Glenbrook Nursery School Positive Behaviour Policy

‘Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them to become what they are capable of being.’

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

(German Philosopher and Author 1749 – 1832)

Monitoring And Evaluation

The Staff of Glenbrook Nursery School will update this Policy and procedures in the light of any further guidance and legislation as necessary and review it annually. The Board of Governors will also monitor the implementation of this policy on a regular basis.

On-going evaluation will ensure the effectiveness of the Policy.

Philosophy of Glenbrook Nursery School:

In Glenbrook Nursery School we seek to develop an ethos of mutual respect for and by all those involved in the life of the community we consider to be Glenbrook Nursery. Encouraging such an awareness of the mutual needs and rights of others is an integral part of the nursery curriculum. As children learn by example we believe that all staff should model an awareness and respect for the needs and rights of every child.

Aims of and commitment to promoting positive behaviour:

· To create an environment where positive behaviour and social responsibility is encouraged by reinforcement and praise; this approach helps to raise the child’s self-esteem and promotes self-discipline.

· Staff should aim to be consistent and fair in their response to each child.

· To encourage a mutually supportive school community and to develop positive partnerships and communication among pupils, parents, carers, support staff and teachers.

· To inform parents and carers of our policy and approach and to encourage their co-operation and support.

· To create a positive and effective learning environment where each child may develop a caring attitude and value others.

Procedures for encouraging positive and acceptable behaviour within the nursery setting:

· Praise and acknowledge positive actions and attitudes. Express the child’s feelings by naming them e.g. I can see that you are frustrated, you look lonely etc.

· Create an emergent learning environment that promotes curiosity and allows the child’s interests to guide the curricula; when a child is interested and is engaged in meaningful and enjoyable projects then positive self-discipline tends to be more apparent.

· To encourage each child to verbalise their feelings in a non-aggressive manner e.g. ‘I don’t like what you are saying /doing’ or simply ‘Stop’. ‘That makes me feel sad’. As the adult, it is our role to help each child understand his/her emotions and also to help them acquire the reasoning skills needed to deal with different and sometimes difficult situations.

· Teach negotiation skills such as ‘If you, then I…. or How about if…..?

· Continued use of circle time when children are given an opportunity to share ideas and suggestions or to discuss a ‘problem’ in an open environment.

· To help children recognise that fighting, hurting, inappropriate use of language and other similar actions are not acceptable behaviour.

· Developmentally appropriate use of ‘rules’ which are essentially for the safety and well-being of the children.

· Speaking in an appropriate and respectful way to each child thus modelling positive communication strategies.

· Tell children what they can do as opposed to what they can’t.

· Use choices when possible. Which would you like to do first?

· To encourage co-operative experiences and collaboration where children are involved in turn taking and their contribution is valued as part of a group.

· To promote routines that will help children develop caring attitudes and respect for others, the environment and equipment eg snack/meal times, circle time, tidying up and helping each other.

• Whilst it is important to respect the needs of the child it is also necessary to take into account the effect the behaviour is having on other children in the area and the safety of the children in the room.

Rights and Responsibilities

For learning to occur in a caring, positive, supportive and co-operative environment all parents, children and staff have a set of rights and responsibilities which must be recognised and understood.

Classroom Management Plan

1. Glenbrook Nursery School we follow an assertive discipline model of promoting positive behaviour. An important element of this approach has been the implementation of the class wide behavior management plan.

Preschool children are cognitively, socially, emotionally and physically developing a sense of right and wrong in everything they do. Developmentally they are at a stage where they are extending their understanding of the concept of rules and consequences.

The classroom management plan lays out the behaviour expectations for the children. This includes rules, rewards and consequences.

Our Nursery Rules:

The rules are the behaviours the staff desire to see in nursery. They promote the safety of the children and the staff and help children develop a sense of responsibility for their actions and an understanding of the effect their actions may have.

The rules in nursery are:-

1. We use talking voices inside.
2. We use walking feet inside
3. We keep our hands and feet to ourselves.
4. We listen to the teachers in school.
5. We share and take turns.

Rewards

The rewards promote good behavior and help children to see that good behavior is valued. Rewards encourage the children to take responsibility for their actions and promote self-esteem.

