BEHAVIOUR POLICY

Signed (HT):						Date agreed:  November 2020
Signed (Chair of GB):	Review date: November 2023
At Castlefield School we expect and encourage good behaviour and self-discipline from all pupils in order to achieve an environment which enables emotional development, effective learning, high standards and the smooth functioning of the school as an orderly community. We acknowledge our legal duties under the Equality Act 2010, in respect of Safeguarding, and in respect of pupils with Special Educational Needs.

Aims of the policy
•	To develop a moral framework within which children can mature emotionally and in which sound relationships can flourish. 
•	To enable children to develop a sense of self-worth, respect and tolerance for others. 
•	To produce an environment in which children feel safe, secure and respected.

Objectives 
For children to show:
•	Self confidence 
•	Self-control 
•	Respect, courtesy and tolerance towards teachers, other staff and towards each other 
•	Pride in their achievements 
•	Interest in their activities 
•	Empathy with others feelings 
•	Respect for their environment and community 

Teachers and all staff are expected to be good at managing and improving children’s behaviour.

Every week, the whole school acknowledges the positive contribution made by children to the school, through our Friday assembly.  

It is expected that parents will support the school in encouraging their children to show respect and support the school’s authority when disciplining its pupils.

A whole school approach of positive reinforcement is taken to the management of behaviour and it is essential that this is followed consistently. In this way we can create a secure climate of mutual respect where children are aware of expectations and receive positive guidance whilst learning to play a responsible role both within the school and its wider community.

A variety of methods are used to encourage and support pupils to behave appropriately:
•	Learning for Life/PSHE/Metacognition/Assemblies 
•	Class Codes of Conduct 
•	Sanctions 
•	Rewards 
•	Areas of Responsibility/good role models 
•	Mutual respect expected of all adults and children 
•	Anti-Bullying policy 
•	A range of visitors into school and a variety of visits offsite 

When Things Go Right: 
Class Rewards: Each year group uses a wide range of rewards. Teachers discuss with children what the rewards will be within the class and how children can achieve them. The rewards may alter and be adapted due to the needs and maturity of a particular cohort.

Attendance: At the end of the year children who have 100% attendance (excluding absence relating to religious observance) for the whole year receive a certificate and a prize. 

Celebration Assemblies: Once a week, children from each class are awarded certificates for positive actions, behaviours, work in front of the whole school.

Areas of Responsibility: Pupils throughout the school are offered opportunities to take responsibility, to show initiative and to extend their social and cultural experiences. These roles include: Classroom monitors, playground Leaders, Prefects/Monitors

Mutual Respect
At Castlefield School we believe that in order to implement a policy of behaviour management effectively, it is essential that there is an ethos of mutual respect. Everyone has the right to their own opinion and to express that opinion but consideration must be given to how and when that opinion is expressed to show sensitivity and regard for others. Children need to be encouraged to do this by being reminded and prompted, by discussion in PSHE/Metacognition/Learning for Life, by role play and by good role modelling. Respect needs to be apparent between adults, between children and adults and between children. In this way every member of the school is valued and feels valued.

Implementation
Parents: 
•	At admission to the school, parents are asked to sign a home-school agreement that outlines the responsibilities of the parent and school with regards to behaviour and attendance.
•	Parents have a clear role in making sure that their child is well behaved at school.
 
Staff:
•	Treat all children equally, irrespective of gender, sexuality, race, religion or disability. 
•	Be alert to signs of all forms of bullying and racial harassment and deal firmly with it in line with school policy. 
•	Model the type of behaviour felt to be acceptable. 
•	Play an active part in building a sense of community. 
•	Deal sensitively with children in distress. 
•	Support each other in maintaining good classroom management and be sensitive to each other’s needs. 

Children:
•	Should treat others as they would like to be treated, ie with tolerance and respect for other’s views and rights. 
•	Should accept responsibility for their own choices and actions. 
•	Should dress appropriately in the agreed school uniform. Haircuts and the wearing of jewellery should also be in line with school policy. 
•	Respond appropriately and immediately to any reasonable request or instruction made to them by any adult in school. 
•	Complete all assigned work within an agreed timescale. 

