BEHAVIOUR POLICY

Introduction

School rules are kept to a minimum and exist on the grounds of safety and of ensuring that all members of the School community can live and work together in a supportive way. Our behaviour policy is not primarily concerned with rule enforcement. It is a means of promoting good relationships, so that 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.

 Aims and Objectives  

• To have high expectations of the pupils with regard to behaviour, and to ensure that all pupils work to the best of their ability.
• To foster good relationships between staff and pupils and between the girls themselves by establishing and maintaining an atmosphere of mutual respect.
• To maintain a community which is tolerant and teaches service to others.
• To establish a clearly defined hierarchy of responses to inappropriate behaviour.

Expectations

Good behaviour depends above all on establishing appropriate relationships between staff and pupils. To that end staff must aim to create and sustain a supportive learning environment and provide well prepared lessons. Self discipline and self motivation are encouraged.

Girls are expected to:

• Be courteous at all times; rudeness or disrespect towards others is not tolerated.
• Be punctual at all times.
• Show respect for the environment.
• Wear the correct school uniform and show pride in their appearance.
• Walk around the building calmly and quietly.
• Attend all lessons and complete assignments punctually and to the best of their ability.
• Obey school rules.

The system of form assistants and peer counsellors encourages girls to care for each other. Lessons on good relationships are included in the PSHE programmes.

Codes of conduct are published e.g. in planners, handbooks and in classrooms. Bullying is never tolerated. (See Policy on Anti Bullying).

Home/ School Liaison

Parents have a vital role in promoting good behaviour in school and we expect parents to give their full support in dealing with their daughter's behaviour. We encourage parents to keep us informed about any difficulties or traumas that may occur at home so that we can be supportive and act appropriately at school.

Rewards

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

• Teachers congratulate children for achievement, good work and behaviour
• Girls receive certificates and acknowledgement of success through assemblies and commendation meetings with Senior Staff.

Behaviour Management

See separate guidance for Senior and Junior School.

(See also The Senior School Rules and Code of Conduct for Class behaviour and Policies on Alcohol, Illegal drugs, Smoking and Stealing).

All members of staff are aware of the regulations regarding the use of force by teachers, as set out in DCSF Guidance November 2007, relating to section 550A of the Education Act 1996: The Use of Force to Control or Restrain Pupils. Teachers in our school do not hit, push or slap children. Staff only intervene physically to restrain children or to prevent injury to a child, or if a child is in danger of hurting him/herself. The actions that we take are in line with government guidelines on the restraint of children.

The Deputy Heads and Head of Junior School liaise with external agencies, as necessary, to support and guide the progress of each child.

The safety of the children is paramount in all situations. In the event of a child's behaviour endangering the safety of others or preventing learning, the class teacher would stop the activity and prevent the child from taking part for the rest of that session.

Monitoring and Review

The behaviour policy is the governors' responsibility and they review its effectiveness through an incident report presented to the Governors' Personnel Committee.

Guidance for Staff

Behaviour Management in the Junior School

Sanctions

In the first instance form teachers are informed and deal with the issue as appropriate egg Loss of Golden Time. The form CAUSE FOR CONCERN can be used to monitor the extent of the problem. This is to be completed by the form teacher and is to be found in the Reprographics Room.

If a child's inappropriate behaviour does not modify through low key intervention staff should:

• Advise the Deputy Head of the First or Lower School who will instigate appropriate action.
• When deemed necessary the Junior School Behaviour Management comes into force
• Form Teachers keep careful notes for future reference
• Parents are made aware of the situation according to our procedure in order to inform them and gain their support.
• The Nurse and/or Counsellor are contacted for further advice and support.
• The Head of the Junior School is kept informed and reviews the situation regularly with Deputies and form teachers until the problem is resolved.

STAGE 1 Behaviour Review 1

This guidance sets out a staged approach for managing behaviour but it may be necessary to vary the progression through the stages according to the individual circumstances. This is at the discretion of the head of the Junior School.

Behaviour of the girl is monitored closely for one week without report card by all who teach her.Parents not informed at this stage.