All children have a need for positive affirmation and most respond well to verbal praise and social approval. Praise and positive feedback will be the basis of the reward system.

1. Kind words from the nursery staff.
2. Super praise from the nursery staff.
3. Whole class reward system –pompoms in the jar resulting in a Friday treat.
4. Positive note home.

Consequences

Staff will provide positive feedback for acceptable behavior to all children. There may be occasions when consequences may need to be applied for inappropriate behaviour.

Staff will deal with behavior in a calm and positive manner. Corrective strategies will be selected from a graded hierarchy. In applying a consequence staff will acknowledge the child’s feelings and focus on the behaviour rather than the child. The consequence selected will take account of the age and stage of development of the child and any other relevant factors. Staff will use their discretion, always aiming to make the response appropriate to the behaviour.

· The range of corrective strategies to deal with appropriate behavior will include: tactical ignoring, eye contact, a gesture, visual aids or social stories.

· Reminding the child of the behaviour expectation e.g. I need you to keep the sand in the sandpit, thank you.

· Verbal redirection e.g. I need you to play in another area, thank you.

· The adult may repeat the direction e.g. I need you to keep the sand in the sandpit, thank you.

· Offering choices e.g. I need you to put the toy away during storytime. You can give it to me or put it in the box. What are your going to do?

· On some occasions there may be a related consequence e.g.cleaning up a mess or encouraging the child to apologise.

Our consequences in nursery are:

· Verbal warning

o If a child misbehaves at an activity then they will be warned verbally not to repeat the unwanted behaviour and given the reasons as to why it is inappropriate .

· Redirection to a new activity

· If they repeat the behaviour then they will be asked to leave the activity to an area of their own choice.

· Brought to the rules

· If they continue to misbehave then they will be brought to our displayed rules and their behaviour will be further discussed.

Thinking Time

· If any further negative behaviour is observed then the child will have thinking time which is a set period of time to sit and think about their behaviour. The behaviour will be discussed and a restorative conversation will ensue.

Contact with home

· The final consequence means that Parents will be informed about the behaviour.

Everyday is a new day with respect to behaviour.

If a child hurts another child then a discussion will ensue as to why it happened, how it happened and how everyone feels. We will further discuss our school rules. Then the child(ren) will be asked to apologise.

Parents will only be informed if their child is repeatedly misbehaving as in we have reached the final consequence or if an extreme incident happens.

Examples of behaviours which we consider extremely serious -

· Racist remarks

· Inappropriate touching

· Biting other people

· Threatening behaviours, including persistent swearing, spitting

· Persistently hurting others.

When classroom strategies have been ineffective in addressing the difficulty, procedures to meet the needs of the child will be followed. Consultation with parents will take place in this process and consent from the parents to consult with external agencies will be required.

In meeting the child’s additional specialist interventions may be required e.g.

· Implementation of an individual education/behaviour plan

· A reporting system (to allow staff and parents to monitor behavior and attitude)

· Support from external agencies e.g. Education and Library Board’s Psychology Service or Behaviour support team or medical agencies.

Where these have been ineffective in serious or extreme cases:

· A shortened day may be more appropriate in order that the child’s experience of school is a positive one.

· In certain circumstances we may phone the parents/carers and request they collect their child.

· Suspension

· Expulsion

Use of reasonable force

Under duty of care staff hold in relation to all children, staff may use a physical intervention for the purpose of preventing a pupil from doing any of the following:

· Committing an offence

· Causing personal injury to or damage to the property of any person including themselves

· Or engaging in any behaviour prejudicial to the maintenance of good order and discipline at the school or among any of its pupils.

Where there is unforeseen need physical intervention a full risk assessment of the child’s needs will be conducted and a positive handling plan will be developed and implemented in conjunction with the parents.

Links to Special Educational Needs Code Of Practice

Where a pupil is placed on the Code Of Practice for Social Emotional and Behaviour Difficulties after the exhaustion of normal classroom management strategies which have been ineffective in addressing the difficulty, procedures to meet the needs of the pupil must be followed in line with the actions identified in the SEN policy.

Links To Other Policies

This policy links to other preschool policies e.g. Special Educational Needs, Child Protection and Safeguarding, Pastoral Care, Teaching and Learning, Partnership with Parents, Anti-bullying, Equal Opportunities and Health and Safety policies.