Statement on Behaviour Principles

Whole parts of my day are spent dealing with the behaviour of children, both for sanctioning and rewarding. I have evolved from my early years in teaching in handling difficult children (and adults) and trying to resolve incidents between pupils. In my blogs over the next months, I am going to examine;

• a positive behaviour policy including behaviour cards
• the importance of behaviour plans
• school rules and the application of these
• what to ignore and challenge in the classroom
• the management of difficult pupils
• resolving issues between pupils
• dealing with difficult parents
• learning from mistakes and moving forward.

As a starting point, a Statement of Behaviour Principles has to be created by the Governors in a school in conjunction with the Head, Deputy Head, SMT and even the School Council (if possible). Below is the DfE advice and a model Statement of Behviour Policy.

From DfE: Behaviour and discipline in schools – Guidance from Governing Policy:  https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/463484/Behaviour_and_discipline_in_schools_guidance_for_governing_bodies.pdf

1. Under Section 88(1) of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 (EIA), governing bodies must ensure that policies designed to promote good behaviour and discipline on the part of its pupils are pursued at the school.

2. Section 88(2) of the EIA requires the governing body to:

a. make, and from time to time review, a written statement of general principles to guide the head teacher in determining measures to promote good behaviour and discipline amongst pupils; and

b. notify the head teacher and give him or her related guidance if the governing body wants the school’s behaviour policy to include particular measures or address particular issues.

3. When carrying out the functions under Section 88(2), the governing body must have regard to guidance issued by the Secretary of State. Paragraphs 6-11 below provide this statutory guidance.

4. Before making their statement of principles, the governing body must consult (in whatever manner they think appropriate) the head teacher, school staff, parents and pupils. And so on…

Statement of Behaviour Principles – A Model Policy

Introduction

The Governing Body of _______________________________ believe that a whole school approach to promoting positive behaviour is fundamental to the ethos of the school and have agreed that the statement of behavior principles as detailed below is to be used as guidance for the formation of a Behaviour Policy.

Statement of Behaviour Principles

• ·        All members of the school community are of equal worth and they will be treated equally regardless of gender, physical or mental ability, cultural or ethnic background or sexual orientation.
• ·        Pupils will be encouraged to develop self-esteem, independence, self-discipline and responsibility.
• ·        Core values and rules will be determined. They will be prominently displayed and discussed in the school.
• ·        Parents / carers and pupils are expected to be working collaboratively with the school in order to maintain an orderly climate for learning.
• ·        Violence, threatening behaviour or abuse by parents/ carers or pupils towards the school staff will not be tolerated. If a parent / carer does not conduct themselves in an appropriate manner the school may ban them from the school premises and if the parent / carer continues to cause a disturbance they may be liable to prosecution.
• ·        There will be a wide range of rewards which will be consistently and fairly applied by all staff in order to encourage and reward the pupils for good behaviour.
• ·        Sanctions for unacceptable / poor behaviour should be known and understood by all staff and pupils and consistently applied.
• ·        Sanctions must also be reasonable and proportionate to the circumstances. They must be age appropriate and take into account any special educational needs and disabilities of pupils as well as the needs of vulnerable children.
• ·        The use of exclusions will be considered within the range of sanctions.
• ·        The Headteacher will consider, in accordance with the law, the searching of pupils as well the confiscation of items.
• ·        The Headteacher will consider the use of sanctions to pupils for behaviour which has not occurred on the school premises and which may impact the school.
• ·        The Headteacher will consider the use of reasonable means, de-escalation techniques or physical restraint should the circumstances require it provided staff act lawfully.
• ·        The Headteacher will give consideration to the training requirements of staff in respect of reasonable means, de-escalation techniques or physical restraint.
• ·        The Headteacher will consider sanctions that will be taken against pupils who have been found to make malicious accusations against school staff.
• ·        Consistency in approach is to be applied by all staff when using both rewards and sanctions.

 Monitoring and Evaluation

The Governing Body will undertake to consult on a periodic basis with staff, parents / carers, children and visitors to the school in order to consider areas of development or enhancements to this statement of behaviour principles.

WW2... should probably start at the beginning

When I first started teaching in a Church of England school in Enfield, I regularly used quizzes as a useful assessment tool to get information quickly. This was so I could plan the topic to the needs of the class and not repeat what they already knew. In this case I was teaching a Year 5 class and we were studying World War 2. A conversation went a little like this.

Mr Madle: So children, when do you think World War Two started? (only one hand went up so they were chosen).

