ASHURST CE AIDED PRIMARY SCHOOL
POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR POLICY
including Bullying, Exclusion, Discipline and ‘Use of Force’
from 20th November 2021
Responsibility of Headteacher
This Policy was reviewed in September 2025
This Policy will be reviewed September 2026
POLICY STATEMENT
This policy will be reviewed in response to changing circumstances in school
and in accordance with the statutory requirements of the
LA and DfE.
POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR POLICY
Rationale:
At Ashurst CE Aided Primary School we aim to support our children’s development with a Positive Behaviour Policy that is simple, consistent and highly effective. This policy will set out how our staff react to and acknowledge outstanding behaviour; intervene and correct poor behaviour; and structure restorative conversations when dealing with conflict.
At Ashurst we are proud of our consistent approach and know that this enables our children to feel happy, safe and secure. Our Positive Behaviour Policy is designed so that every member of the school community will feel valued and respected, and each person will be treated fairly.
At Ashurst, we will not accept discriminatory behaviour of any kind from any party. All children and adults have a right to be respected and in return, everyone has a responsibility to respect and value others, including those with Special Educational Needs. Children need to understand how bullying effects people and the legal context of people’s rights in this country. We aim for all children learn how to navigate difference wisely and compassionately and to be able to discern when to stand up for justice.
This is in accordance with the 2010 Equality Act, and draws on ‘Valuing All God’s Children’ (The Church of England Education Office 2019)
Our Vision for Ashurst:
Through our core values of Love, Hope and Joy we nurture and support our children to become well rounded, confident and responsible; children who aspire to achieve their full potential in a rapidly developing and rapidly changing world. and are connected to and concerned about a world that needs them.
Our vision is rooted in the biblical text found in 1 John 3:18
“Let us not love with words or speech, but with actions and in truth.”
At Ashurst we support children to make positive choices in their daily lives through the use of respectful actions and words. We encourage honesty and expect appropriate behaviour at all times.
Principles of our Positive Behaviour Policy:
- To promote positive behaviours, self-discipline and respect: all
children have the right to learn and teachers the right to teach.
• The knowledge that the excellent relationships within school impact positively on children’s learning
• Everyone has the right to feel valued, respected, safe and happy in school.
• All adults are excellent role models for our agreed and expected behaviours.
- Good behaviour and discipline is promoted using a positive approach of encouragement and praise which develops and nurtures inherent motivation: this supports children to become lifelong learners who take pride in their achievements and play a positive role in society.
- Every member of the school has a part to play in creating and maintaining the strong supportive community that is Ashurst CE Aided Primary School.
- Through learning how to recognise self-worth and how to promote the self esteem and wellbeing of themselves and others, children develop a sense of self-discipline, the ability to self-regulate and to take responsibility for their own choices and actions.
Our School Expectations:
Our current School Expectations are at the end of this policy and are reviewed annually by all staff and children and form the basis for all discussions about behaviour, whether for positive or poor choices.
Rights and Responsibilities:
We recognise that everyone, including staff and parents, has the right to feel valued, respected and safe whilst at school. In return, everyone has a responsibility to respect and value others.
Children at Ashurst have a right to:
• Learn in a friendly, positive, engaging, safe, clean and supportive school environment.
• Be treated with respect.
• Be valued, be heard and be able to express their opinions respectfully.
• Have adults make decisions that are best for them.
• Develop their talents and abilities.
• Receive help when they need it, whether with their work, or to talk through behaviour or worries.
• Make mistakes and learn from them.
- Examine the causes of conflicts and disagreements, and to explore and practice the different solutions possible.
- Be called by their preferred name.
- Be treated courteously using ‘please’ and ‘thank you’.
- Be fully consulted about school rules, behaviour, safety in school, and share in membership of any agreements.
- Explore, within a loving and hospitable community, their identity without fear of harm, judgement or being ostracised.
- Thrive, irrespective of physical appearance, gender, race, religion, ethnicity, socioeconomic background, academic ability, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity.
Children at Ashurst have a responsibility to:
• Show courtesy and respect to other people and their property.
• Allow others to learn in a peaceful, respectful and safe learning environment.
• Be co-operative and considerate.
• Listen to the views of others.
• Accept ownership of, and responsibility for, their choices.
- Treat each other and adults courteously saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and using the full name of all children and adults in the school.
All Staff have a responsibility to:
Develop positive relationships within the school e.g.
• Greet children in the morning/at the start of lessons
• Establish clear routines
• Communicate expectations of behaviour in ways other than verbally
• Highlight and promoting good behaviour
• Conclude the day positively and starting the next day afresh
• Have agreed systems for dealing with low-level disruption
• Use positive reinforcement
• Model positive behaviour through their choices and social interactions.
