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How do we want our school to feel? The aim of this policy is to ensure that our school is a calm, safe, happy, stimulating, vibrant, purposeful, welcoming, inclusive, fun, accessible and positive environment. In order to achieve this we will strive to create a culture for learning where everyone involved understands the school’s ethos and their own personal role in ensuring that children feel safe, happy and eager to learn. In meeting the needs of children and their families we understand that we are part of a wider network of support. We continually aim to ensure that there are positive relationships in school and strong links between school, parents/carers and outside agencies in order to support the school’s ethos and to achieve the five outcomes of Every Child Matters which are: « To be healthy « To stay safe « To enjoy and achieve « To make a positive contribution « To achieve economic well-being
At Middle Street we have a relaxed, open and honest atmosphere, where there are clear boundaries, with flexibility where children are offered the opportunity to express themselves in a safe, trusting environment.
We do this by ensuring the children, staff, parent/carers and the wider community understand and play a part in the development of the ethos and vision of the school. As follows: (See Appendix A )
«
There is a teacher and Teaching
Assistant for each class to facilitate the learning and development « We have two learning mentors and nurture support to support the development of social and emotional skills. « All adults who work in the school agree that the child is at the centre of everything that we do. « All adults in school have high expectations for the children in terms of both their learning and behaviour. « Each child is respected and listened to by the adults in the school. There is a clear emphasis on building and maintaining positive relationships. « We share a consistent, common approach as each child is treated as an individual with their own particular strengths and needs. « All adults take responsibility for and are explicit about expectations and boundaries. « We challenge the use of racist, homophobic, sexist and disablist language and behaviour « We develop positive and constructive relationships with parent/carers. « We foster positive and supportive relationships with outside agencies. Any adults coming into our school are treated respectfully and have a clear understanding and respect for our ethos. This is achieved by clear communication of what our expectations are at Middle Street. « We understand that children learn from our actions and therefore ensure that we are positive role models for them, including being punctual. « All staff in school will continue to further develop their own learning and professional development.
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We make it clear that when
challenging or inappropriate behaviour is displayed that it is the behaviour
that is disapproved of and not the child – we then clearly identify and name the
negative behaviour with the child, why it is disapproved of and describe the
positive behaviour expected. The adults in our school will be:
We will help the children in our
school to be:
We will encourage and support the parents/carers to:
What do we expect of the wider community? Visitors to the school will treat all within and the environment with respect. Those using the school out of hours will treat the building and inner and environment with respect. Local businesses and contacts can support the school through for example contributing to fund raising events All that have contact with the school can promote the school positively within the local community and beyond.
All who come in contact with the
children, staff, governors and parent/carers of Middle Street are expected to
treat them with respect and courtesy. Any comments regarding the conduct of
members of the school community should be addressed in a respectful, polite and
constructive manner to the Head teacher. What do we expect of our children at Middle Street? We want our children to communicate with the adults in our school about the positive and negative emotions and events that they maybe experiencing so that we can help them socially and emotionally as well as educationally. This will enable them to access the support available to them.
« By having professional motivated and happy staff who are able to make learning fun and exciting « By feeling safe, happy and valued « Using the local environment and beyond to enhance and enrich the curriculum. « Visitors to the school « By accessing a meaningful, broad and balanced creative curriculum « By being taught using a variety of teaching styles and approaches « Through a creative use of ICT « Through the use of appropriate and well maintained resources « Through the schools involvement and engagement in national and local projects and initiatives « Through Assessment for Learning, Formative and Summative Assessment which all feed into the monitoring and tracking of children’s progress « Through health education and by eating healthily and drinking water; which is available to them throughout the day « By taking part in physical activities « By knowing they can share any worries or concerns that they may have about their learning or relationships. « By attending school regularly and avoiding prolonged periods of absence « Parent/carers attending Parent Consultation evenings
«
Having a sense of ownership of
their school and making a contribution to it’s development via individual pupil
voice and the School Council How will the school environment support children’s learning? « By being warm, friendly and welcoming « By reflecting the diverse nature of the school community « By being as accessible as is practically possible given the restraints of the school building « Through the use of display to support children’s learning, celebrate children’s work and achievements and to provide information « By creative use of the outside space « By being calm, safe, clean, tidy and organised
«
By being well resourced What about discipline?In line with the philosophy and ethos of the school our approach to discipline is democratic, based on self respect and respect and empathy for others. All within the school community are expected to have an understanding of their rights and their responsibilities towards each other and their environment.
