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BEHAVIOUR
POLICY
“Malton C P School takes very good
care of its pupils.” - OFSTED Report March 2004
The Governors, teachers, ancillary staff and all those
people who work with us, invest a great deal of time and effort in your
children’s Personal and Social
Development. Your children are valued, protected, cared for and
guided. Standards of behaviour throughout
our school are high and the ‘keystone’
to the success of this policy has been the support of the parents. It is crucial that we work together and we
actively encourage and invite you to become involved with the life of the
school. We are confident that through open discussion, an amicable solution can
be found to any problems that may be encountered.
OPEN
DOOR POLICY
For
18 years, Mr. Culley has operated an ‘OPEN
DOOR POLICY’ to ensure that parents can have direct access to the
Headteacher without the need for a prior appointment, either through a personal
interview or over the telephone. The
only occasions when parents may have to wait are when he is already engaged or
he is teaching. All contacts are
logged, including the action and time taken and it is interesting to note that
during the academic year – 2003 / 2004 parents made use of this facility on 217
occasions.
SHARING
ASSEMBLIES
We
hold a Sharing Assembly every Friday afternoon at 2.40 p.m. These occasions
have proved to be very constructive and we continue to reward and encourage
positive actions such as good behaviour, acts of kindness, courtesy, effort,
achievement etc. Staff nominate children and record their nominations in an
official book.
‘DUTCH
PLATE’
During
the assembly Mr. Culley reads out the nominations for that week and comments on
them. Each nominee then comes out to
the front of the assembly to receive a certificate and the applause of the
school. Mr. Culley then chooses one of
the nominees to receive the ultimate accolade for their class, the `Dutch
Plate'. This is a brass plate with a
red ribbon that is hung up in the classroom of the winner for the following
week. Ask one of the children why we chose this particular brass plate as a
symbol of caring and sharing.
HOUSE
POINT SYSTEM
When
the children join KS2, they are allocated to one of four Houses; Rosedale
(red), Farndale (yellow), Newtondale (blue) and Kirkdale (green). Through their
own endeavours they can then earn house points for their team. House points are awarded for good work,
effort, achievement and exemplary behaviour. During our Sharing Assembly every
Friday afternoon the captains from the House with the highest total of points
for that week are presented with the House Cup. They then have the privilege of adorning the cup with their house
ribbon and this is displayed in the main entrance. The rest of the school
applauds all the members of the winning house.
GOOD
CHOICE / GREEN CARD SYSTEM
We
are very keen to encourage and reward children when they make good choices or
work hard. If a member of staff is particularly pleased with a piece of work completed
by a child in their class, they can ask the child to take their work and show
it to Mr. Culley. He supports the teacher and adds his encouragement and congratulations
to the child. This is recorded on a GREEN CARD and acknowledges the
achievement of the child.
THE
WOOLHOUSE MUSIC CUP
This
cup was presented to the school in 1988 by Mr. & Mrs. Burns to acknowledge
the good work of Sally Woolhouse, our music teacher at that time. This cup is
awarded termly to a child who has made outstanding progress in music.
THE
MAKINS ART TROPHY
This
trophy was presented to the school in the late 1980’s by a former Governor, Mr.
G. Makins. It is carved from the lid of an old school desk and is awarded
annually to a child who has made outstanding progress in art.
THE
SHAW FAMILY TROPHY
In
September 1994 Mr. & Mrs. Shaw from Abbotts Farm, very kindly donated a
trophy which is awarded every term to the `MOST PROMISING YOUNG CITIZEN'. Seven categories form the basis for the
criteria which need to be considered before making the award: GOOD HEALTH /
FAMILY / CARING / SERVICE /
COMMUNITY / NATURE / EARTH, SEA AND
SKY.
We feel that this is an excellent idea and reinforces the
very positive messages that our school is providing for the children. We
consider this to be a most prestigious award for our pupils to achieve.
