Assignment 9 – Promoting positive behaviour

1a
My settings behaviour policy is designed to enable us to create a caring, stimulating and secure environment in which staff and pupils can work, learn and play safely. It does this by encouraging and reinforcing good behaviour, defining acceptable standards of behaviour, encourages consistency of response to both positive and negative behaviour, promoting self-esteem, self discipline and positive relationships. My setting ensures that the schools expectations and strategies are widely known and understood by all; encouraging the involvement of both home and school in the implementation of these policies. At my setting the behaviour system operates on the understanding of four golden rules which were formulated and agreed by the teachers and the children. These rules are:
Show respect for everyone at school
Look after the school environment
Be safe around school
Listen and follow instructions.
These rules, which are taught at regular intervals allow the pupils to understand how they should behave and what is expected of them, accentuating the positive aspects and reinforcing individual and group social skills needed at school. It is essential that positive behaviour is always promoted, praised and used as children notice when an adults behaviour is out of character, if positive and professional behaviour is continually used it is more likely that the pupils will also behave in that way. At my setting we believe that children should be praised for good work, behaviour, effort and achievement and so the use of rewards are encouraged. It is felt that rewards have a positive impact, helping our pupils to see that good behaviour is valued. The range of rewards used in my school are verbal praise, class reward system, stickers, certificates, special privileges such as top table, assemblies and golden time. There are times however when behaviour is inappropriate and my setting feels that children need to discover where the boundaries of acceptable behaviour lies. To do this the use of sanctions are applied. When using sanctions you must be clear as to why the sanction is being applied and what changes in behaviour are required to avoid future sanctions. Group sanctions should be avoided and it should be the behaviour that is sanctioned rather than the person. There should be a clear distinction between minor and major offences. Consequences for inappropriate behaviour at my setting includes loss of golden time, putting their own name on the board, time outs or being sent to the head or deputy heads office. Our behaviour policy outlines how staff should manage more difficult or inappropriate behaviour, encouraging us to spot the early signs and intervene in a supportive manner. Some of the strategies include making eye contact, removing any item that a pupil might be using inappropriately, using voice control such as lowering or softening your voice and emphasising the positive behaviour of other class mates. We as staff are encouraged to use the principle of the five Ps which are please, pause, prompt, praise and punish. By being consistent and having clear structure it allows the children to understand what is expected of them and what will happen if they behave inappropriately which in turn will make them more likely to follow the rules and allows them to be responsible for their own actions.
As part of our behaviour policies we also have an anti bullying policy which sets out guidelines and procedures for dealing with any incidence of bullying within or outside the school. Bullying is anti social behaviour and is deliberately hurtful behaviour repeated over a period of time. Anyone can be affected by bullying and it causes pain and distress to the victim. At my setting bullying is not tolerated and is dealt with swiftly and effectively. Our policies outline that all staff should have a clear understanding of what bullying is, what the signs of bullying are