We expect everyone within the school
community to follow the school’s basic golden rules of respect and honesty. Golden RulesTo be gentle Do not hurt anybody Do be kind and helpful Do not hurt peoples feelings Do work hard Do not waste your time or that of others Do take care of property Do waste or damage things Do listen to people Do not interrupt Do be honest Do not cover up the truth
How do we respond to challenging behaviour? We have a clear understanding that those children who display challenging behaviour are amongst the most vulnerable in our school. Our approach therefore to dealing with negative behaviour is differentiated based on the needs and emotional state of the individual child. Our definition of what constitutes challenging behaviour and a vulnerable child includes: « Those children who are unable to respond to or follow instructions or comply with requests « Children who are defiant, argumentative and unpredictable « Those children who have no understanding or awareness of praise « Children who seem to be uncontrollable with poor strategies for calming themselves down and self regulation « Children who are unable to cope with their feelings and emotions « Children who cause injury to either themselves or to others « Children who clearly have needs which are not being met « Children who are disaffected « Children who attention seek, needing either positive or negative attention « Children who are anxious « Children with a negative attitude to themselves and their work because of low self esteem « Children who are sad and lonely « Children who are unusually shy or withdrawn « Children who are identified as either a bully or being bullied « Children who are overly sensitive and tearful « Children with poor attendance « Children who present with inappropriate behaviours, including inappropriate language, for their age We seek to have an understanding of why a child is displaying challenging or inappropriate behaviour. We see a child’s challenging or inappropriate behaviour to be their means of communicating that they are in distress. We do this by being positive and supportive, remaining calm and avoiding a confrontational and judgemental approach. We aim to be an emotionally literate school and expect all to show empathy and understanding towards the needs of others. Adults lead by example by modelling emotionally literate behaviour. Children’s emotional literacy is through the PSHE/SEAL curriculum and other areas of the curriculum but there are times when it can be necessary to employ behaviour modification strategies. Examples of these include: « Rewards and sanctions in class and around the school « Children are always given warnings and opportunities to make the right choices in self regulating their behaviour. « A staged approach for managing negative behaviour to be used by the adults (Appendix B). This shows the types of behaviour linked to appropriate sanctions. It includes a yellow and red card system for minor issues. The sanctions for more extreme negative behaviour can be an internal exclusion within the school (Appendix C) or a formal reported fixed term exclusion off-site. « The aim of the school is to make every effort to support the child in avoiding a formal fixed term exclusion. « We apply a differentiated approach to supporting children with challenging behaviour as we understand that some children struggle to self regulate their behaviour and require additional support and understanding in order for them to develop the necessary skills and strategies. The strategies used are tailored to the individual needs of the child. Should either an internal or fixed term exclusion be necessary we would use this time to look at what further support we could offer the child and their family.
