Relationships and Behaviour

Langley First School Relationships and Behaviour Policy

Aims

It is a primary aim of Langley First School that every member of the school community feels valued and respected, and that each person is treated fairly and well. We are a caring community, whose values are built on mutual trust and respect for all. The school’s behaviour policy is therefore designed to support the way in which all members of the school can work together in a supportive way. It aims to promote an environment in which everyone feels happy, safe and secure. 

This policy supports the school community in aiming to allow everyone to work together in an effective and considerate way.

The school expects every member of the school community to behave in a considerate and respectful way towards others. We treat all children fairly and apply this behaviour policy in a consistent way.

This policy aims to help children learn, build friendships and shine in a safe and secure environment, and to become positive, responsible and increasingly independent members of the school community.

The school recognises and promotes good behaviour, as it believes that this will develop an ethos of kindness and cooperation. This policy is designed to encourage good behaviour, rather than merely deter anti-social behaviour.

Staff Responsibility

Behaviour Management is the responsibility of all staff at Langley First School.

Role of the Headteacher

It is the responsibility of the Headteacher to implement the school behaviour policy consistently throughout the school, and to report to governors, when requested, on the effectiveness of the policy. It is also the responsibility of the Headteacher to ensure the health, safety and welfare of all children in the school.

The Headteacher supports the staff by implementing the policy, by setting the standards of behaviour, and by supporting staff in their implementation of the policy.

The Headteacher keeps records of all reported serious incidents of misbehaviour including bullying and racism

The Headteacher has the responsibility for giving fixed-term exclusions to individual children for serious acts of misbehaviour. For repeated or very serious acts of anti-social behaviour, the Headteacher may permanently exclude a child. These actions are taken only after the school governors have been notified.

The Role of the Class Teacher

It is the responsibility of class teachers to ensure that the school ‘rules are enforced in their classes, and that their classes behave in a responsible manner during lesson time.

The class teachers in our school have high expectations of the children with regard to behaviour, and they strive to ensure that all children work to the best of their ability.

The class teacher must be a role model for the children and treat each child fairly, and enforce the school’s Golden rules consistently. The teachers treat all children in their classes with respect and understanding.

The Learning Mentor is employed by the school to support children who, for a variety of reasons, find the school environment challenging.  The Senior Management Team agrees with staff, those children who need to be supported and the Learning Mentor reports progress to the class teachers and the Senior Management Team.

The class teacher reports to parents and carers about the progress of each child in their class, in line with the whole-school policy. The class teacher may also contact a parent if there are concerns about the behaviour or welfare of a child.

The Role of Support Staff

Support staff should provide a positive model of behaviour and ensure high expectations are made explicit to the children. They should inform class teachers of any inappropriate behaviour.

The Role of Parents and Carers

Parents and Carers agree to a Home School Agreement when enrolling their child at the school. Parents are expected to adhere to the Home School Agreement and support the actions of the school but are able to address any queries firstly to the class teacher, then to the appropriate Assistant Headteacher and Headteacher.

The school collaborates actively with parents and carers, so that children receive consistent messages about how to behave at home and at school. We expect parents and carers to support their child’s learning, and to cooperate with the school.

School - Golden Rules

At Langley First School we have high expectations for our behaviour.  All children and staff are expected to follow the Golden School Rules at all times which have been agreed in consultation with the children and staff. 

 

Our Golden Rules are underpinned by our core values of; Responsibility, Resilience and Respect. These are the values that Langley First School believes every child needs in order to become happy, successful and well-rounded learners.

 We define these as:

Responsibility

I strive to be self reliant, being able to look after myself and others, being able to take ownership of my own actions and recognise the impact (consequences) that these bring on myself and those around me. I take pride in myself, my school and my wider community, recognising what we need to do to support it. 

 

Resilience

I recognise that getting things wrong is a stepping stone to succeeding. Challenging ourselves is part of learning and I will always try to have a go, try things that are new or I find difficult, taking sensible risks so that I can be as successful as possible. 

 

Respect

I understand my actions have an impact on myself and those around me be that positive or negative.  I will always try to act and speak with others as I expect others to with me. I recognise there are rules and boundaries that I have to stay within and will always try and keep myself and encourage others to stay within these. I understand that adults in school are there to support, teach and keep me safe and will respect them by listening and acting on what I am asked to do.

 

The School Rules are as follows:

Golden Rules

 

Responsibility

• We move around the school safely and quietly

• We care for our school environment

Resilience

• We always try our best

Respect

• We have good manners

• We show respect for ourselves and each other

The school’s Golden rules are displayed in every classroom and throughout the school building. They will be revisited with the children at the beginning of each term and reinforced throughout the academic year.

We have a whole-school approach for celebrating behaviour and this is then tailored to the age of the children. Across the school we use the same four behaviour points; - Consequence, Stop & Think, Good to Be Green, Going for Gold. ‘Going for Gold’ links to one of the school's motto words ‘Shine’.

These four behaviour points are tailored to the age of the children, for example in Nursery when the children are ‘Going for Gold’ they aim to move their name along a rainbow to a pot of gold. Further up school children are rewarded by ‘Going for Gold’ cards and school team points. All children are referred back to the Golden Rules when celebrating behaviour.

