Introduction

 This policy reflects the governing body and the school’s high expectations of behaviour for children at Cuffley School. It is in line with the ethos of our school where every member of the school community is valued and treated with respect.  We believe that high quality teaching promotes effective learning and good behaviour. Our emphasis is on recognising and celebrating effort and success, so that all pupils feel valued.

 Aims

• To value and appreciate one another irrespective of age, gender or race
• To promote and develop the POWERS – Perseverance, Optimism, Wonder, Evaluation, Reasoning and Social
• To create a happy, secure and stimulating learning environment where everyone is inspired to do their very best
• To produce an environment in which everyone feels safe, secure and respected

Rewards

At Cuffley, we believe in promoting positive behaviour and praise and reward it in a variety of ways:

Each class agrees its own Code of Conduct with rewards and sanctions

• Staff publicly recognise children’s achievement
• Children may receive stickers
• Team points are awarded
• ‘Cuffley Crusaders’ are recognised in weekly Achievement Assemblies and are noted in the weekly Newsletter
• Children are sent to the Headteacher to be congratulated and to receive ‘Headteacher Award’ stickers
• Acts of kindness in Key Stages 1 and 2 are noted and children are rewarded with ‘kindness cups’ at the end of the year following nominations from their peers
• The school acknowledges efforts and achievements outside of school sharing good news, certificates and awards.

Sanctions

 To ensure a safe and positive learning environment for all, sanctions may need to be applied appropriately for individual situations. We employ a ‘stepped approach’ for managing low level inappropriate behaviour and attached to this policy is an appendix, showing a set of School Actions for Inappropriate Behaviours, which acts as a general guide for staff.

As part of these sanctions, a member of staff may decide to allocate a period of ‘time out’ for a pupil. This might be a short time in a separate part of the class or learning environment, or it could be to another class or location in the school.

If the behaviour is persistent or serious, it may be referred to a senior member of staff, the Assistant or Deputy Headteacher or to the Headteacher. On these occasions, parents or carers may be telephoned to discuss the matter.

Individual Report Cards may be set up in agreement with parents or carers to monitor and support an improvement in a child’s behaviour, particularly where the behaviour has proved to be persistent. Rewards, as well as sanctions, are agreed between all parties when Report Cards are set up.  In the most serious cases, an immediate referral to the Headteacher will be made.  Senior staff monitor incidents and sanctions to ensure the effectiveness of the Behaviour Policy.

Relationship to other policies:

This policy should be read in conjunction with our Anti-Bullying Policy, the ICT and e-safety Policy, the Home-School Agreement and our Special Educational Needs Policy.

 Roles and responsibilities of headteacher, school staff, pupils and governors

The headteacher will be responsible for ensuring that this policy is implemented and for reporting to governors on its impact. He or she will:

Ensure that the health, safety and welfare of all children in the school is paramount

• Support the staff by implementing the policy, by setting the standards of expected behaviour and by supporting staff in their implementation of the policy
• Keep records of all reported serious incidents of misbehaviour
• Have responsibility for appropriately managing very serious or repeated incidents of misbehaviour.

The headteacher and staff will apply the aims identified above and support the whole-school approaches to positive behaviour:

Class teachers in our school have high expectations of the children with regards to behaviour and learning and they strive to support the children to the best of their ability

• The class teacher promotes positive values, treats each child fairly and enforces the agreed class Code of Conduct consistently
• Children are given the opportunity to take on roles of responsibility and these are built upon each year, so that by Year 6 the children provide role models for the rest of the school
• Where behaviour is unacceptable, all staff will follow school procedures in dealing with the behaviour and reporting it to the child’s class teacher and/or senior leader and in more serious cases referring it to the Assistant or Deputy Headteacher or the Headteacher
• Bullying of any kind is not tolerated and is treated as a serious incident which will be referred to the Headteacher and logged accordingly (see the Anti-Bullying Policy)
• Parents will:
• Be advised of the school expectations and rules
• Be expected to support their child’s learning and behaviour, co-operating with the school as set out in the Home School Agreement
• Be kept informed about their child’s behaviour and the sanctions applied for inappropriate behaviour.If parents have any concerns about the way that their child has been treated, they should initially contact the class teacher and, following that, the senior leader, Assistant or Deputy Headteacher or the Headteacher.
• The governing body has the responsibility of agreeing these general guidelines on standards of behaviour and discipline and of reviewing their effectiveness. The governors support the staff and headteacher in adhering to these guidelines.

Fixed Term and Permanent Exclusions

We do not wish to exclude any child from school and hope that this will not be necessary. It must be emphasised that in most cases exclusion would only be used when all other measures have been tried. In cases where such steps and other appropriate measures have failed, the Headteacher has the sole legal responsibility for the exercise of the power to exclude a pupil, after discussion with staff working with the child.  However in certain instances it may be necessary for a permanent exclusion to be given for a first offence if allowing the pupil to remain in school would seriously harm the education or safety of the pupil or others in the school.

The school recognises that exclusion is very serious and will endeavour to use all available strategies in setting up Pastoral Support Programmes working with parents and a range of outside agencies.

In the case of exclusion, the school follows the Department for Education Exclusions Guidance and the more detailed guidance provided by the local authority.  The parent, or any person who has parental responsibility for a child, who has been excluded for a fixed period of time, has the right to appeal, in the first instance to the Chair of Governors.

Arrangements for monitoring and evaluation:

The governing body are responsible for ensuring that this policy is evaluated for impact by reviewing data provided by the headteacher regarding:

Number of bullying or racist incidents, as reported on returns to the Local Authority and the action taken, including support for the victims

• Number of fixed-term and permanent exclusions and the reasons for them
• School self-evaluation of behaviour and evidence to support.

 Bullying

There is a school policy for Anti-Bullying and work is done regularly to ensure that awareness

of this issue is maintained.

Racist Behaviour

The school endeavours to promote racial harmony and respect for all groups. Racist behaviour is unacceptable and all incidents are managed, recorded and monitored.  The procedures followed are in line with other serious incidents and the school follows local authority guidelines.

Review:

This policy will be reviewed by the staff and governing body every three years; however it may be reviewed earlier if circumstances require it.