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How To Effectively Support Positive Behaviour in Schools

Children's Behaviour

By Hollie TaylorPublished 6 years ago 6 min read
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The name of the policy relating to behaviour... well it is in fact the Behaviour Policy and there will also be a behaviour guide. Both should be available to view on the school websites. I have summarised the key points of the policy relating to behaviour below.

Code of Conduct

Expectations (within a school) are that adults and children will listen to each other, care for all people, and treat them with respect and politeness, disagree without losing their tempers, care for their surroundings and other peoples’ property, ensure that other people are not put at risk by their actions, and respect other peoples’ view.

In class, everyone is expected to share and use materials sensibly, let others get on with work without being disrupted unnecessarily, and listen to and follow instructions as they are given. Around a school indoors there will generally be a no running rule (health and safety risk) and children are expected to walk sensibly.

Rewards and Sanctions Procedures

Establishments have reward/sanction systems. One example I have experienced was where all children begin each day with their name in the sun, if they do well with their work, play nicely with others, are shown to be kind and caring, if they show good listening skills and various other things, they will be put into the rainbow which results in a special rainbow sticker at the end of the day. They can also get other kinds of stickers and stamps as rewards and anyone that is a staff member at the school can give these to the children. The sanction procedure is that their name is put in the cloud for a certain amount of time after 3 warnings if their negative behaviour hasn’t changed. You might also have the thinking chair that is used by the same methods after the 3rd warning if their behaviour hasn’t changed they will have to sit on the chair and watch and wait until the egg timer has finished after five minutes. You will also talk to the child once the timer has finished to remind them why they were there (sitting on the chair) and explain the class rules etc.

Dealing with Conflict and Inappropriate Behaviour

While in the playground at break times, children are expected to take care of the property of the school and other children, respect the other children if they want to play without interference, and never resort to violence or aggression during differences of opinion and they are to include and play with other children who are alone. I once experienced a conflict during a rainy break time two children were playing with a game on the carpet in the classroom and they started to argue over it. I stopped them and reminded them of the way we should behave towards each other and asked them to share and be kind to each other.

Anti-bullying

Everyone should agree that such behaviour is unacceptable. If someone is unkind to a child at any time they must TELL. They must tell their teacher or any other adult at school. They must tell their parents. Only by being told can we stop this kind of behaviour. The adult will listen to what they have to say. They may write down what the child is saying. They will then talk to the person who has been unkind and listen to their story. They will want to know why he/she is being unkind when we have all agreed that this behaviour is unacceptable.

Attendance

When a child is going to be absent from school, their parent or carer must call the school to make them aware of the reasons for the absence. Generally a child is required to have around 90% attendance at school at least before interventions will be made. This can be due to any reasons and the school will try to help as much as they can to improve a child’s attendance. If a child's attendance is irregular, this can impact their behaviour as they may forget the classroom rules, or feel left behind, socially awkward through the lack of attendance and have a low self-esteem as a result of this. Support the child by reminding them of the way to behave, the class rules, and encourage them to join in with the other children and support their learning activities also whilst remaining as positive as you can which would hopefully encourage them to enjoy their learning.

Examples I have dealt with a child’s positive and/or negative behaviour:

On one occasion I was working with a small group of children in the outside classroom which is set up with various activities to encourage children to play and learn through play. One little boy was being rather rough with some of the other children around him. I spoke to him and reminded him to use kind hands and be kind to the other children. After the second warning I gave him I had to take him to the teacher who told him to go back into the class and do his learning indoors as he was not listening.

Another occasion I was working in the role play area with a few of the children in the class the topic that week was doctors and nurses and the role play was set up as the "teddy bear hospital" but because I was there the children were playing at being doctors with me giving me injections, putting on bandages and monitors my heart rate. One little boy drew in a notepad an exact image of what a heart rate monitor would look like and said to me, “Your heart rate is low, we need to make you better.” I was impressed with this as he is only 3 years old. I took his drawing and wrote an observation for his learning journey. I also told the teacher who congratulated him for amazing work in front of the whole class and we also gave him a reward sticker and a lot of time trying to encourage him to let the other children join in with him whilst he is doing an activity. We were doing an activity with some stickle bricks and another child tried to join in, he got very stressed and started to take the bricks all for himself. I had to intervene and remind him that it is kind to share with others and that it would be a lot more fun for him in his learning if he was learning with the other children as well as just the adults.

Final Note

It should be ensured that all staff and visitors follow the school's behaviour guide as well as the children, generally there has to be no less than 2 adults in a class at any time. We also have to all attend safeguarding training also.

It is important that all staff members are consistent when dealing with behaviour/applying rules and boundaries for children because every child in the school has to be seen as being treated equally to the other children.

This also avoids children getting mixed signals from various adults. Consistency and routine is key when it comes to children thriving, they will know what to expect and it helps them to have a more positive behaviour when they are reminded regularly how to behave.

It is important that all staff are fair when setting boundaries for children because if they do not, this could affect the child’s emotional, social, and behavioural development. This could be because they feel like they are either being treated to harshly or not equally to the other children. Also when it is done more fairly it becomes more achievable for all of the children.

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About the Creator

Hollie Taylor

Author, Artist, Mother, Educator, Advice giver and opinion sharer.

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