• When the girl's behaviour has been identified as a problem the form teacher has an individual word with the girl concerned and informs her of the start of the procedure of the behaviour policy. The girl is made aware of what areas of improvement we are looking for. It is made clear that there is an opportunity for the girl to improve the situation before she goes on report and her parents are informed. Deprivation of Golden Time begins.
• Form teacher informs all other teachers teaching the girl that for the next week her behaviour will be closely monitored in the lessons and outside the classroom. Form teacher puts girl's name in Behaviour File kept in reprographics room.
• The subject teachers of the girl should inform the class teacher how things are going within the week.

STAGE 2 Behaviour Review 2

 No improvement at Stage 1 means that the girl remains on close observation for a further week but her parents are informed by phone call from form teacher that her behaviour has been giving cause for concern and has not shown significant improvement during the last week. This is followed up with a letter confirming the phone call.

Parents to be informed by Form teacher.

• If the behaviour has not improved Stage 2 is set in motion. Form teacher informs parents and the other teachers that the girl's behaviour has not significantly improved last week and therefore she will continue on her behaviour review for another week. Progress report should be written by form teacher in the home school diary during the week.
• Parents to be given an idea of the areas of improvement the school is looking for. The parents are asked to support the efforts the girl and school are making and to encourage the girl to try hard to improve her behaviour.

STAGE 3 Behaviour Report cards

Parents informed by phone by Head, Deputy Head or Form Teacher that their daughter is to be put on report. The parents may be called in for a meeting if necessary at this stage. Letter confirming the phone call to be sent. 

• The form teacher meets with the girl and she is put on REPORT. Pro forma has been compiled. This coloured document is carried round from lesson to lesson and each member of staff is asked to fill it in, including positive comments too. The length of this report card process will be agreed when the card is issued
• Form teacher to inform staff that the process has begun and the Head or Deputy Head is to inform the parents by phone.
• Form teachers can make a brief daily report in the home school diary so that the parents get daily feedback.  
•  If it has been necessary to use the report card on more than one occasion within a term, the girl may also be withdrawn from extra curricular or special activities for a specified period.

STAGE 4 Meeting with Parents

 Parents called in to see the Head of Junior School to a Disciplinary Meeting in order to receive a formal report of the behaviour and to discuss appropriate strategies to improve the behaviour of the girl. These may include the signing of a behaviour agreement which could constitute a formal meeting .The deprivation of other privileges including After School Clubs, membership of late room and other sanctions e.g. trips and performances will be reconsidered. Strict sanctions such as some form of suspension or a review of the automatic transfer to the Senior School, could follow if the Head of the Junior School regards the case as serious enough. Parents should be advised that when places are offered to the Senior School, the contents of a girl's behaviour file may form part of the decision. A letter confirming the outcome of this meeting to be sent.

• Timing of agreed strategies will be established and a review date set.
• Remember that there is the continued support of the school counsellor to assist at every stage of these procedures.

If there are still some concerns at the stage of transfer at 11+, the parents will be invited into school to meet with the Head of the Junior School and the Head of the Middle School in order to set up a continuing review system from the start of Year 7.

All records of meetings should be kept and on report cards should be put In the Behaviour File.

Behaviour management in the Senior School

It is the aim of the school to make girls responsible for their own behaviour and academic progress. They should be encouraged to be self disciplined, organised and courteous to all members of the school community. They are expected to be punctual and to wear school uniform. School rules are kept to a minimum but failure to meet the expectations of behaviour should be dealt with immediately by staff. (See Conventions for conduct in class in the Staff handbook).

Behaviour of the Individual

If a teacher considers a girl's behaviour to be unacceptable eg disruption to a lesson, persistent lateness, Rudeness or homework missed without good reason:

 Stage One

• The girl should be taken to one side and reprimanded and made aware of the area of improvement necessary.
• If the girl re-offends or homework is missed twice consecutively the teacher may issue a green slip. The green slip is sent to the girl's tutor explaining the offence and the girl is seen by the tutor to agree how the problem will be remedied.       
• The tear off response is returned to the teacher.
• If work is late staff may choose to correct and return the work but withhold the mark.
• If the tutor receives two green slips within a half term, the tutor will telephone the girl's parents to explain the problem and try to remedy behaviour.