Employed Staff Powers to Discipline Pupils:
Teachers, and all paid employees, have the statutory authority to discipline pupils whose behaviour is unacceptable; who break school rules or who fail to follow a reasonable instruction (Section 90 and 91 of the Education and Inspection Act 2006).

The power applies to all paid staff with responsibility for pupils, this includes Teaching Assistants, Midday Supervisors, staff who are not classed based e.g. administrative staff

Staff can discipline pupils at any time that the pupil is in school or offsite e.g. visits and residential visits. 

Staff can also discipline pupils when a pupil’s misbehaviour occurs off school premises. 

Staff can confiscate pupils’ property. 

Staff can impose an agreed sanction (see this policy) 

Staff have the power to impose a detention; during the school day e.g. lunchtimes and playtimes (allowing for reasonable access for the child to be able to eat, drink and use the toilet), or preventing a child from taking part in an activity after-school e.g. representing the school, or whilst on a residential visit. 

The power to discipline pupils applies to behaviour both in school, and out (in certain circumstances – e.g. bringing the school’s reputation into disrepute or incidents of bullying or harassment that affect children in school).

The Headteacher should consider whether a child’s behaviour gives cause to suspect that the child may be suffering, or is likely to suffer significant harm. Where this may be the case, staff should be directed to follow the school’s safeguarding procedure.

Schools should also consider whether continuing disruptive behaviour, might be as the result of unmet educational or other needs, and whether referring to ‘First Response’/’Early Help’ may be able to support the child/family.

Physical Restraint of a pupil:
In very rare situations, where a child is refusing to follow a reasonable instruction to stop their behaviour, which may be causing or may result in harm to themselves or another person, involve damaging property, the law allows all employed staff to physically restrain a pupil using ‘reasonable’ force. See Handling Restraint & Policy for further information.

When Things Go Wrong:
Examples of unacceptable behaviour includes (please note that the following list is not exhaustive):
•	Disobedience to a reasonable instruction 
•	Non-completion of school work that could be reasonably expected
•	Inappropriate dress
•	Biting, spitting, hitting and/or kicking
•	Foul language and swearing
•	Making unkind remarks 
•	Damaging property, including defacing property e.g. graffiti 
•	Answering back, rudeness or aggression to adults or others
•	Stealing, including hiding another person’s property
•	Carrying knives, drugs, alcohol or any offensive weapon into school
•	Truancy, including non or poor attendance, and a regular pattern of late attendance 
•	Racist or derogatory comments
•	Fighting or encouraging others to fight 
•	Forming gangs for the purpose of intimidating others
•	Bullying, in any form, e.g. cyberbullying (including from home), homophobic bullying (see Anti-Bullying Policy).
•	Wearing of any symbols that could cause offence to individuals and or groups, either by gender, sexuality, race, colour, culture, disability or religion
•	Putting themselves, other children or adults at risk
•	Moving around school in a way that falls below the expected standards of general behaviour, e.g. running, shouting, pushing
•	Lying
•	Creating or spreading malicious ‘gossip’ about adults who work or volunteer in school, about other children and families, and including the use of social media.

Pupil’s Conduct Outside the School Gates
Staff have the power to discipline pupils for misbehaving outside the school gates, “to such an extent as is reasonable.” This includes behaviour witnessed by a member of staff or reported to the school by another person. This could include misbehaviour when:
•	Taking part in school organised activities, e.g. offsite visits, residential visits, when representing the school 
•	Travelling to and from school
•	Misbehaviour when wearing school uniform 
•	Or any misbehaviour at any time that could have repercussions for the orderly running of the school, poses a threat to another pupil or member of the public, could adversely affect the reputation of the school and includes misbehaviour on-line
•	Poor attendance caused by truancy

Sanctions/Punishments
When children’s behaviour does fall below the acceptable standards (see above), the incident will be investigated to ascertain the facts. The investigator will speak to any and all parties who might have been involved or witnessed the event. 