Pupil One: when Jesus was a little boy.

Mr Madle: (trying not to laugh) Oh… no quite but good try. Lets move on, what was Mussolini’s first name?

Pupil Two: Heil.

Mr Madle: (holding back the tears) Why do you think that is the answer?

Pupil Two: Whenever anyone sees him they shout ‘Heil’, so that must be his first name.

With no hesitation, we started the topic from the very start. There were two really interesting parent consultations that followed the quiz. Apparently Pupil One had a Grandfather who would answer every question about time (‘when’ questions) with the answer ‘when Jesus was a little boy.’ I was also told that Pupil Two was a big fan of the TV Series ‘Allo ‘Allo and would watch re-runs of the programme regularly . It is truly astonishing how a child’s mind works.

Everything is OK until something goes wrong...

It doesn’t matter whether you are a TA, teacher or Head teacher, you work in a school because you have a passion for education. Let’s face it, it is not to become rich, although a Porsche and a holiday to the Bahamas would be lovely.

I have only ever met a few individuals that work with children that do not care. Some staff obviously use it as a form of self-punishment, regularly stating in the staffroom that they ‘dislike children’ so what do they do? Seek a profession in a school and surround themselves where little ones are everywhere. Some do it to empower themselves; they revel in the control and self-gratification of telling kids what they have to do. To have someone listen to them and carry out the tasks that they have instructed gives them a thrill. They get found out by children very quickly as they do not suffer fools gladly. Some do it because the hours suit them, in respect to picking up their own children in other schools and holiday times… these cases are rare.

When I hear communities of people not in education pronounce ‘they have 13 weeks holiday a year! They are a bunch workshy, lazy and overpaid bunch!’ I want to cause a significant amount of pain to them. They have not got a clue. Teaching Assistants are the most motivated and caring bunch of individuals you are likely to meet. Currently, they are expected to be teachers without the pay. Most of them have another job to top up a really disgusting wage and many of them study outside education to improve themselves. On a basic level they are in early every day and stay later if they need to. They are invaluable to teachers.

What is expected of a teacher has quadrupled during the last decade. In nearly every case, teachers have to work most nights, pretty much at least one day of the weekend and yes, they are in school during the holidays. Many of the teachers also take intervention groups during their breaks due to the pressure on them to achieve the data that is expected of their pupils. Take a look at this list… are you ready? Creating long, medium and weekly planning (and the annotation of them) ; constant formative, summative assessment and endless marking; the making of resources; delivering interesting and focused lessons; pressurised subject leadership; ever changing safeguarding issues; resolving friendship and behaviour issues; daily planning of open and closed questioning; ticking various tick sheets; audits for everything; daily and weekly analysing of data; worrying about the progress of every child and wondering what accelerated progress is; organising the classroom and creating displays; motivating the motivated and unmotivated; up to 5 levels of challenge (differentiation) for each lesson; creating this ,that and everything; meeting parents who both are supportive and unsupportive; organising and attending various school events; meeting governors and showing them you know what you are doing; celebrating achievement; updating subject knowledge in concepts you have to revise yourself; being an ICT genius; evaluating and improving your curriculum linking subjects together; consulting with all school community; co-operating; judging and prioritising; problem solving; liaising; reviewing; advising; participating in staff meetings; maintaining sanity; nurturing and leading… and the list continues.

This is all ok and it’s the job we have chosen to do. It is all fine and dandy and you can cope until… something goes wrong.

The dreaded cold, a demanding shouty parent in the playground, the computer decides not to work, the photocopier is out of toner, there is frost on your car, there has been a change in the day and the deputy has not told you, assembly has been cancelled, Your TA is covering in another class, you have to cover a playground duty, a weekly plan has gone wrong on Monday or you have forgotten your lunch.

This list is so ridiculous but shows the fragile nature of education in the present times. I seriously compare being in education to Nick Wallenda’s tightrope walk over the Niagara Falls. When things go wrong, some staff are constantly walking on a long piece of cotton wool whereas other staff have an invisible harness to keep them sane. Some colleagues have bricks beneath them when they fall whereas other staff have lovely cushions for a landing. It is a question of resilience, experience, attitude and the ability to learn and adapt. All qualities that require a growth mind-set. Everyone knows that the mists and the gusts will occur, it is how you can cope with them.

The amazing thing is that sometimes when you are crossing the Niagara Falls - a pupil masters a concept, a parent says thank you, a kid playing their first game scores a goal, a SEN child writes a sentence, a kid that surprises you, a child makes you laugh or you have a fantastic idea for a lesson that works. That is the addiction.

