1.Rationale.

Good discipline is an essential pre requisite for good learning. No matter the extent or nature of indiscipline, it is a barrier to learning and teaching.  At Sgoil nan Loch, we believe that each child has a right to the best education which can be provided in a partnership between school, parents and the community. We therefore aim, through strong, consistent and fair management of pupil behaviour, to establish a happy, secure and purposeful environment in which each child may develop his or her full potential. Providing this good learning environment is an important pre condition for pupils attaining the highest possible levels of attainment. Every child is therefore asked to conform to the rules of the school and parents are kept closely informed so that they can support the systems in use. This policy is based on promoting the use of praise and celebration of success.

2. Key Features of Promoting Positive Behaviour .

• Positive atmosphere based on a sense of community and shared values.
• Effective support and leadership from the Headteacher and all school staff.
• An appropriate and effectively delivered curriculum for all pupils.
• The promotion of mutual respect, self discipline and social responsibility.
• All young people have the right to expect that they can fulfil their ambition to inclusion in education, training and employment.
• Schools and other organisations / agencies have a responsibility to assist young people to achieve their full potential.
• Young people and their families need to participate in finding solutions to problems in conjunction with relevant agencies e.g. Action for Children, Education and Children’s Services-Children & Families.

3. Aims.

• We aim to put the emphasis on praise and reward for good behaviour. By praising and rewarding acceptable behaviour, such behaviour may then become the norm. We will avoid, where possible, giving attention to negative behaviour.

• We aim to involve staff and pupils in determining school and classroom rules.

• We aim to involve parents in supporting the development of a whole school approach to promoting personal behaviour.

• We aim to encourage all children to realise that they each have a part to play in the life of the school.

• We aim to foster a more positive attitude to learning in pupils by recognising and regularly rewarding good work, good attitudes and behaviour.

• We aim to encourage excellence in pupils’ performance and behaviour by praising pupil achievement and attainment in all their experiences.

• We aim to give pupils a clear but concise statement of rewards and sanctions related to their behaviour and effort.

• We aim to encourage staff to adopt a consistent approach to classroom management.

• We aim to secure the orderly atmosphere necessary for effective teaching and learning to take place.

 

4. Importance of a Quality Learning Environment.

Children are much more likely to behave well if school is a positive and worthwhile experience. At Sgoil nan Loch, we will give the children the best education possible and make learning as much fun as possible. The curriculum we provide will be relevant and culturally appropriate. We will provide a supportive, creative learning environment where pupils :

• respect school staff.

• respect their peers.

• are keen to learn and ready to listen.

• follow the rules and behave well..

We will do our best to ensure that the quality of learning and teaching is of the highest quality. We will endeavour to ensure that :

• children do not become bored with the task they are set and that teacher expectations are high.
• ICT will be used effectively to support Learning and Teaching.
• The curriculum is differentiated appropriately to take account of individual learning needs
• Teachers make their teaching more accessible and motivating for children by taking account of different learning styles.

We will ensure that our systems are fair, manageable and realistic. This means :

• establishing groups of such numbers that allow for successful management.
• considering  different ways of grouping as appropriate.
• valuing everyone’s contribution equally.

 

5. Code of Conduct.

Staff, pupils (via School Council) and parents (via Parent Council) have worked together to produce this code of behaviour.

Our Code of Behaviour.

• Treat everybody as you would like to be treated yourself. Being friendly, kind and considerate to others helps make our school a happy place to be.
• Listen attentively to whoever is speaking to you. This will make it possible for everyone to learn and for teachers to teach.
• Always be respectful and speak politely to everyone.
• Take a pride in yourself and your school.
• Everyone should take care of their own and other people’s property. Look after school property and resources so that we can all enjoy them. Help keep things clean and tidy.
• Everyone should walk in and around the buildings, running and pushing causes accidents
• Arrive on time with necessary books and equipment.
• Please keep to the dress code.
• The reputation of our school depends on you. Remember that wherever you are, you represent our school.

This code may be summarised as the 3R’s :

Respect for myself.
Respect for others.
Respect for property and environment.

 

6. Celebrating and Rewarding Good Behaviour.

Rewards are more important than punishments in our behaviour policy. We believe that good behaviour should be recognised and rewarded. The staff at Sgoil nan Loch have agreed to:

• Recognise and highlight good behaviour as it occurs
• Ensure that children are praised for behaving well.
• Explain, and importantly demonstrate, the behaviour we wish to see. We recognise that our behaviour will influence the behaviour of the child.
• Emphasise the Golden Rules.
• Encourage children to be responsible for their own good behaviour.
• Reward individual children and groups for behaving well.
• Let parents and carers know about their children’s good behaviour.
• Extensively use the House Points system.
• Awarding of Golden Time.