The investigator can:
•	Speak to a child or group of children without the parents’ consent 
•	Speak to the child or group of children without parents being present 

The outcome of the investigation is to determine what is likely to have happened and may involve previous knowledge of the children involved, in order to come to their final conclusions. They will then determine the sanction to be used.

The punishment used must be reasonable and must not breach any other legislation (disability, SEN, race and other equality acts).

A firm reprimand from a member of staff is expected to be sufficient to correct most misbehaviour. However, if this fails, or the severity of the behaviour dictates, then the following actions may be adopted:
•	Time out (in classroom or outside Headteacher’s office)
•	Completing extra work or repeating work until it meets the expected standard
•	Short term loss of privileges e.g. withdrawal from a visit or to represent the school – used once 
•	Loss of free/ play time 
•	During play time a pupil may be sent indoors for a cooling off period (outside Headteacher’s office) 
•	Removing graffiti or tidying an area disrupted by the child, including picking up litter (age appropriate)
•	A requirement for a written apology. 

If the above sanctions do not lead to an immediate modification of behaviour, the following actions are likely to be considered:
•	Exclusion from a favoured activity – long term or permanently; not including mandatory curriculum sessions but for non-mandatory curriculum activities e.g. after-school clubs and may also be used on residential visits. 
•	Exclusion from the right to represent the school. 
•	A letter/telephone call to a parent from the Headteacher or Deputy. 
•	The establishment of a behaviour record/log or home school report book. 
•	A regular behaviour report/log to be given to the Headteacher. 
•	A meeting with parents. 
•	Other sanctions following discussion between parents, class teacher and head teacher. 
•	PSP pastoral support programme. 
•	Fixed Term or Permanent Exclusion from school [LA guidelines to be followed for either fixed term or permanent exclusions]
•	Detention (Castlefield School will only use detentions imposed outside the normal school hours if parents have been informed at least 24 hours in advance).

Confiscation of Inappropriate Items:
The general power to discipline, enables a member of staff to confiscate, retain or dispose of a pupils’ property as a punishment, so long as it is reasonable in the circumstances. The law protects staff from liability of damage to, or loss of confiscated items, provided they acted lawfully.

Once an item is confiscated, the member of staff must make an effort to keep the property safe. The confiscated item must then be returned to the child’s parent, at which time, the member of staff will explain to the parent why the property was confiscated.

Staff also have the power to search without consent for prohibited items, including;
•	Any article that could be used to commit an offence, damage property or cause injury to self or another person 
•	Any item banned by the school rules (e.g. mobile phones) 
•	Knives, weapons 
•	Stolen items 
•	Cigarettes, lighters, matches (including lighter fuel and propellants) 
•	Drugs, alcohol 
•	Fireworks 

Where appropriate, items may be handed to the police. The Headteacher will decide whether it is appropriate to involve other outside agencies e.g. Social Care, Police.

Racist remarks:
Any words or actions that cause offence to another person and are considered racist by the offended person will be deemed as a racist remark. In this case the pupil will be reprimanded, the Headteacher is informed and a record of the incident is kept. 

Governors and parents are informed. 

In persistent cases, parents may be asked to discuss the matter with the Headteacher and a referral made to police/social care

Exclusion
Whenever exclusion is being considered, the school will liaise with the Local Authority’s Exclusion and Integration team to ensure the process is being correctly applied.

The Headteacher (or Deputy Head in the Headteacher’s absence) will decide whether to exclude a pupil, for a fixed term or permanently (to be approved by the Governing Body panel within 15 days of the permanent exclusion being announced), considering all the circumstances, the evidence available and the need to balance the interests of the pupil against those of the whole school community.

The Headteacher may consider the following questions:
•	Is the behaviour in breach of the school Behaviour Policy? If so, have any other sanctions described in the policy been used and to what effect? Could any other sanctions be used as an alternative with the parents’ agreement? 
•	Has the school previously supported the child (what/when/what level of impact did this have? 
•	Does the child have any recognised behaviour problems? Have reasonable adjustments already been made or could they now be made? (Evidence could be SEN documentation e.g. EHCP, PDR, Risk Assessments) Even if the child does have a recognised behaviour problem the Headteacher has a duty of care to all children. If the risk to others cannot be controlled, then exclusion should be considered. 
•	Would allowing the child to remain in school seriously harm the education or welfare of other children or adults? 

