Behaviour & Rewards

Behaviour

Staff at Woodhouse Primary Academy have undertaken a significant amount of training in relation to better understanding children’s emotional needs e.g. Emotions Coaching, Restorative approaches, Nurture group training and attachment awareness training.   Staff have come to recognise that behaviour is driven by many different factors and not always straight forward.   Behaviour is often reflective of an underlying need.  As a staff we not only want to manage behaviour but understand it and teach children to understand, manage and apply relationships education so that they have positive experiences and role models.  Our behaviour policy has been developed in order to replace previous policies and better reflect our new understanding and ethos. This is even more important following the impact of the pandemic on our children’s mental health and emotional wellbeing. 

It is our aim to:

• Develop understanding of behaviour relevant to individual children and within context of need 

• Supporting a flexible approach to behaviour management in the same way that we differentiate for children’s learning needs. Management of behaviour in light of this understanding 

• Develop consistency of behaviour management amongst staff so all adults are well regulated in their responses and children get consistent messages 

• Develop skills in relation to positive and respectful relationships within school 

• Foster positive relationships within the school community (parents, staff, governors etc.) 

Staff at Woodhouse Primary Academy recognise that behaviour is a form of communication.  Challenging behaviour may for example reflect:- 

• Sensory overload 

• A sense of feeling unsafe 

• Fear and or anxiety 

• A need to be noticed 

• Tiredness 

• And many more 

Staff are committed to knowing children within school and recognising them as individuals.  Class structures change throughout the day and therefore it is important that they work closely together sharing information to ensure they have a wider understanding of individual circumstances and can apply this when managing behaviour. 

Staff draw upon understanding and skills developed through CPD and work with external professionals to support them in recognising and understanding behaviours e.g. attachment awareness and sensory smart classroom.  Following training within school we consider ourselves to be an attachment aware school.  What this means is we recognise the absolute importance of relationships in a person’s life.  We seek to develop and encourage positive relationships in all we do e.g. from greeting children on a morning to reintegration meetings through restorative approaches following a major incident.  It also means that we recognise some children have particular difficulties relating to attachment that require additional and sensitive support e.g. access to nurture provision  

In order to provide the above we are committed to promoting staff wellbeing and ensuring adults in school are well regulated so they can support children effectively.  

Following on from CPD as a school we developed nurture provision which is a small group where staff can develop nurturing relationships and provide positive role models for children to observe and copy impacting on social and emotional skills to develop confidence and self-esteem. This runs when appropriate and is tailored around the needs of children within school. 

Our Respect and Positive Relationships Policy is build around our school values of:

We have developed a set of expected behaviours in conjunction with children linked to these values as set out below:

Rewards

Positive Behavior Rewards 

Children can earn up to 7 positive behaviour rewards points per lesson. Behaviour points are rewarded for demonstrating expected behaviours linked to our school values. Once children reach the milestones of 500,1000,2000,4000 and 6000 positive points they are rewarded for their efforts with a certificate and badge as well as the opportunity to choose from a range of prizes and rewards. All positive behaviour points also count towards house team points. The House Team with the most house points each half term receives a reward experience. Additionally, the ‘top 25’ children with the most positive behaviour points across a term receive an extra special reward trip. 

Consequences

All unexpected behaviours linked to a reflection are recorded on Arbor to ensure clear and immediate communication with parents. Where children receive three reflections across a week a meeting will be held with parents to work together to improve positive behaviours.