 

7. Stopping Inappropriate Behaviour.

Occasionally children may forget about the code for good behaviour. Everyone at Sgoil nan Loch has agreed to encourage children to follow the code by :

• reminding pupils about our code.
• noting good behaviour as it occurs.
• dealing positively with inappropriate behaviour in accordance with agreed policy guidelines.

Children will be made aware of the sanctions liable to come into effect should they break the code of conduct or display continual poor behaviour. Most cases of indiscipline will be dealt with without the need for formal sanctions. There is an increasing scale of sanctions available to the school including suspension and expulsion but it is hoped that with the co – operation of parents such sanctions will not be necessary. Lines of referral will be clear and easy to understand and are set out in our general Care and Welfare.

Sanctions may include :

• A quiet word from the teacher in private, sterner words to show displeasure.
• Loss of time in Golden Time.
• Moving a child within the classroom.
• A punishment exercise: Thinking sheet exercise.
• Reporting back to the classroom at lunch/break time.
• Loss of privileges.
• Daily or Weekly Report.
• Involvement of senior management and agencies.
• Payment for deliberately damaged stock or equipment.

Parents will always become involved at an early stage if there are concerns about their child’s behaviour

In extreme and very rare circumstances the school may :

• temporarily exclude a child
• consider permanent exclusion from school.

Exclusion will only ever be considered after all other possible avenues have been explored.

 

8. Procedures for Dealing with Major Breaches of Discipline.

The school will not tolerate inappropriate behaviour, for example :

Bullying. ( See Anti Bullying  Guidelines )
Swearing.
Fighting.
Racism.
Name Calling.
Spitting.
Vandalism.
Stealing.
Truancy.

Strategies such as the ones below have been agreed for dealing with each of these areas. Any significant disciplinary measures will be recorded in an Incident Log.

Examples.

A letter to parents informing them of the problem

Parents may be contacted and asked to come and meet with the teacher / Headteacher.

If the problem is severe or recurring, then the authorities exclusion procedures will come into operation.

A case conference involving parents and support agencies if appropriate.

 

9. Partnerships.

Although the school has a critical role to play in promoting good behaviour, it is clear that schools cannot , and should not, tackle this responsibility alone. Partnership is the key, and schools can consolidate partnerships by :

• ensuring that parents have full information on the schools curriculum, plus regular progress reports. Parents will be told when things are going well and when they are going badly.

Sgoil nan Loch accepts that children who present challenging behaviour do so for various reasons and the school will address these issues through a joint working approach with other agencies. We will attempt to have effective working relationships with Social Work, Educational Psychology and Health Departments in particular to ensure that those children who are particularly vulnerable receive coordinated multidisciplinary responses.  The Headteacher is responsible for coordinating the work of professionals from different agencies within the overall aims of the school. The Headteacher is responsible for the care and welfare of looked after children.

Some possible Strategies to achieve Positive Behaviour.

• Appropriate and relevant curriculum for all as discussed with staff/Support for Learning teacher.
• Use of curricular flexibility as appropriate ( currently being investigated).
• The development of Whole School Behaviour Codes with pupils becoming actively involved in their creation (with School Council and Parent Council).
• The development of School Rewards and Sanctions Policies which are clearly communicated to all pupils and parents.
• The development of strategies for the early identification of pupils who are experiencing and presenting difficulties within the school setting (currently links with Social Services, Action for Children,  Youth Care Workers and the local medical practice are being explored, utilised and developed).
• Training for staff in dealing with difficult pupils (In-Service courses being attended by staff).
• Stronger liaison between schools and other agencies.
• Pupil Council.
• Circle time Techniques.
• Tutorial system.
• Extra Curricular Clubs.
• Involvement of Parents. ( E.g newsletters, open days etc )
• Classroom Charter developed through the School Council.
• Certificates.
• Stickers / Stars etc.
• House System – points etc.
• Pride in Environment. E.g mounting own work.

 

10. Monitoring and Evaluation.

Note : Reflect on the following questions.

• Is the policy achieving what you hoped it would ?
• Are there snags which only demonstrate themselves in practice ?
• Are you and your colleagues modelling the school values ?
• Do staff show respect for each other ?
• Do all staff demonstrate respect for the pupils ?
• Does everyone show respect for visitors ?
• Have lunchtime and playground supervisors received training in the behaviour policy ? (currently being investigated)

This policy will be evaluated for its effectiveness on an annual basis.