Positive Behaviour Management

POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT
It is our firm belief that every child at Bonnington Primary School has a right to learn without aggression and disruption and all teachers have a right to teach without aggression and disruption. Therefore-
AS A SCHOOL WE AIM:
* To encourage parents, pupils and all staff in promoting positive
behaviour
* To encourage an ethos in the school which promotes
. respect for the school, everybody and everything
in it
. responsibility for behaviour and actions
. recognition of people?s abilities and actions
* To raise self esteem through encouragement to do well and
positive praise.
THE SCHOOL AS A WHOLE
All the pupils and staff have worked together to agree on our school rules.:
* Do be polite and helpful to pupils, visitors, teachers and all
people who work in the school.
* Do look after the school and everything in it.
* Do behave in all parts of the school, including the corridors,
dining room and classrooms.
* Do keep the playground tidy and put litter in the bin.
* Do see your teacher, Mrs Connolly or Mrs Thomson if you have
a problem.
* Do be happy in and around school.
Whilst we wish to be very positive about our school, it is recognised that children need to know exactly where they stand and the consequences of their actions which break our rules. The children agreed the following sanctions. They see them as fair and reasonable:
* Warning from the teacher and name in the book.
* Mark against name.
* See the Head Teacher, name in the THIN ICE book, a letter to parents
* See the Head Teacher, mark against name, a meeting with parents,
pupil to attend as well. Agreed contract or targets to be made and
regular contact with parents
At the end of an agreed time for the contract or targets to run, if the pupils has achieved success this will be recognised by fellow pupils and the teachers.
If the behaviour does not improve, then the school may: involve outside agencies like the Citadel, Acorn Centre or other professional bodies like the Pupil Support Group and NEWT. The school does not make decisions lightly, however if the behaviour still continues and everything has been done to
support a child, then further action, in the form of exclusion will be taken.

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Behaviour can be split into two groups:

MAJOR MINOR

Refusing to carry out Continual minor
an instruction. misdemeanours: eg.
Violence continual noise making
Deliberate unprovoked general low level
attack. disruption.
Verbal abuse.
Theft.
Rudeness to teaching and
non teaching staff.
Defacing of the school?s
and others property.

In the case of major misbehaviour, the agreed sanctions will be overridden and the following will apply:

1 Incident form and punishment exercise.
2 Letter of concern to the parents from the Head
Teacher.
3 Discussion with parents to agree an action plan.
4 Exclusion.

PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT.
Parental support is of vital importance in our endeavours to promote positive behaviour.
We hope that by involving them in a joint behaviour plan with regular contact and reviews that the child will be encouraged to see that only good behaviour is acceptable behaviour.
PROMOTING POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR:
Whilst we have whole school rules, each class will make their own rules for the classroom. These will be short, clear suitable to the needs of each individual class and agreed by all the children in the class. Sanctions will be those already agreed. This means that everybody is clear about what is expected of them and where they stand. The use of positive praise and encouragement for the smallest achievement and improvement is of vital importance to encourage children to do well, raise their self esteem and recognise others achievements. To do this, the class teacher will be consistent in what she expects of the pupils in her class:

* standard of work
* neatness, presentation and layout
* encouragement to do well.






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Teachers use privilege time, stickers, stars, points, sharing of peer success and praise to encourage positive attitudes. The most important thing of all for our teachers to do is
MEAN WHAT THEY SAY AND CARRY IT OUT.
Each class teacher will use small certificates or stickers to acknowledge success. This can be for attitude, helpfulness, caring or success in something.
IN THE PLAYGROUND:
Every child has the right to play without fear of aggression. In the playground, the children will be encouraged to play rather than fight. In the better weather, there will be equipment for them to play with, picnic benches to eat lunches at, play games or draw at.
The children will be involved in planning the playground to make it look nicer. This will include care and upkeep of the gardens. Each class taking responsibility for a specific area.

In addition, the children agreed to the following playground rules:
* Do what you are told by your supervisor without argument.
* Keep your hands and feet to yourself.
* No teasing, swearing, spitting or rough games.
* Look after everybody and everything in the playground.

The sanctions already mentioned will also apply to the playground.
The playground supervisors will have a booklet to record incidents in the playground. These will be reported to the appropriate class teacher to be dealt with in the the first instance and to the Head Teacher or member of the management team for persistent or major behaviour. Should there be persistent problems with particular children, parents will be requested to collect their children and take them home to have lunch, returning them in time for the afternoon session. Children will also be withdrawn from morning break.
To encourage good behaviour, the playground supervisors will identify a class who have behaved well over the week and at Assembly or Board of Achievement, they will receive a certificate and five minutes privilege time before the school goes out at break
GUARDIAN ANGELS:
Some classes may decide to have ?Guardian Angels?. These are two sensible children in the class who are given the job of looking after a particular classmate who needs help to stay out of trouble or, to lead the class for example, when moving through the building. The Guardian Angels show the children the way it is done- in other words they lead by example and watch over the rest of the class.