Once all other considerations have been made, and the answer to this final question is ‘yes’ then an exclusion must be applied. In this case, the school will follow Local Authority guidelines. 

Visitors’ Behaviour:
The school expects all stakeholders and visitors to behave in a polite and appropriate manner, where this is not the case actions will be taken in line with the appropriate policy: See Dealing with Disruptive Visitors Policy

Policy Review:
The Governing Body of Castlefield School is responsible for ensuring the review of this policy on a 3 yearly basis.

COVID Appendix
The School is following the Government's COVID-19 related reopening advice and guidance as detailed below and in response to the posed questions:

Will pupils be punished if they deliberately disobey rules on protective measures? 
It is important for schools to be calm and disciplined environments, where everyone follows the rules. Before they reopen, schools should update their behaviour policy to reflect the new protective measures and new rules and routines. It should also include appropriate consequences (such as sanctions and rewards), so that staff can ensure pupils understand them and can enforce them rigorously. The disciplinary powers that schools currently have, including exclusion, remain in place. Schools will be aware that the current circumstances can affect the mental health of pupils and their parents in a way that affects behaviour. Our guidance on mental health and behaviour in schools sets out how mental health issues can bring about changes in a young person’s behaviour or emotional state and how this can be reflected within the approach to behaviour set out in Creating a Culture. (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/behaviour-in-schools)

How can schools make reasonable adjustments when they devise and implement new rules? 
Some children will return to school having been exposed to a range of adversity including bereavement and long-term anxiety. This may lead to an increase in social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) concerns. Additionally, where children have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), their provision may have been disrupted during partial school closure and there may be an impact on their behaviour. Some children will need additional support and access to services such as Educational Psychologists, social workers, and counsellors. For children and young people with SEND, it will be especially important to teach new norms and routines around protective measures and personal hygiene clearly and accessibly.

Can head teachers exclude pupils? 
Headteachers retain the power to exclude pupils on disciplinary grounds. Any decision to exclude should be lawful (with respect to the legislation relating directly to exclusions and a school’s wider legal duties, including the European Convention on Human Rights and the Equality Act 2010); rational; reasonable; fair; and proportionate.
Permanent exclusion should only be used as a last resort, in response to a serious breach, or persistent breaches of the school’s behaviour policy, and where allowing the pupil to remain in school would seriously harm the education or welfare of the pupil or others in the school. We expect schools who have permanently excluded a pupil to work with parents or carers and the local authority to arrange a place at an alternative educational setting as soon as possible so as to minimise any further breaks in education provision. Where the child in question is vulnerable, the school should notify the local authority/social worker immediately and should work with the local authority to ensure that the child is found a place in another educational setting quickly.
During any gap in provision, education providers, social workers, local authorities and other professionals will need to work together to ensure adequate and appropriate arrangements are in place to keep in touch with vulnerable children and young people.

What is the effect of coronavirus on Governing Bodies’ duties to consider reinstatement of excluded pupils, and the process for independent review panels (IRPs)? 
The timeframes set out in the School Discipline (Pupil Exclusions and Reviews) (England) Regulations 2012 remain in force. This applies to all exclusions, including those that were issued before 23 March. The government appreciates that it may not be possible to meet the timeframes set out in regulations for review meetings and IRPs, due to the disruption caused by the coronavirus outbreak and the health risks of holding meetings.
The Regulations themselves envisage that the timeframes may not always be met, which is why they specify that meetings and panel hearings must still go ahead even if the relevant deadline has been missed. It is for the Governing Body or arranging authority to assess the facts of the case and decide whether the statutory deadlines are achievable or whether, in the circumstances, the meeting has to be delayed. Governing Bodies and arranging authorities should continue to take reasonable steps to ensure meetings are arranged for a time when all parties are able to attend.