If a child puts themselves or others at
risk of serious harm the use of physical intervention may be appropriate and the
involvement of community police or other emergency services may be necessary for
the safety of all concerned. What is in place to support vulnerable children? (See Appendix A) « All children are allowed to bring in a small toy or other transitional item from home. These can include small cuddly toys, small electronic toys, books etc. « Lead Behaviour Professional « Learning Mentors « School Counsellor « Nurture Groups « Knowledgeable and empathic staff, who have a good understanding of how best to meet the needs of vulnerable children « Links with outside agencies such as ACE, EPS and CAMHS « Weekly pastoral meeting for all staff in school to highlight children in need « Termly PARMs meetings « Pastoral Support Programmes « PSHE/SEAL Curriculum « Early intervention discussions between teachers and SENCo « Early identification of poor attendance and referral made to EWA and EWO « Breakfast club « Playtime and Lunchtime Clubs « A small quiet area in the playground for those children who find social interaction on a large scale (playtimes) too much of a challenge « Programme of appropriate Continuing Professional Development to ensure that training needs of staff are met. « Signposting of parenting support such as Triple P programme or involvement of Family Linx worker « Common Assessment Framework (CAF) and Team around the child
How does the Extended schools agenda contribute to a Culture for Learning? At Middle Street Primary School, in order to meet the Core Offer of Extended Services in and around school, we provide: · Child Care - Breakfast club and variety of after school care clubs collecting from school « Access to sports, arts and study support – A variety of after school clubs, including football, basketball, tag rugby, KS1 sports club, art clubs, knitting club, ICT club, choir etc. « Community Access - Use of the school by local community e.g hire of school hall for activities by community groups. Often children and parents/carers from the school have access to these activities « Family Support – We can signpost parents/carers to the Triple P parenting courses. We are proactive in getting the appropriate help for parents carers, including the use of our Family Linx worker to provide in home support. « Swift and easy access to specialist support services – We are proactive in doing our best to access the support that children and their parents/carers need. This can include health services (including Speech Therapy, School Nurse), behaviour intervention services (ACE, CAMHS) and child and family support (School Counsellor and Family Linx Worker) and the use of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF)
This policy should be read in conjunction with the Middle Street Anti Bullying Policy, Race Equalities and Disability Equality Duty Scheme.
Appendix A How we Support Children Pastorally at Middle Street School At Middle Street we believe that to enable children to learn they must have access to a range of strategies to deal with their varying emotional needs.
All members of staff meet and the Deputy identifies children who may need extra support throughout the school day, especially at playtimes. Relevant information that is new to the school is shared with staff. This means that staff members can then be feed back relevant observations (e.g. friendship issues) to the class teachers who in turn can speak to the parents/carers where necessary.
We have 2 counsellors who are available for children to discuss their concerns or worries with. The counsellors liaise with parents to ensure they have a full picture of the child and their needs before they begin to work with a child. Referrals can be made by parents/carers, teachers and children can self refer and parental permission will be sought.
We currently have two learning mentors who work in the quiet room to support children with their social and emotional needs. Learning mentors can also offer support for families. Parents/carers permission is sought before work begins.
We have an experienced Education Assistant who works in the quiet room to develop children’s self esteem through nurture groups.
Class teachers, Education Assistants, the Deputy and Headteacher are available for bubble time. This time means a 1:1 discussion that cannot be interrupted by another child or adult. It gives children the chance to discuss their concerns or worries in a quiet situation.
Children in Year 6 apply for the position of playground buddy. They have six weeks training to enable them to support their peers at playtime. They do this by initiating exciting games, assisting children who cannot find anyone to play with and helping children to solve disagreements with support form Education Assistants on duty. They can also give children certificates with the support of the Education Assistants.
Children who would like to spend playtimes in a quieter and less boisterous environment have access to the playtime clubs that take place in the library. The clubs are skilfully run by an Education Assistant and our 2 learning mentors. This ensures continuity for the children and allows them to build up strong relationships with the staff.
This is a whole class discussion lead by the teacher, where everybody’s thoughts are valued. The children get to voice their opinions and concerns about a range of subjects. It also develops communication skills
A structured programme is delivered across the school which addresses issues such as healthy eating, choices and making a difference in our community.
Each class from Year 1 to Year 6 has two school council representatives. They attend the monthly meetings and report their decisions back to their class. The children’s voices are recognised and appreciated and they can see their ideas coming to life.
Each class works with a structured set of social stories which address the feelings and actions of the characters involved. This helps children to question their choices and helps them to assess the effects certain choices have on other people around them. Appendix B Middle Street Managing Negative Behaviour Guidance
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