Promote children’s positive behaviour essay sample

1. 1 Summarise the policies and procedures of the setting relevant to promoting children and young people’s behaviour

• Behaviour policy
• Rewards and sanctions
• Attendance
• Anti-Bullying policy
• Dealing with conflict and inappropriate behaviour
• Code of conduct
Behaviour policy: is a guide for all staff on how pupil’s behaviour should be managed. It provides a cleared shared understanding between the Head Teacher, staff, parents and pupils on discipline. It is vital that the policy is constantly being put into practice to ensure the safety of the pupils in school and the efficiency of pupil’s ability to learn.

In my setting the behavior policy includes:
* Expectations and responsibilities of Teachers behaviour and pupil’s behaviour
* Principles of management
* School rules
* A guide on how to implement the policy using praise and consequences
* Bullying and a guide on how to recognize and deal with it

The principles of the policy in my setting are:
* Children have the right to learn and teachers have the right to teach * Children are encouraged to make ‘ good choices’’ and be successful in school * Staff are required to encourage a positive approach to behavior management by using the systems, rewards and remembering verbal praise is vitally important * Successful implementation is a balance of recognition of good and poor behavior, responsibility, mutual respect and trust The pupils are required to:

* Respect others
* To take responsibility for their own behaviour in an age appropriate manner * To join staff in creating a caring, mutually supportive ethos * Children should know and understand the rules, rewards and sanctions of the behaviour policy Rewards and sanctions: Rewards and sanctions are in place to praise and reward positive behaviour and to try to eradicate negative behaviour. In my setting there is a variety of rewards systems and a joint reward/sanction system: * Buddy board – The board has a sad and a happy side and children can be moved to either side throughout the day but it is always re-set for the beginning of the next day. * Buddy card – where children can earn stamps each day for showing positive behaviour, each time a card is completed it goes into a sack and at the end of the term/year a card is pulled out the sack and that child gets a prize. * Marble jar – where children can earn marbles to fill the jar. The class is rewarded each time it’s filled. Marbles can never be taken out of the jar by teachers as punishment to inappropriate behaviour.

Attendances Policy: Schools have a legal obligation to provide an accurate attendance register of all their pupils. A school attendance policy is in place to ensure this and to reduce the absence rate of pupils. Most schools have a reward scheme in place for those pupils who have a 100% attendance during a term. The policy should state how the ethos and goals of that school will promote and lead to good attendance.

Anti-Bullying: The aim of an anti bullying policy is to ensure that pupils learn in a supportive, caring and safe environment without fear of being bullied. In my setting, we have procedures in place on how to deal with bullying or suspected bullying in school. My setting also raises the awareness of bullying to pupils and how to deal with it through inclusion of PSHE, assemblies and other subject areas as appropriate, in an attempt to eradicate such behaviour.

Dealing with conflict and inappropriate behaviour: In my setting the school policy has procedures for dealing with disruptive behaviour. Consequences are in place if children choose to disregard the rules of the classroom. Consequences are set out in a clear hierarchy that will show pupils what will happen each time they make ‘ wrong choices’ and disobey the school rules. Pupils who do not respond to the normal teaching and discipline strategies may require further support from some of the following: * Framework for Intervention

* Nurture Groups in Reception, KS1 AND KS2 (If child fits criteria) * Learning Mentor Support
* SEN support in the form of IEPs or a target added for behaviour * External Agencies
* Senior management of Leadership Team developing Individual Behaviour Plans (IBP) These plans are specific to each pupils needs and will be drawn up involving parents and often include external agencies.

Code of conduct: Code of conduct is a set of rules and guidelines for pupils so they understand how they should behave in school and what is expected of them. It is important that the children are reminded of the code of conduct so that it becomes their routine and they fully understand it. It is essential that positive behaviour is always promoted and praised to encourage children to continue their ‘ good choices’. Teachers and other adults in schools should also demonstrate positive behaviour as children notice when adults’ behaviour is out of character. If teachers are being positive role models it is more likely that pupils will also behave in a positive way. 1. 2 Evaluate how the policies and procedures of the setting support children and young people to: * Feel safe

* Make a positive contribution
* Develop social and emotional skills
* Understand expectations and limits
In my setting we follow the framework of Every Child Matters and its 5 outcomes. Two of these outcomes apply to Feel Safe and Making a positive contribution. Some of the following has been Group discussion:

Feel Safe
* Encourage Inclusion
* Trust and Confidentiality
* School Security
* Teacher/Pupil relationships
* Problems being solved/teachers dealing with conflict
* Friendship/Community
* Health and Safety – Equipment (PAT tested)
* Safeguarding
* Empathy and understanding
* Staff being approachable
* Preventions of discrimination and bullying

