and sticker awards systems.

Class teachers, classroom support assistants and midday supervisors are encouraged to value children’s efforts regularly.

In the Friday sharing assembly Collective Worship, three certificates are awarded to individuals in each class. The awards are made for good work, good behaviour or for any other achievement.

Misbehaviour

There will be occasions when action is needed to rectify/respond to misbehaviour. The severity of response will be dependent on the seriousness of the misbehaviour, the individual child, frequency of the misbehaviour and the circumstances involved.

To work satisfactorily, sanctions must reflect a clear distinction between minor and more serious behaviour. In all cases, it is considered important that the child is aware of the reason their behaviour is considered unacceptable and encouraged to reflect on how their behaviour affects others. They are also encouraged to determine for themselves how they can put matters right.

In the event that misbehaviour involves either allegations of bullying or discrimination linked to the protected characteristics of disability, gender, race, religion and belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or pregnancy and maternity, the incident will be dealt with according to the procedure set out in the school’s Anti-bullying Policy.  In particular the staff member investigating will seek children’s views and accounts on an individual basis.

Sanctions for Minor Incidents

There is a range of sanctions to be used at the teacher’s discretion:

  • Misbehaviour ignored but attention is drawn to another child who is behaving well
  • A ‘telling’ glance
  • A verbal reminder/rebuke
  • A quiet word to one side to point out acceptable behaviour and suggestions on how to improve it
  • The child seated away from other children within the classroom
  • Child to correct a wrong doing (e.g. tidy up mess)
  • Class reminded of expectation
  • Child sent to different class for short period of time
  • Work to be completed during break time with teacher supervision
  • Kept in at playtime with the teacher or made to accompany adult on playtime duty
  • Referral to head teacher or other member of the senior leadership team where this is considered appropriate to prevent a reoccurrence.

Formal procedure and sanctions for Persistent Trivial Behaviour Or Serious Acts Of Misbehaviour

  • Headteacher informed of concerns
  • Discussion takes place between the Headteacher and child concerned
  • Parents are informed (if not already aware) of concerns by telephone or in writing if contact by telephone has not been possible
  • Arrangements are made for meeting with parents
  • Other relevant agencies may be consulted with.
  • Child may be placed ‘on report’ (see below) and targets are identified as appropriate. Positive behaviour is rewarded at every opportunity.
  • Pupil’s behaviour at lunchtime - parents are informed of possible exclusion at lunchtimes if problems continue.
  • Exclusion from school. North Yorkshire procedures and guidelines will be followed if this course of action is taken.

The following acts of misbehaviour are seen as totally unacceptable and will be dealt with accordingly:

  1. Violence (physical)
    • peers
    • adults
  2. Violence (verbal)    
    • peers
    • adults
  3. Stealing
  4. Actions which may cause damage to others
  5. Constant disruption to class/teachers
  6. Racist/homophobic/sexist comments
  7. Truancy
  8. Damage to pupils’/school property
  9. Bullying (other than Low level incidents as defined in the Anti-Bullying Policy)

On Report

This involves specific recording of a child’s behaviour in order to encourage the child to take responsibility for their behaviour and also to identify patterns which may assist in supporting the child to improve their behaviour. According to the age of the child in question and the reason for them being placed on report, a monitoring card may be used as appropriate.

A child may be placed on report to encourage positive behaviour in the classroom. The class teacher will sign at the end of each teaching session. A child may be placed on report to encourage positive behaviour in the playground in which case the report card will be signed after each break by the member of staff on duty and at lunchtimes by the Senior Midday Supervisor on the playground.

The Headteacher will monitor these report cards and rewards will be given to the child in the form of praise and stickers. The parents will be encouraged to endorse the card also. The card is sent home daily to keep parents informed.

Liaison with outside agencies may be necessary in some cases.

Special Educational Needs and Duties under the Equality Act 2010

As an inclusive school we have children who come to the school with special educational needs. We respect and love these children in the same way as any other, even if their special educational needs lead to poor or inappropriate behaviour.  Embsay School also recognises its legal duty under the Equality Act 2010 to prevent children with a protected characteristic being at a disadvantage.  Consequently, our approach to challenging behaviour may be differentiated to cater for the needs of individual children.

While we will not accept poor or inappropriate behaviour, we will make reasonable adjustments in order to cater for children’s individual needs.

Where necessary, agreed individual strategies will be implemented to support positive behaviour. This may include individual behaviour plans, risk assessment, extra support, home school report cards.

Where necessary support and advice will also be sought from specialist teachers, educational psychologists, medical practitioners and/or others to identify or support specific needs.

Bullying

Embsay School does not tolerate bullying of any kind.  A separate policy exists which details actions to be taken in the event of bullying taking place or being alleged.

Restrictive Physical Intervention

All members of staff are aware of the regulations regarding the use of restraint in school and have received training in relation to this.  A separate policy exists in relation to this.

Managing Behaviour outside school

Whilst we have no legal responsibility to address the behaviour of our children outside school, any issues which affect their welfare may become our concern. In such circumstances Embsay School will endeavour to work with parents and other professionals, including the police if necessary, to address the issues to the benefit of the children and their parents. These circumstances may include:

  • Disputes which begin in school and continue outside school on an evening or weekend
  • Bullying
  • Complaints from the local community about the behaviour of children who attend our school

Records

The school uses an electronic system (CPOMs) to record, inter alia, incidents of behaviour .  This allows patterns of behaviour to be identified and monitored, as well as allowing monitoring of behaviour generally by the headteacher. Governors receive a regular update on this through the headteacher’s report.