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RECOGNISING ACHIEVEMENT:
This is designed to encourage recognition of success and to build self esteem. The class teacher identifies one or two pupils in his/ her class that they feel deserve recognition for their achievements. These pupils are presented with a certificate and have their photograph taken. These are then displayed on the Board of Achievement for everybody to see. After a week the pupil takes the certificate home to share with parents and family. A similar procedure exists in P1- P3 where Wonder Workers are presented with a certificate which tells them why they have received it, a badge and sweet.
Parents should be encouraged to praise the children for their successes.
BULLYING:
Bullying is difficult to define and is present in all schools. The pupils and staff at Bonnington Primary School have defined bullying as a person or persons who:
* display aggressive behaviour towards other children.
* directly and verbally abuse and threaten other children
* use menacing actions which cause fear and upset in the hearts
and minds of other children.
In using our behaviour management strategies we aim to:
* reduce incidents of bullying
* to raise awareness of bullying in all its forms
* to support pupils in dealing with bullying
* to discourage such behaviour and create a sense of belonging and
security in school.
SPEAKING UP:
It is very often difficult for a child, through fear of retribution, to tell their teacher or an identified member of the management team that they have a problem with another child or group of children. The children of Bonnington Primary School have agreed to have a ?Problem Box? in every classroom from P4- P7. Any child who has a problem or feels that they are being bullied can fill in a slip of paper explaining what their problem is. This can be done anonymously, or in the case of bullying, the class/ name of offender can be written as well.The choice is the child?s. Regularly, the teacher will look in the box and discuss, at circle time, the problem.This will be done with the child?s permission, or if they do not want to be identified it can be done in general terms. It will be decided whether the complaint is bullying or just a behaviour incident. It will however be made clear to the child that the teacher is there to support the child and that something will be done about it. The school?s procedures will be put in place:
* the child will have the choice of who deals with the incident
* a member of the management team and the Head Teacher will be
informed
* written reports will be made about the incident
* the incident will be fully investigated
* a letter will be sent to both sets of parents
* a meeting will be set up to discuss the issue with the school
* an agreed action plan and sanctions will be put into place
* the situation will be monitored
* in persistent cases, formal exclusion.





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ACTION PLAN:
* discussion and mediation between the children
* an agreed behaviour contract signed by the child and parents.
POSSIBLE SANCTIONS:
* withdrawal of privilege time and some break times
* in persistent cases, formal exclusion.
It is hoped that parents will support and co-operate with the school
in dealing with bullying. If we work together, then we will be able to reduce bullying at Bonnington Primary School.
ADVICE FOR PARENTS:
Look for signs of distress and if you think your child is persistently being bullied DO
* inform the school straight away
* ask for an interview with your child?s teacher or a member of
the management team
* reassure your child that something will be done
* keep a note of what your child tells you( this could be very
important)
*ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILD TO STICK WITH FRIENDS.
HE/SHE IS LESS LIKELY TO BE A TARGET FOR A BULLY.
REMEMBER schools are very busy places and it is not always possible for someone to see you straight away, but an appointment will be made for you as quickly as possible,

IF YOU WANT TO HELP REDUCE YOUR CHILD?S SCHOOL OF BULLYING, IT IS IMPORTANT TO WORK WITH THEM AND NOT AGAINST THEM.

THIS CAN BE DIFFICULT WHEN YOU ARE ANGRY AND UPSET BUT TALKING IN A CALM AND REASONABLE MANNER WITH THE SCHOOL IS A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION TO HELP YOUR CHILD.

DO NOT ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILD TO HIT BACK. THIS WILL ONLY MAKE MATTERS WORSE


















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APPENDIX ONE FOR TEACHERS

ADVICE ON BULLYING

Look for:
* signs of distress
* deterioration of work
* spurious illness
* erratic attendance
* hanging back at the end of the day or staying with adults

Do:
* offer the child support and help
* listen carefully and record all incidents:
1 the bullied pupil should write down the events
2 the bully should write down his version of events
3 the teacher and or member of the management team
should record interviews with both parties
4 the parent of both parties should be informed and a
strategy put in place to monitor the situation, help
the victim and the bully.
* put the school?s procedures into action. Back to top