 Stage Two

• If the problem persists the Section Head should be consulted, the Deputy Head informed and the parents invited in to school to agree a strategy to rectify the problem. A letter should be sent home as a record. Written records of the meeting should be kept in the girl's file.
• To monitor progress persistent offenders may be put "on report" i.e. a sheet has to be signed by the teacher at the end of the lessons.
• A case conference may be called of all the staff who teach the pupil to agree an action plan. The school nurse and/or counsellor may be asked to attend. A written record of the meeting should be kept in the girl's file.
• If a girl is persistently disrupting a lesson, arrangements should be made in advance for her to be removed from the class if necessary and sent to another member of staff to work in isolation.
• Possible sanctions which may be imposed after consultation with Section Head who would inform parents:
•       Extra curricular activities may be withdrawn
•       Privileges may be withdrawn e.g. sixth form not allowed to leave the site, attendance at school trips/visits/events banned.
•      Community service may be required e.g. collecting litter.

  Stage Three

• If the problem is not resolved or re-occurs a Deputy Head will be informed who will invoke the formal disciplinary procedure. Parents would be invited to attend a disciplinary meeting with the Deputy Head. As a result the parents and girl may be asked to sign an 'Agreement and Formal Warning' which would make it clear that were the problem to still be unresolved, some form of suspension would follow. Additional sanctions would be as for stage 2 but a short period of suspension may be imposed for punishment.

Stage Four 

If the problem persists the Headmistress will be involved. The girl may be suspended pending the outcome of an investigation. Parents and girl will be invited to attend a formal disciplinary meeting at which the Head will decide whether it is in the best interests of the school for the girl to remain a pupil.

Sanctions may be:                                                                                         

• re-entry into school under strict conditions, following a period of suspension imposed as a punishment
• voluntary removal of the girl by the parents
• Removal of the girl required by the school
• Expulsion

In the case of a serious breach of discipline, disciplinary procedures may move instantly to Stage Four.

Group Behaviour

• Unsatisfactory behaviour by groups e.g. leaving rooms untidy, lack of courtesy on trips. n consultation with section Head, teachers or tutors may enforce an appropriate sanction eg lock girls out of form rooms at break time, arrange community service eg litter collection, clearing dining room. Teachers may keep classes in at short break but should not disrupt lunchtime arrangements.

In the case of unsatisfactory uniform:

• After the first warning a uniform slip should be completed by the tutor and sent directly to the Section Head.
• If the Section Head receives two uniform slips within half a term, a standard letter will be sent to parents
• If uniform still does not improve the parents will be invited in to meet tutor and Section Head. A written record of the meeting should be kept in the girl's file.

Absence/lateness for lessons

• Registers must be taken at the beginning of every lesson, either formally or informally depending on the age of the class.
• Lessons should start promptly and late arrivals noted. Anybody arriving 5 minutes late without good reason should be warned once and a green slip issued for the second offence.
• If a sixth form girl is absent from a lesson a yellow slip should be sent to her tutor. The tutor will ascertain the reason, note it on the slip and return it to the teacher.

    Confiscation:

• Non regulation uniform items e.g. T shirts, socks, scarves, jewellery, i-Pods may be confiscated where appropriate and returned at the teacher's discretion e.g. at the end of the day/week/term.
• Mobile phones used inappropriately ( see rules about mobile phones in Staff Handbook) may be confiscated but for safety reasons arrangements must be made for the mobile phone to be returned to the pupil at the end of the school day e.g. to be collected from reception.

In the case of unsatisfactory work:

• If the standard of work e.g. homework task or class test, is unsatisfactory a girl may be asked to meet the teacher at break or lunchtime for extra help and/or to resit a test or redo/complete an assignment.
• This would take priority over any extra-curricular activity (except music lessons which are paid for and language conversation lessons which part of the academic timetable) and it is the girl's responsibility to explain their absence from other commitments to any other relevant member of staff.
• Procedure for coursework is given in the Staff Handbook Coursework Policy

In the case of serious breach of discipline involving e.g. smoking, illegal drugs, bullying, stealing:

• The matter should be referred immediately to the Section Head and Deputy Head
• A written report of the incident and any relevant witness statements should be made as soon as possible