Positive Contribution
In my setting we have weekly awards for children to encourage positive contributions, we have ‘ star of the week’ where each class choose one child to receive an award for something they have achieved in the week, The Passport competition where children are given tasks to complete each week to earn rewards and there is also a head teachers reward along with attendance awards and most improved behaviour awards. * Rewards and Sanctions

* School councils/pupil responsibility
* Mixed ability talk partners/buddies
* Outside school competition
* Respect
* Equal Opportunity
* Recycle/Eco Friendly
* Confidence

Social and Emotional skills
* Circle time
* Emotional picture cards
* Learning/Understanding emotion/expression through activities
* Equal Opportunities
* Everyone having their say
* Valuing opinions
* Treat everyone equal
* Educate and Encourage diversity and culture through PSHE and activities Understand expectations and limits

All children and young people in a school setting should understand and know the expectations and limits of their school. In order to achieve this, children must follow the guidelines that are set by the school through the schools rules and class rules. Children understand that within the school they must develop a sense of responsibility, in order to do this, pupils are expected to apologise when it is appropriate, accept the consequences of their own behavior and to recognise opportunities to help others. * Reinforce school rules and class rules through:

* Discussions
* Displays
* Understand sanctions and rewards
* Respect diversity
* Establish classroom rules and boundaries
* Realistic expectations
1. 3 Explain the benefits of all staff consistency and fairly applying boundaries and rules for children

It is important to maintain consistency when applying rules and boundaries for children in school. In my setting all staff should be aware of the schools policies and also the rewards and sanctions systems that are in place and stick to them at all times. When staff fail to be consistent, children’s behaviour may become erratic, or unexpected. If a teacher is not rewarding one child for the same thing that another child has been rewarded for, it can cause problems with pupil’s behaviour and conflict can arise between the children and even between children and staff. The same can arise if a child is not given the same consequences for behaving inappropriately and can lead to some children challenging teachers to their limits because they think they can get away with making ‘ bad choices’.

2. 1 Explain the benefits of actively promoting positive aspects of behaviour
Praise is the most powerful and effective form of positive recognition you can give to a child. In my setting we have a consistent and meaningful system of rewards which increase the pupils self esteem and promote positive behavior. Promoting Positive Behaviour focuses on good behaviour and sets out to ensure that children who work hard and behave well will be recognised and rewarded in a variety of ways. Promoting and rewarding such behaviour can allow children to be constructive, productive and content members of society and encourage children to be ‘ good citizens’ at school, out of school and also throughout their lives.

It is important to reward children equally to show that everyone is respected, treated the same and there is no discrimination against pupils in any way.

3. 5Explain the sorts of behaviour or discipline problems that should be referred to others and to whom these should be referred

In my setting we have guidelines to follow when certain pupil behavior needs the support of specialist staff such as SENCO. SENCO will often sit and discuss any issues with children who have been aggressive or show signs of bullying behaviour and sometimes they may be referred to a psychologist if they feel there might be underlying concerns about the child and their behaviour. I feel comfortable dealing with inappropriate behavior in the classroom and issuing warnings and consequences if necessary but I would refer some situations to the class teacher if I felt a child was out of my control or needed further support.

I would refer pupils if:
* They are a danger to themselves and/or others
* If I was dealing with a difficult situation on my own which I felt I could not control effectively without support * If I was not comfortable dealing with a pupil, for example, if they are behaving unpredictably, out of sorts or aggressively If I child is referred to SENCO, it may be necessary to devise strategies for use in the classroom to help support the child and prevent any disruption to other pupils during lessons. The child may also be given an IBP to monitor a child and take steps to improve their behavior. When a child is showing persistent negative behavior they would be referred to the Head Teacher. Some children may be referred to the Behaviour Unit which is run by the local authority and can help deal with pupils who have behavior problems outside of school. The behavior unit may visit schools to work with and observe specific children. Schools will often have educational psychologists visit to offer support to children and adults on a variety of special needs problems and can also asses children and devise individual programs to support pupils. 4. 5Explain how you recognise and take immediate action with any bullying, harassment or oppressive behaviour according to the policies and procedures of the setting

In my settings policies we have information and guidance documents giving staff the advice they need on how to recognise any sorts of behaviour which needs support. In the behaviour policy there is a section on how to recognise and deal with bullying and we also have an anti-bullying policy and a child protection policy with further guidance on dealing with bullying and harassment.