Developing positive behaviour across the curriculum - Circle Time/Jigsaw

• All classes use Circle Time and Jigsaw PSHE sessions as a tool for promoting positive behaviour.  Circle Time and  Jigsaw PSHE sessions may be a combination of games and opportunities for children to respond positively to each other in a safe, friendly environment.  They may also provide the class with an opportunity to discuss inappropriate behaviour and plan ways to improve the situation.

• The 3 Rs will be discussed across curriculum subjects throughout the year
• Assemblies will reinforce positive behaviour
• Pupils are taught strategies to self-regulate emotions, talk about their feelings and make positive choices about the way they behave

Promoting Positive Behaviour

We praise and reward children for good behaviour in a variety of ways

 

• All staff praise positive behaviour and celebrate it around school.

• Staff give children a variety of rewards - pupils will have a card in their pocket on the wall showing  ‘Good to be Green’. This shows that the child is ready to learn and is following the Golden Rules. If a child’s behaviour has exceeded the Golden Rules -showing respect, kindness and excellent behaviour for learning they will be given a ‘Gold’ card to add to the pocket.
• Pupils may be sent to another member of staff/ Assistant Headteacher or Headteacher to re-enforce the praise 
• Each week we celebrate good behaviour, attitudes and achievement in our ‘Golden Assembly’
• Teams  -    Each child is a member of a team named after local landmarks (St Mary’s Lighthouse, Tynemouth Priory, The Dome, The Angel of the North & Langley Castle).  Children earn team points throughout the week for displaying good behaviour.  The team point totals are then shared as part of our Golden Assembly.  At the end of each half term the winning team is rewarded with an extra playtime.

  

Golden Assembly

During our Golden Assembly we present; 

• Team Points

We use team points as a way to encourage and recognise when children are following our school rules and showing an understanding of one or more of the 3Rs.  Team points are colour coded to help show which area the child has shown a good example in. The colours are represented as follows;

 

Grey - following school rules

Red - Responsibility 

Yellow - Resilience 

Blue - Respect 

 

When a child is awarded a team point they place it into the team point collector and the totals are shared with the children during each Golden Assembly.  

• Respect, Responsibility and Resilience certificates

Each class teacher will award  certificates for each of these 3 areas

• Achievement Certificates

Staff award these to children who have worked exceptionally hard in lessons during the week.

• Class Medals

To reward children for their behaviour – children who have followed the school rules all week and therefore kept their ‘Good to be Green’ card have their names put into their class Gold Box.  During assembly, two children are picked from each Golden Box at random and they wear the gold medals for the following week.

• The Golden Book

This is our ultimate reward at Langley. We treasure the opportunity for children to be named in the Golden Book and deem it to be an exceptional reward which is kept for children who members of staff deem to have consistently gone above and beyond the Golden School Rules. 

 

Some of our awards are chosen by our lunchtime staff. These are; 

• The Golden Table

Children are nominated to sit on the Golden Table when they have shown the lunchtime staff that they have excellent manners, this may include also using their knife and fork and saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ consistently and being able to line up sensibly each day. 

 

• Class Cup 

The class cup is presented to the class who have shown the lunchtime  staff throughout the week  that they can come in from the yard/field and walk down the corridors to the dinner hall following the school rules at all times. 

 

Expectations

• Langley First School expects school rules to be followed to ensure a safe and positive learning environment and we review each situation on an individual basis.
• If pupils need additional support to improve their behaviour they will be asked to think about their behaviour (in older classes this may be shown by giving a child a ‘Think About’ card). Staff will demonstrate a range of positive strategies to support the child. This may be to have some quiet/calm time; move seats, strategies for self-regulation or advice to help them to be back on track following the rules. Staff will use consistent messages and vocabulary across school to help support children’s behaviour
• If behaviour continues to be inappropriate then a verbal warning is given to the child and the class teacher should explain to the child what he/she is doing that is not acceptable.
• If the behaviour continues the child will be requested to move to a different classroom for 5-10 mins. If it does not improve the child will  lose their playtime and will meet with Assistant headteacher/Headteacher to reflect on their behaviour. This is recorded in our ‘Behaviour Reflection Book’ and if there are 3 instances in a term, parents will be contacted to discuss their child’s behaviour in a meeting with the headteacher and class teacher 
• The safety of the children is paramount in all situations. If a child’s behaviour endangers the safety of others, the class teacher stops the activity and prevents the child from taking part for the rest of that session. The teacher may at this point seek further support from the Assistant Headteacher or Headteacher.
• The school does not tolerate bullying of any kind. If we discover that an act of bullying or intimidation has taken place, we act immediately to stop any further occurrences of such behaviour. While it is very difficult to eradicate bullying, we do everything in our power to ensure that all children attend school free from fear.
• Racist incidents will not be tolerated in any form. Any bullying or racist incidents will be recorded.

Exclusions

  All efforts will be made and proactive steps will be taken to prevent an exclusion. However, in extreme circumstances or if behaviour continues to raise serious concerns, a fixed term or permanent exclusion will be applied. These will be issued by the Headteacher, who will notify the Governing Board and LA. Our aim is to provide a happy and secure environment where all children can learn, build friendships and shine and where their achievements are always valued by everyone. However, in circumstances where behaviour is unacceptable, we reserve the right to take all the necessary steps to ensure that the required high standards of behaviour are maintained throughout the school.