• To have clear expectations and strategies which everyone is aware of (staff, children, parents and governors); hence the need to involve everyone in this process
• To ensure consistency and care, where everyone feels appreciated and feels able to develop as an individual
• To be fair and be seen to be fair
• To promote qualities of tolerance, respect and awareness of others
• To enable the school to function effectively with due regard to health and safety
• To ensure that everyone is safe from buying and discrimination
• To promote positive behaviour in and out of school, Every Child Matters

To help us achieve these aims, we expect everyone to remember our Golden Rules.

• Always be kind and helpful
• Don't hurt or upset people
• Always share and play fairly
• Don't be mean
• Always take care of everyone and everything
• Don't break or damage things or hurt people
• Always listen
• Don't be noisy
• Always tell the truth and be honest
• Don't cover up the truth
• Always be careful and be safe
• Don't rush or be silly

A copy of our Golden Rules is up on the wall in every classroom, the hall and the playground. At the start of each term we remind ourselves of our golden rules in collective worship.

REWARDING GOOD WORK, BEHAVIOUR AND EFFORT

At Rode School we believe the ideal incentives are the intrinsic rewards offered by:

• warm relationships
• positive role models
• a stimulating environment

We use the following strategies to ensure every child has the opportunity to experience success.

INCENTIVES FOR POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR

1. Nonverbal praise - e.g. smiles, touch on shoulder, thumbs up
2. Verbal praise - either a word in the ear or public recognition. It can be given to or by anyone
3. Display of children's work - Children's work is presented in such a way that it is obvious that we are proud of success whether it is in quantity or quality of effort
4. Marking - which encourages and reinforces success
5. Special Jobs - which make the children feel responsible and proud of being chosen to do something extra, e.g. cleaning the board, putting the music on for collective worship. Making sure all children are included in these special jobs, (not the ones that “stand out”)
6. Stickers and stamps - are awarded by all staff. Smiley stickers for particularly kind and helpful behaviour, and stamps for wonderful work. These are collected in individual stamp cards
7. Sharing achievement - in recognition of good behaviour or a particular task, a child may share their success with others in various ways. For example:
   In class - staff, teaching and non-teaching can draw attention to particularly good work, effort or behaviour and praise this to the child's group or rest of the class.
   At Smiley Assembly - children are nominated by staff, teaching and non-teaching, or by other children or visitors for a 'smiley' sticker to praise their kind and helpful behaviour. Once recommended, the children receive these individually from the head teacher together with a handshake and everyone in the circle claps that person.
   Wonderful Work - occasionally teachers choose one piece of wonderful work to bring to smiley assembly. These children receive a special certificate and their work is displayed on the celebration board if suitable.
   Certificates - once the children have collected ten stickers in their sticker book, they are presented with a special certificate which then goes home. Certificates for handwriting and swimming are also presented in this assembly.
   
8. Golden Time - Throughout the school a half termly Golden Time session is arranged as a reward for collective good behaviour. A range of activities are available for the children to choose from

SANCTIONS

Sanctions are used if behaviour is unacceptable. Everyone is given a chance, quietly, to explain themselves and their behaviour. If behaviour does not improve, the following sanctions are used.

1. A warning - nonverbal (a glare/look, shake of the head, a hand on the shoulder etc.) or verbal where a clear, concise message is given that this behaviour is not acceptable (it is the behaviour which is criticised, not the child personally; for example, 'That was a horrible thing to do' rather than 'You are a horrible boy/girl')
2. Time-out - having been given a warning to improve their behaviour, the next step is to withdraw the child from their group. In class this involves working in isolation until the task is complete; this is made clear to the child. For example, 'when you have had time to think about your behaviour and you have finished that task, and you can return to your table'.
   At playtime, if a child is given time-out, they stand-alone at the side of the playground for a given time e.g. 5 minutes. A visual timer may be useful to help the child understand how long.
   The children are encouraged to spend time reflecting on their behaviour and/or to write a letter of apology to the other parties involved
3. Withdrawal of privilege or free time - e.g. staying in to complete work at playtime
4. Booking - If children misbehave during collective worship or at playtime and are sent to the head teacher, he or she writes their name in a book together with the date and reason for booking. If poor behaviour persists, parents will be contacted
5. Parents informed - by letter or telephone call that their child's behaviour is unacceptable and why. Parents are then invited into school to discuss this and appropriate ways forward are agreed
6. Fast-track - for certain inappropriate behaviour (e.g. bullying, bad language, serious fighting, defiance, damage to property). Child passes stage 4 (booking) and moves immediately to stage 5 where parents are informed.
   This occurs if head teacher, in consultation with class teacher/s, feels that the behaviour is so serious or so persistent that a formal individual plan is needed to be put in place as fast as possible. This includes:
   
   • A behaviour 'contract' - drawn up in consultation with parents, usually in the form of a book where the child is required to log in' at various strategic points during the day. If behaviour has been satisfactory, a small incentive is given e.g. smiley face or sticker; if behaviour has not been satisfactory, free time is withdrawn e.g. playtime. Following discussion with the child, a reward is negotiated for consistently good behaviour.
     The aim of this is to give the child the opportunity to think before they behave inappropriately and to consider the consequences, if they continue to do so. Following a period of reformed behaviour, the child will be taken off the behaviour contract. However, should behaviour not improve, the following strategies have been agreed
   • Internal exclusion - the child works away from their class.
     NB: - This shows serious cause for concern and the child, in consultation with parents, will be put onto Stage 1 of the SEN procedure at this point if appropriate
   • External exclusion - if inappropriate behaviour is repeated or persists, the child may be removed from school temporarily with agreement of the governors/LEA. This is an extreme step and will only be taken in cases where:
     - long-term misbehaviour is not responding to the strategies. The safety and learning of others are being seriously hindered, or
     
     - an incident of extreme seriousness has occurred and all parties need a short period to consider the best course forward

LUNCHTIME

Good behaviour at lunchtime is expected and this is praised and rewarded as at any other time i.e. a smiley sticker can be given for special kindness or helpfulness.

Whilst eating lunch

A team of children is given the responsibility for wiping the tables stacking chairs etc. at the end of each session.

If a child behaves inappropriately whilst eating lunch i.e. uses poor table manners, the following sanctions will apply:

• A verbal warning
• Moved to another table
• Moved to a separate table on their own (this will be in the kitchen)
• Sent to head teacher

APPLICATION

There may be other occasions when special rules need to be applied i.e. at the swimming pool, science or technology lessons, but the same principles of promoting good behaviour through the policy will always apply for all of our school community.

MONITORING REVIEW AND EVALUATION

This policy will be monitored by all staff to check effectiveness. It will be reviewed annually at the beginning of each new academic year. The areas to be reviewed will be:

CONCLUSIONS

This document has been written by the children, staff, parents and Governors of Rode School.

The children work towards completing their own version of this 'Caring for Each Other and our School' which they then take home and share.