Children can show signs of being a victim to bullying and our awareness to these signs are vital. Children may have a sudden change in their behaviour, their work, a loss of appetite or several unexplained absences. Children are encouraged to report behaviour that worries them but quite often children will be too scared to tell an adult or believe that it is their fault or are to blame for the bullying they are receiving.

My setting use code words that staff can use to respond immediately if children have a reoccurrence of any bullying and staff will then immediately refer to the behaviour/child protection policy to deal with the situation. Parents will be involved regardless of the outcome of a bullying or harassment investigation.

Harassment can come in many different forms and it is important that we understand the different types of harassment and have the knowledge to recognise them.

Harassment can include:
* Stalking
* Sexual
* Racial
* Religious
* Bullying
* Disability
* Sexual orientation
* Assault

Oppressive behaviour can sometimes be more difficult to recognise. Oppressive behavior is inflicted on someone who does not necessarily want to do something, but is coerced, convinced or forced into it. It is a constricting situation for the person being oppressed and for a child this can be extremely difficult to cope with. The NSPCC have devised a distance learning program in schools for dealing with bullies but it is down to the staff to recognise such behaviour and act upon it immediately for the security and care of the children involved.

5. 3Explain how you use own knowledge of promoting positive behaviour to contribute to reviews of behaviour policies, including bullying , attendance and the effectiveness of rewards and sanctions

I am aware of the systems in place in my setting to deal with bullying and have a good understanding of the bahaviour policy which informs me how I can reward and sanction pupils behaviour accordingly. I am a very patient person and I am consistent with my praise and encouragement towards positive bahaviour. I can reward children not only with verbal praise but also by giving stickers, offering ‘ buddy stamps’, ‘ marbles’ or adding their names to the happy side of the buddy board.

I am also comfortable within my setting to issue warnings to children who show negative behaviour or who make ‘ bad choices’. The warning would involve me explaining to a child what behaviour I considered inappropriate, what bahvaiour or task I would like them to achieve and what the consequences would be if they were to continue their negative behaviour. Should the behaviour continue, I would follow my knowledge of the rewards and sanctions system in the Behaviour policy to issue consequences.

Each time I issue a warning or consequence to a pupil I will inform my class teacher or teaching assistant in the classroom and I will feedback to her the situation and how I dealt with it. The teacher can then give me any advice on how to deal with further situations like this or if there are any special circumstances I need to consider with certain pupils such as SEN or Acorns children who have social and emotions difficulties.

Promoting positive behaviour starts by setting a good example and being a role model for the children. Children always learn so much of their behaviour from mimicking the actions of their peers and adults around them.

In my setting I often praise children who turn up early for school or have attended every day in a week. The class I am in benefit greatly from the extra praise they receive from staff and their attendance has much improved since the beginning of the year where it was very common for the children to miss days off on a regular basis or arrive at school very late.

We remind children that they are rewarded with a certificate at the end of each week for 100% attendance along with no late marks. We also remind children that they will be rewarded with a school disco at the end of the school year if they achieve a 95% attendance along with an award and praise from the head teacher in a celebration assembly.

5. 4Explain how you provide clear and considered feedback on the effectiveness of behaviour management strategies to inform policy review and development

In my class we have 4 pupils who are Acorns children. These pupils all have IBP’s in place which I have been copies of to see what steps and targets are in place to help promote positive behaviour.

A couple of the Acorns children are low ability children also experience communication difficulties due to eyesight problems and both of them wear glasses. These children do not always sit where they are close enough to the smart board and teachers will often forget to remind them to move closer. Since getting to know the children in the class I have noticed that these 2 children do not work well if they are not sat central to the board and close enough to it and have often been moved to the sad side of the buddy board or given time outs for not behaving appropriately.

I have suggested to the class teacher that we move the spare table in the classroom to a central place in front of the smart board, which could help the children to see the board better and could lead to better concentration and achieving more. The teacher agreed and we have seen a considerable improvement in the work from those 2 pupils. The issue of their eyesight and poor concentration when unable to see the board was not part of their IBP and whenever the class has teaching supplies or new assistants, they would be unaware of the issues regarding the pupils and this will have a detrimental effect on both the teaching staff and the pupils.

I am still new to my placement and take a lot of care when making suggestions to teachers about their pupils. Teachers have been very thankful of my suggestions and I feel comfortable expressing my ideas and opinions and I will be attending PPA meetings in future and also visiting the nurture room to observe and gain further knowledge on the benefits of nurture for Acorns children, where I will be able to contribute to IBP’s and ILP’s on occasions.