Behaviour Policy
(a) THE IMPORTANCE OF ACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOUR
It is important that every student should be able to work within a safe and secure environment that helps to foster a spirit of learning.
Every student, and every member of staff, has the right to expect to work within such an environment without the presence of poor behaviour from other members of the group.
It is important that students are aware what constitutes acceptable and what constitutes unacceptable behaviour.
This ties in with the whole school Policies on anti-bullying and behaviour.
Examples of unacceptable behaviour include:
(i) Talking whilst the teacher or another student is talking
(ii) Interrupting someone whilst they are speaking
(iii) Disturbing other students and preventing them from working
(iv) Calling out in lessons
(v) Misusing school property, be it a laptop or a desk
(vi) Coming to lessons ill prepared for that lesson
(vii) Making unacceptable comments that are offensive to others
(viii) Not focusing on the task set in the lesson
(ix) Making fun of other students whilst they are reading or making comments
(x) Texting whilst in the lesson or sending notes around the class
This list is not exhaustive but is merely some indication of what we as a department consider unacceptable behaviour.
Such behaviour creates an unpleasant working environment and should not be tolerated.
It is important, therefore, that strategies are developed to deal with unacceptable behaviour.
(b) HOW TO DEAL WITH UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOUR
There are a number of methods that could be used and individual teachers often have their own methods which are effective for them but less so for others.
It would be wrong to discourage staff from using methods that work for them and to force them to adopt measures that may be less effective in their case.
However, it is important to have an overall framework to ensure some consistency within departments, and which adhere closely to the School policy.
Below are suggested methods:
(i) In the first instance, it should be made clear to the student that her behaviour is unacceptable and that it must stop or further action will be necessary. If the incident warrants it, a blue slip should be filled in and given to her Form Tutor.
(ii) If the student carries on with her poor behaviour, the individual teacher must decide what is the best course of action to follow, but this should be within an overall framework, e.g.
(a) Move the student to another place in the class
(b) Take the student outside of the class to talk to her on an individual basis
(c) Send her to Landor, with work to do.
(iii) As a department we do NOT consider it reasonable to send a disruptive student into another classroom, since this is both unfair to the teacher in that classroom and merely moves the problem on, and may well lead to the student disrupting that classroom.
(iv) Where the situation is serious that a member of staff decides the student should be removed from the lesson, then that student has to be sent to Landor. The student should be set some work to do. The teacher should then inform the Form Tutor and Head of Key Stage.
(v) The School also runs a lunchtime detention system. Students can be sent to this, if, in the pinion of the staff concerned, this would prove worthwhile. In serious cases, or repeated offences, a Saturday morning detention, run by SMT, would be welcome.
(vi) Where a student continually misbehaves within a lesson, the member of staff, as well as other students, have a right to expect firm action to be taken and as a department we would press for such action, including the removal of that student from our lessons.