Behaviour Policy Statement
“Never have any grudges against others, or lose your temper, or raise
your voice to anybody, or call each other names, or allow any sort of
spitefulness. Be friends with one another, and kind, forgiving each other
as God forgave you in Christ.”
Ephesians 4:31-32.
Principles of Behaviour Policy
At St. Mary’s School, we recognise that we all learn by making mistakes.
This is true when learning in the classroom, and when learning about
acceptable behaviour. We will all make the wrong choices at some time,
but we have to recognise when this has taken place, and say sorry to
those we have upset, hurt or injured. We must then try to ensure that we
do not make the same mistake again.
Aims
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To encourage a calm, purposeful and happy atmosphere within the
school.
To foster positive, caring attitudes towards everyone connected
with the school, and to treat them with courtesy and consideration.
To have a consistent approach to behaviour throughout the school,
with parental cooperation and involvement.
To make boundaries of acceptable behaviour clear, and to ensure
safety.
To encourage increasing independence and self-discipline, so that
each child learns to accept responsibility for his/her own
behaviour.
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Implementation
Staff responsibilities – All staff will
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Be courteous, polite and considerate towards the children. This is
in recognition that we are a strong role model for our children, and
as such, must display the behaviour and attitudes that we would
hope to see in the children.
Be alert to racism, and avoid stereotyping and sexism.
Make clear the boundaries for acceptable behaviour, and apply
rules and sanctions consistently. Children appreciate being treated
fairly.
Recognise and highlight examples of good behaviour, and apply
rewards consistently.
Take responsibility for all pupils’ behaviour, and not just those they
are immediately responsible for.
Liase with parents and keep parents informed if a child is making
the wrong choices with regard to behaviour.
Children’s responsibilities – All children will
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Appreciate that everyone has the right to learn, and our behaviour
should not stop another child learning.
Treat everyone as we would like to be treated. Being friendly, kind
and considerate to others helps to make our school a happy place to
be.
Always tell the truth.
Always listen carefully and try our best.
Always remember to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’.
Take care and be sensible as we move around the school. Running
and pushing causes accidents.
Let adults and younger children through a door first.
Look after the school and take pride in yourself.
Take care of your possessions and the possessions of other people
Keep your hands and your feet to yourself
Play only safe games in the playground
Parents’ responsibilities – parents will be encouraged to
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Keep the school informed of any behavioural difficulties they are
experiencing at home.
Support and liase with staff, if your child is having problems
making the correct choice of behaviour in school.
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Keep the school informed of issues, which may affect their
children, such as a death in the family.
Reinforce the children’s responsibilities of the policy at home.
Behaviour Sanctions and Rewards
The school uses the ‘Good to be Green’ system of sanctions and rewards.
These are used to try and reduce the incidents of inappropriate
behaviour, and encourages the children to make good choices.
Rewards
A series of positive rewards have been devised to promote positive
behaviour including:
Foundation Stage & KS1
If teachers see an example of positive behaviour, they can give the child
a ‘Froggy Ticket’. This ticket in placed in a class box and a draw is made
each week, with the winning child being ‘Star of the Week’. These
children receive a reward and are allowed to sit on a special chair, be the
first in the line and be the Star Helper of the Week.
Any child that has not had a red card during the week is allowed to
participate in ‘Golden Time’ on Friday afternoon.
Each half term, any child who has had 3 yellow cards or less, and no red
cards, for the whole half term, will take part in a celebration treat.
6R’s
Many positive learning behaviours are made explicit in the classroom
through the use of the 6R’s.
Teachers will focus on these learning behaviours during lessons, and
children displaying these behaviours will be able to put a ‘Gem in the Jar’
and add their name to a list.
KS2
If teachers see an example of positive behaviour, they can give the child
a ‘Froggy Ticket’. These tickets are collected in a box outside the Head
Teachers office.
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All children who have received a Frog Ticket during the half term for
exceptional good behaviour will be included in a draw. There will be 2 main
prizes.
House points
On entry into KS2, the children are split into House Teams. These are
Ninian, Maughold, Braddan and Andreas.
If a child makes great effort in their academic endeavors, they will be
award house points for their team.
These points are counted on a weekly basis, and each half term the
children with the most points receive a prize.
6R’s
Many positive learning behaviours are made explicit in the classroom
through the use of the 6R’s.
Teachers will focus on these learning behaviours during lessons, and
children displaying these behaviours will be able to put a ‘Gem in the Jar’
and add their name to a list.
In KS2, a “Star of the Week” is picked from each class based on these
6R’s behaviours. The winning child receives a certificate, badge, snap
band and pencil at the Friday assembly.
Any child that has not had a red card during the week is allowed to
participate in ‘Golden Time’ on Friday afternoon.
Sanctions - Key Stage 1
All children start the day on green.
If a child exhibits a minor inappropriate behaviour, such as shouting out,
or calling children names, the child will be given a yellow warning card. The
issuing of the card is written in a behaviour log, kept by the class
teacher.
If a child receives three yellow cards in a day, they will be given a red
consequence card. The issuing of this card is also recorded in the
behaviour log.
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This red consequence card results in the child losing 10 minutes golden
time on a Friday afternoon. This ‘time-out’ time will be spent with the
Foundation Stage/Key Stage 1 coordinator.
