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Summarise the policies and procedures of the setting relevant to promoting children and young people’s positive behaviour In my setting there are several policy documents that advise both parents and teachers what procedures are in place to help the children to perform to the best of their abilities and also set out guidelines of what the school expects off the staff, pupils and parents. Our schools behaviour policy also incorporates both the code of conduct, dealing with inappropriate behaviour and the rewards and sanctions guidelines, separate to this are the anti bullying policy and the whole school attendance policy .
The behaviour policy firstly sets out the aims of the school, explaining how the school promotes good relationships so that people can work together with a common purpose of helping everyone to learn and work together in an effective and considerate way, this is aimed not only at the pupils but to parents and staff alike. It continues to explain that this policy is in place to enable children to grow in a safe and secure environment, and to become positive, responsible and increasingly independent members of the school community.
It then goes on to explain the code of conduct expected off children, staff and parents. This includes rules such as parents and staff not smoking in the school grounds, conduct of parents when collecting their children from school i. e. not swearing and being too loud while lessons are still ongoing, to giving guidelines on what is expected from the children while at school. In these guidelines it explains how the school has it’s set of rules but also that each class teacher, at the beginning of the school year, discusses with the children what is expected, behaviour wise, in their class.
The children are also invited to give ideas for these class rules, these rules are then printed out and displayed in the classroom. This document then goes on to explain the rewards and sanctions policy, this explains how the children are rewarded for good behaviour in a variety of ways, such as, the giving of house points and presenting their work in school assemblies, it also states as the child gains more house points they work towards certificates Gold, Silver and Bronze, all the achievements the child earns are stored in their Record of Achievement file, which is presented to them as they leave school in year 6.
In the explanations of the sanctions the policy, this is under the dealing with conflict and inappropriate behaviour section, gives examples of behaviour that is unacceptable, this can be things such as shouting out in class, being in areas they shouldn’t be and goes, on to the extreme cases such as bullying and assault. It then goes onto the giving of detentions or missing playtimes because of this behaviour and in the more serious cases it explains the fixed-term and permanent exclusions policy.
Finally the document goes to explain the roles of all staff members within the school this includes support staff, teachers, head teacher and finally the school governors. These roles are explained in a brief way and if there are any questions to any part of the document not to hesitate to ask for more guidance. The schools anti-bullying policy firstly explains the schools definition of bullying, which is, “bullying is action taken by one or more children with the intention of hurting a child, either physically or emotionally”.
It then goes on to give the schools aims and objectives in this matter, this covers developing the schools ethos in which bullying is regarded as unacceptable, aiming to produce a safe and secure environment where all can learn without anxiety, aiming to produce a consistent response to any bullying that may occur and to make all connected with the school aware of the schools opposition to bullying and to make clear each person’s responsibilities with regard to the eradication of bullying.
It then goes on to explain the roles of staff and parent in both dealing with and eradicating bullying, this includes:- 1) The Governors, their role is to support the headteacher in eliminating bullying in the school, they monitor any incidents that occur and review the effectiveness of the school policy regularly. 2) The Headteacher, it is the responsibility of the head to implement the policy and to ensure all members of staff (both teaching and non-teaching) are aware of the policy and how to deal with any incidents that may arise. The head also reports to the governors about the effectiveness of the policy and if it needs amending. ) The Teaching Staff, teaching staff should intervene at the first sign of any bullying, they must keep records of all incidents that happen involving children in their class, if they see another child from another class being bullied or bullying they should immediately inform that childs class teacher so they can intervene and monitor the situation. Teachers routinely liase with each other through staff meetings and discuss existing or new anti-bullying strategies. 4) Non-Teaching Staff, they are instructed to report any signs of bullying straight away to a member of the teaching staff, who can then direct the ssue to the correct teacher. They should intervene straight away and get the names of all children involved so it can be followed up correctly and efficiently. 5) The Parents, any parent that is concerned that their child might be being bullied, or who suspect their child may be the perpetrator of bullying, should contact their childs class teacher immediately. Parents have a responsibility to support the schools anti-bullying policy and to actively encourage their chaild to be a positive member of the school.
The policy then goes on to state that it is monitored by the headteacher , who reports to the governors about its effectiveness. The schools whole school attendance policy starts with an introduction as to why it is important the child attends school and has as fewer absences as possible, including the missing of work and how this can affect their education and intellectual development. It then goes on to explain types of absences both authorised and unauthorised, authorised absences include sickness, medical appointments and any emergencies.
Unauthorised absences are those that the school does not consider reasonable, these include, truancy, children being generally late, birthdays, holidays in term time not agreed with the school and holidays that exceed those agreed by the school. It is explained that persistent absenteeism at my setting is classed as missing 20% of the school year, it goes on to say that this severely hampers a childs intellectual development, persistent absentee pupils (PA’s) are tracked and monitored closely and all of these cases are automatically made known to the Local Authority Attendance Team.
The policy then states the absence procedure of contacting the school as soon as possible , if not contacted the school will telephone the parent/carer on the first day of absence, if absence persists invite in the parent/carer to discuss the situation and refer to the Early Intervention Officer linked with the school if attendance moves below 85% as per Local Authority protocol.
It then explains the role of the Attendance Officer, which is to try and resolve any issues with the school and make a signed agreement with the parent/carer about future attendance, if the matter still persists they can sanction penalty notices or even prosecutions in the Magistrates court, these are of course the last resort if all other avenues have failed.
It then goes on to holidays in term time where it says how taking these holidays can affect the childs schooling and that any monetary saving of these holidays can be at the cost of the childs intellectual development. Religious absences such as Eid are authorised but no more 3 days in a school year.
Finally the policy states the roles of individuals and their responsibilities of them in keeping to this policy, they are:- Parent/ carer should ensure regular attendance, contact school, try to avoid in term holidays Pupils attend school/registration punctually, speak to an adult if any issues arise that may effect school attendance Headteacher should take lead in ensuring attendance has a high profile in the school, ensur all staff know their responsibilities, take overall responsibility for ensuring the school conforms to all statutory requirements in respect of attendance All school staff should provide a welcoming atmosphere to encourage childrens attendance and provide a safe learning environment, provide a sympathetic response to pupils concerns, be aware of the factors that may contribute to non-attendance, participate in training regarding school procedures. Finally the policy document shows an example of the application for absence from school form to be filled out for any holidays or extended leave, a copy of this is included in this assignment.