Visit to Chicken Shed

I love supporting local charities, so we organised a trip to take our whole school to Chicken Shed’s production of ‘The Adventure to OZ’. It is an amazing organisation – they take children with every kind of Special Educational Needs and they have parts in the show. They also offer courses for children with SEND in their further education that are excellent. They are like our school, totally inclusive.

I was given a list of children who didn’t want to go on the trip and of course I went to see if I could persuade them to go. In speaking to a boy in Year 4, it went a little like this…

“How come you do not want to come on this trip? It will be really good and all of your friends are going.”

“I don’t really want to come.”

“Oh, Ok… how come?”

“Well, why would I want to go and see some poor chickens in a shed?”

With that I laughed and went on to explain to him that there would be no chickens and that the shed is actually a pretty big theatre, we managed to persuade him to go. Unfortunately, the actual show was not as good as usual but we have seen some excellent Christmas themed productions there. Fingers crossed for next Year.

Numicon locks – this is a super practical idea which has lots of scope. Basically the pupils can match the key to the corresponding lock. The lock also has the number of dots drawn on it so the children can see it in lots of different ways. It can also be used for multiplication – the five red numicon pieces equal the two blue numicon ten pieces. The keys at the bottom can correspond with an answer in the lock in numicon. For example ‘1 more than 8’ can correspond to a lock with nine on it which also can improve the pupil’s use of mathematical language.

Monster Adding Machine – I saw this in our Reception class this week and the kids loved it. They were studying the Gruffalo so there was a focus on monsters. The idea is to solve an addition sum by putting the number of fluffy balls in the left hand cylinder (in this case 3) and then putting the second number in the right hand cylinder (in this case 2). The total number comes out of the monster’s mouth for the children count (5). Thumbs up to the Reception teacher.

Getting Maths Right...

I cannot recommend the NCTEM (https://www.ncetm.org.uk/) document and its principles more! Having worked in primary schools for nearly two decades, we are finally getting it right. The documents in the National Centre in the Teaching of Mathematics are excellent. These include a new Maths Hub which provides planning for teachers, an assessment document for each Year Group (that also gives examples for mastery) and useful teaching resources including instructional videos.

The NCTEM believe in promoting future mathematical learning built on solid foundations and that given enough time every  pupil is capable of achieving in maths. They have set a curriculum that has one set of mathematical concepts for all and have set a series of pedagogical practices that keep the class working together on the same topic. “Teaching is focussed, rigorous and thorough, to ensure that learning is sufficiently embedded and sustainable over time”.

And Yes… this works!

The methodology is basic - concrete, pictorial and abstract in that order. Most maths teaching in the past started with the abstract: for example, what is 45 + 17? what is 2/3 of 36? Or 20cm is how many metres? Starting with the abstract has proven not to equal understanding in our kids.

Concrete - This method starts with the use of physical resources to start such as Numicon, Cuisenaire and Base Ten materials. However, you can use anything concrete that you can count.

Pictorial – the pupils actually draw what they have created from the concrete step. This is an important process that the children do want to skip but it visually locks the concepts into their minds.

Abstract – they write the sum and solve it. In reality the kids would have already solved this in the first two steps but writing and saying the sum out loud is perfect for learning.

Things to note though –

• -        This has to be supplemented with a real life problem. For example, there are 4 aliens on a spaceship, they pick up 5 more aliens from Mars. How many aliens are on the spaceship?
• -        Ofsted are not looking for reams and reams of ‘ticked’ work so allow children to complete their sums in their own time. You know the children in your class.
• -        The time for teaching quick fix tricks has ended! It is all about understanding and applying to another example.
• -        Get the children to represent the concrete in a number of ways. Do not allow them to rely on just one resource.
• -     Pupil Voice - allow children time to discuss and explain how they have completed their sum. This is so important to achieve mastery.
• -        Rote learning of times tables does not work for all children. Teach connections! E.g. 2 x 8 is 16 so 4 x 8 is? You can obviously double your answer. Why not then do 8 x 8. Take away 8 from your answer you have 7 x 8. This can lead to learning the 32 times table, the world of maths is your oyster, if you can work out the connections.
• -        I do suggest that teachers teach place value for the majority of the Autumn Term. It is the basis of all maths and you reap rewards for the rest of the year.

This methodology has reformed the practice in our school – the results and rate of progress are amazing. And Yes… this works!