JACKIE ENGLAND TROPHY
In December 1995 the school was presented with the ‘JACKIE
ENGLAND TROPHY’ in memory of Jackie England our former ‘Lolli-pop’ lady who
died of cancer in October 1994 at the age of 40. This trophy is awarded at the
end of each term to a child who has made outstanding progress.
COURT FAMILY SALVERS
In September 1999, Mr & Mrs R Court from Ryton, very
kindly presented the school with 22 salvers to be awarded termly to a boy and
girl from each class for making outstanding effort.
GWYNNETH
FIRTH SPORTS CUPS
When Mrs Firth retired in July 2000 she very kindly
presented the school with two cups to be presented termly for achievement in
sport/outdoor activities.
MARGARET
ROSE AWARD
In 2002 Mr & Mrs Atkinson very kindly presented the
school with two cups in memory of Margaret Rose Davidson. The cups are
presented termly to a child in each Key Stage who shows either courage,
perseverance, achievement or a caring attitude
in the face of adversity or difficult circumstances.
THACKRAY
READING AWARDS
In
2002 Mr & Mrs Thackray very kindly presented our school with two cups which
are awarded termly for good progress with reading.
UNACCEPTABLE
BEHAVIOUR
A clinical definition of what constitutes `unacceptable
behaviour' is not entirely appropriate when dealing with young children. All
too often it is a question of `attitude' and the individual circumstances of
each situation must be taken into account. However, in broad terms we consider
`unacceptable behaviour' to include aggression e.g. bullying, disobedience, rudeness
to staff, stealing, vandalism and any form of unco-operative or disruptive behaviour
that deprives others of the right to participate in a happy learning
environment.
DE-ESCALATION STRATEGIES
Initially, problems with behaviour are dealt with
sensitively by the class teacher, who will use a system of approved
de-escalation strategies to encourage the child to make good choices. These include reassurance, step away, calm
talking, time out offered, persuasion, time out directed (Headteacher
involved), staff changeover, distraction, planned ignoring, appropriate humour,
negotiation, options offered, verbal advice/ support. ‘Think Sheets’ may also be used as a prompt when
counselling a child who is making bad choices.
At this informal stage the teacher may want to discuss the
situation with a Senior Teacher and they may also wish to contact the
parents.
Our experiences over recent years have indicated that
parents prefer to be informed as early as possible when their child's behaviour
is becoming `unacceptable’ or when their child is not working to their full
potential, so that they can help the school monitor their own child’s
performance. We agree that this is an excellent idea and so we have introduced
a system whereby, if your child continuously hands in pieces of work which the
teacher considers to be unfinished or unacceptable (after taking into consideration
the time allowed and your child’s capabilities) we will contact you and ask for
your support to rectify the situation.
CODE OF PRACTICE
DETENTIONS
The procedure therefore for any child whose behaviour is
becoming `unacceptable' and who is not responding to counselling by their class
teacher and routine classroom sanctions, is for the child to be put into DETENTION.
His or her name will be recorded in the official detention
book, along with the reason for the detention. A detention can vary according
to circumstances and may result in the loss of one or both break times and may
possibly include the loss of free time during the lunch hour.
PARENTS INFORMED EARLY
We view a detention as a serious punishment & if a child
receives two detentions in any one half
term, their parents will be informed by letter. We expect the parents to support the school at this stage &
have `words' with their child. If the
parents wish to discuss the situation with the class teacher they are most
welcome to make an appointment.
BAD CHOICE / RED CARD SYSTEM
If there is no improvement or if the situation worsens the
child will be sent to the head teacher and his or her name will be recorded on
a `RED CARD’. At this stage we consider the situation to be deteriorating
rapidly and becoming a cause for serious concern. Further counselling will take place along with more detentions if
appropriate and very close monitoring. If the child still refuses to modify
his or her behaviour and is sent to the head teacher twice in any one half term
the parents will be invited to attend a meeting at school to participate in the
formulation of an action plan to help the child. Clearly, if a child does not
respond to the parent's discipline or sanctions, then outside agencies will
have to be involved. In extreme cases discussions would involve the school
Governors and could lead to an exclusion.