Warm-Strict Behaviour

Warm Strict Behaviour Policy

The purpose of our Behaviour Policy is to ensure that all members of our community have knowledge of the behaviour system and follow it to bring about consistency of practice throughout the academy.

It also ensures that all students understand what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable behaviour and that every student understands their choices and the consequences of their decisions. The policy also outlines the rewards that helps make the system effective as we recognise that rewards play as vital a role in the process of ensuring outstanding behaviour. Our key purpose is to ensure the safety, wellbeing and success of all our students.

In order to ensure success for all, we have in place a range of interventions to support students, develop positive relationships and refocus on learning. Poor conduct has consequences for learning and achievement and, potentially, the safety and wellbeing of our community. High expectations of staff and students make a positive contribution in our aim of achieving the ‘Best in Everyone’.

Our policy is built around our core values of Ambition, Determination and Respect and is aimed at supporting our students to exhibit the values we look to develop in them, and to reflect when they have breached these values. In applying this policy, the academy takes into account its duties under the Equality Act 2010 regarding relevant characteristics protected by that act, notably disability. It also takes into account the needs of pupils with special educational needs in line with the SEND Code of Practice 2015. The academy will also have regard to its safeguarding policy where appropriate.

We understand that aspects of academy life may be even more challenging for some students with special educational needs. We will therefore look to make reasonable adjustments to this policy where necessary. Examples of reasonable adjustments include but are not limited to:

Specific seating position in classroom
Additional direction to remain focussed in lessons before being moved or removed
Support from an additional adult in the classroom

Any reasonable adjustments will be shared with staff working with individual students.

Warm-Strict Behaviour Policy

Behaviour Expectations

If a student fails to adhere to the rules set out by the academy in the classroom during a period of teaching, then the process set out below will be followed. We do not allow students to disrupt the learning of others as we fundamentally believe that every student is entitled to disruption-free lessons.

Our key classroom expectations reflect our core values:

Ambition: Do not settle for anything less than your best.
Determination: Do not give up if you find something difficult.
Respect: Follow all instructions first time, every time.

Warn/Remove System

All students have the right to disruption-free learning. We operate a two-step system which is referred to as Warn/Remove within all lessons.

Warn
If a student disrupts the learning of the class, this will be explained to them calmly and they will be given a clear warning and their name will be recorded on a board at the front of the class as a visible reminder. The student will be reminded of the expectations of the classroom and will be informed that further disruption to the learning of the class will result in them being removed from the lesson.

Remove
If a student continues to disrupt the learning of the class this will be explained to them. The teacher will clearly state that they are being removed from the lesson and the reason why. The member of staff will log the lesson removal on Arbor and students will be instructed to take themselves directly to the Reflection Room (RR).

Moving around the Academy

Students should move around the academy in a calm, safe and purposeful manner. Students and staff are expected to keep to the left, keep quiet and keep moving when in corridors during lesson changeover and at break and lunchtimes. Students are expected to take the most direct route to their lessons. No food should be eaten when moving around the academy building.

In the case of a fire alarm sounding, all students must make their way in a calm and sensible manner to the fire assembly point and line up in single file, in alphabetical order in their tutor group, adopting silence.

Toilets

Students have access to toilets before school, at breaktime, at lunchtime and after school. Staff are able to use their discretion regarding polite requests to visit the toilets during lesson time but leaving a class for this purpose should always be viewed as an exception rather than a rule unless the student in question has a confirmed medical condition or other individual need and has been issued with an academy toilet pass. Students are therefore asked, wherever possible, to ensure they use break and lunchtime to access the toilet to minimise any disruption to learning for themselves or others in their class.

A member of staff is on duty outside the toilets at all times to ensure student behaviour meets expectations and all students feel safe when accessing the toilets. To further support this, students are required to leave mobile phones with the member of staff on duty to remove the temptation to use them in the school building.

As with any part of the school building, any student found to have damaged the toilets may be charged and will be sanctioned as they have not shown respect to our environment.

Praise & Rewards

The academy uses rewards as a strategy to inspire, enthuse and motivate students to fulfil their
potential. Our aim is for all lessons to be rewards led. The use of rewards should be used before
sanctions in order to develop a positive ethos in the classroom and around the building. Praise and rewards are linked to effort, willingness, co-operation, thoughtfulness, personal achievement etc. and are given when effort is:

above the standard for that group
above the standard for that student
consistently good

Daily/Weekly Rewards

All academy staff are able to use rewards such as verbal praise, telephone calls to parents, the organisation of letters, texts, emails or postcards to parents and public celebration of success in forums such as special mentions in Assembly and the academy’s Twitter account.

Merits and golden tickets can also be issued by staff both in and out of lessons to reward examples of outstanding achievement, effort or conduct. In addition, established reward systems are in place to recognise students who demonstrate the highest levels of Attitude to Learning (Gold / Silver / Bronze Learners) or who achieve 100% attendance on a weekly basis. Each week, we also hold Proud Friday, where students are encouraged to bring a piece of work that they are proud of for a reward.

Half-termly/Termly Rewards

Positive and negative behaviour incidents are logged on Arbor and are allocated a set number of positive or negative points. These contribute towards overall rewards across a half-term, term or the year as a whole.

To support students to raise standards or maintain high standards from one half-term to the next, the start of each half-term is known, for example, as “Fresh Leaf Monday”. This signifies a resetting of attendance, punctuality and behaviour measures for the purposes of rewards for the half-term ahead and ensures all students begin a new half-term with the opportunity to access potential rewards.

Parents & Students

A Rights Respecting School

As a Rights Respecting school, we are guided by the UN Convention on the Rights of the child and seek to ensure that Barnsley Academy is free from intolerance, intimidation, and unkindness of any sort. We support our students to acknowledge that knowing the difference between right and wrong is not always straightforward and that an individual’s values, beliefs, and moral codes can change over time. We, therefore, seek to teach all staff and students to understand that it is both a personal and collective responsibility to guarantee mutual, respectful relationships with others. Our warm-strict behaviour policy is designed to ensure the following principles are followed:

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child applies to all Barnsley Academy students, without discrimination (Article 2).
The best interests of the child are a top priority in all decisions and actions (Article 3).
Children have the right to share their views about matters concerning them (Article 12).
Children have the right to access information and share their views on it, as long as the information is not damaging to them or others (Article 13).
Children have the right to learn reliable information through the media and to be protected from materials that may harm them (Article 17).
Children have the right to be protected from being hurt or mistreated, either physically or mentally (Article 19).
Children with any kind of disability have the right to receive appropriate care and support (Article 23).
Children have the right to a standard of living that is good enough to meet their physical and mental needs (Article 27).
A child’s education should develop their personality, talents and abilities to the fullest, whilst teaching respect for human rights, for others and for the environment (Article 29).
Minority or indigenous children have the right to learn about and practise their own culture, language and religion (Article 30).
Children have the right to take part in a wide range of cultural, artistic and other recreational activities (Article 31).
Both adults and children will have a clear knowledge of these rights (Article 42).