If a child has received more than one red card in a week, they will have to
remain with the Foundation Stage/Key Stage 1 coordinator, a further 10
minutes for each red card.
If a child has received 3 or more red cards in a week, the Head Teacher
will send a letter home to the parents of the child, informing them of the
number of red cards their child has received and asking them to discuss
these inappropriate behaviours with their child.
All behaviour logs are examined by the Head Teacher on a weekly basis.
Sanctions - Key Stage 2
All children start the day on green.
If a child exhibits a minor inappropriate behaviour, such as shouting out,
or calling children names, the child will be given a yellow warning card. The
issuing of the card is written in a behaviour log, kept by the class
teacher.
If a child receives three yellow cards in a day, they will be given a red
consequence card. The issuing of this card is also recorded in the
behaviour log.
Children receiving red cards will be required to spend 10 minutes in the
KS2 playground ‘Time out Area’ during the nearest break.
Duty teachers should be informed of children who have received red
consequence cards.
Children’s status reverts back to green after time out.
Any child issued with a red card during the last session of the day will
have to undertake their time-out during the first break of the following
day.
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If a child has received 3 or more red cards in a week, the Head Teacher
will send a letter home to the parents of the child, informing them of the
number of red cards their child has received and asking them to discuss
these inappropriate behaviours with their child.
All behaviour logs are examined by the Head Teacher on a weekly basis.
More Serious inappropriate behaviour sanction for both KS1 and KS2.
More serious inappropriate behaviours result in a red card being issued
(without the need for verbal warning or yellow card).
Automatic red card behaviours include:
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Physical violence
Dangerous behaviour (e.g. leaving school grounds, going in the car
park)
Damaging property
Stealing
Swearing
Spitting
Racist or serious derogatory comments
Lying
Teachers should monitor behaviour and speak informally to parents when
they feel this is appropriate.
The children will then be subject to missing Golden time or playtimes as
explained previously.
Continuing inappropriate behaviours
In the event that children are repeatedly receiving red cards, other
systems of intervention may become necessary.
These could include:
 Use of a home/school diary to allow open, daily communication
between teachers and parents with regard to their children’s
behaviour.
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Informally asking parents to come in and speak about their
children’s behaviour
Head Teacher to send a letter home to parents, formally inviting
them in to discuss the behaviour of the children.
Children to be kept in at playtimes or lunchtimes, if they are being
repeatedly violent towards other children.
Asking for the support of the school’s Special Educational Needs
Coordinator (SENCO) in managing the behaviour of the children.
Asking for support from outside agencies such as the Educational
Support Centre, Educational Psychologists, Speech and Language
Department, Occupational Therapy department and social services.
Extreme Behaviours
In rare cases, we may have incidents of extreme behaviour that require a
different approach.
Some children may display challenging or obsessive behaviours as a result
of their lack of understanding and/or in an attempt to bring order into
their world, which can often result in frustration, tantrums or other
challenging behaviours.
Once a child is know to display these types of behaviours, the school’s
SENCO will become involved with the child usually being placed on the
Special Needs Register. A decision to place a child on the Special Needs
Register is always made in consultation with the parents.
An individual behaviour plan and risk assessment will be completed, to
help support staff and pupils.
In addition, outside agencies may be asked for support.
If a child has displayed extreme violent behaviour towards other children
or staff, or has used racist or sexually explicit language towards others,
the Head Teacher reserves the right to send the children home. Parents
will be contacted by phone and asked to remove their children for the
rest of the day.
On returning to school the following day, parents will be asked to bring
their children in to see the Head Teacher to discuss the incident before
returning to the classroom.
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Suspension and exclusion
The Head Teacher can suspend or exclude a pupil ‘in response to the most
serious cases of misbehaviour or if allowing the pupil to remain in school
would seriously harm the education or welfare of the pupil or of others in
the school’. (Isle of Man Department of Education and Children Policy.)
In accordance with our Catholic ethos, suspensions or exclusions will be a
last resort and only considered after all other possible avenues have been
explored.
Intervention
In some extreme cases, it may become necessary for physical
intervention to be used to keep children safe.
Physical intervention will always be avoided wherever possible, however
staff have a duty of care to keep children safe, and are required to
intervene to prevent
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Children injuring themselves or putting themselves at risk
Children injuring other children or members of staff
Children causing serious damage to property
At St. Mary’s School, we follow the principles of the Team
Teach approach to intervention and behaviour management. Several
members of staff have been trained in handling and de-escalation
techniques.
If physical intervention is necessary, it is important that it happens
quickly, smoothly, confidently and successfully and is recorded
correctly. Parents or Carers should be informed as soon as practical,
preferably by phone.
All incidents requiring physical intervention should be reported to a
senior member of staff and recorded in the bound and numbered book as
soon as possible.
An ABC incident log should also be filled in, and an accident book entry
made if injury has occurred.
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Team-Teach techniques seek to avoid injury to the service user, but it is
possible that bruising or scratching may occur accidentally, and these are
not to be seen necessarily as a failure of professional technique, but a
regrettable and infrequent side effect of ensuring that the service user
remains safe.
St. Mary’s R.C. School Behaviour Policy January 2015 - CC
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