• Foster caring relationships.
• Nurture intrinsic motivation.
•Discuss behaviour choices, encouraging reflection on other’s perspectives using a restorative approach.
• Rehearse how things should be done.
• Teach behaviour that supports our vision and the principles and rationale of the Positive Behaviour Policy.
• Use appropriate tone and gesture.
• Discuss any behaviours noticed which cause concern with class teacher/ DSL/ SLT. These may be recorded on CPOMS.
• Communicate promptly and effectively with parents.
- Make expectations clear
The Headteacher has a responsibility to:
• Communicate policy to all stakeholders.
• Monitor delivery and effectiveness of policy.
• Support children, parents and staff who are experiencing difficulties.
• Receive complaints and respond appropriately.
• Take immediate action in response to a serious incident.
• Investigate serious incidents, following county guidelines.
• Co-ordinate the support for a child returning to school after a fixed-term exclusion.
Parents have a responsibility to:
• Inform the school of incidents and concerns.
• Work in partnership to support the school’s Positive Behaviour Policy.
• Treat their own and other people’s children with respect.
• Treat staff with politeness and respect.
Governors have a responsibility to:
• Review the school policy and monitor its effectiveness.
• Hear parental appeals regarding exclusion
Positive Behaviour
Our expectations with regard to discipline and behaviour are high and emphasised in all aspects of school life and by all those involved at school.
We recognise positive behaviour and choices by:
• Praising effort.
• Encouraging reflection on the feeling of pride and achievement.
• Being consistent in offering verbal and written feedback and praise.
• Communicating promptly with parents.
• Showing work to another teacher/ Headteacher.
• Displaying work the children are proud of.
• Encouraging the children to notice their own and others’ positive choices.
• Ending the day with a positive reflection.
•Awarding Team Points and Headteachers’ Awards.
- Including achievements in Celebration Assemblies
We deal with poor choices by:
• Reminding children of the expected behaviour and referring to the Jigsaw PSHE class charter and /or Ashurst Expectations.
• Asking children to think about the consequences of their words or actions.
• Emphasising the positive benefits of considerate behaviour and co-operation.
• Supporting children to make a different choice the next time.
• Allowing children time and the opportunity to ‘put things right’.
• Encouraging children to take responsibility, use restorative approaches.
• Giving children the opportunity to explain and to hear both sides of a situation.
• Visual signals, non-verbal cues
• Removing distractions to support focused learning
• Communicating promptly with parents.
When there are incidents of unacceptable behaviour in school, they can usually be dealt with using the strategies above.
However, behaviour that consistently affects other pupils’ ability to learn, threatens the safety or welfare of other children or staff, is persistently defiant or uncooperative or causes deliberate damage to property or equipment will be classed as a Serious Behaviour Issue.
The Headteacher, and in their absence the most senior teacher in consultation with SLT, will decide on the most immediate and efficient course of action to maintain safety and order. This will usually involve calmly removing the child or children from the situation so they are separated from other children.
If the child is emotional they will always be given the opportunity and time to become calm and to regulate in a supervised and safe place. They will always be given the opportunity to discuss their involvement. Any incident of this nature will be investigated fully.
Parents and carers will be contacted promptly to discuss ways of supporting the child/ children.
In rare and extreme instances of persistent antisocial or dangerous behaviour when other methods have failed, parents may be asked to remove the child from school for a temporary period. This is known as a fixed-term exclusion. The Headteacher must inform the parents, the Chair of Governors and the Area Education Officer’s representative of this action. The Headteacher will remain in contact with the parents to devise a way forward.
Bullying
Bullying is defined as the repetitive, intentional harming of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power.
Bullying is, therefore:
• Deliberately hurtful
• Repeated, often over a period of time
• Difficult to defend against
'Child-on-Child Abuse'
(formally known as peer on peer abuse) can include:
- bullying, prejudice-based and discriminatory bullying
- direct or indirect verbal bullying such as name-calling, sarcasm, spreading rumours or teasing
- cyber-bullying that takes place online, such as by email, or through social networking sites, messaging apps or gaming sites
- abuse in personal relationships between peers
- physical abuse such as hitting, kicking, shaking, biting, hair pulling, or otherwise causing physical harm; this may include an online element which facilitates, threatens and/or encourages physical abuse
- sexual harassment, such as sexual comments, remarks, jokes and online sexual harassment, which may be standalone or part of a broader pattern of abuse
- consensual and non-consensual sharing of nude and semi-nude images and or videos (also known as 'sexting' or 'youth produced sexual imagery')
- ‘Upskirting’ which involves taking a picture under someone’s clothing without them knowing; this is usually with the intention of viewing their genitals or buttocks for sexual gratification, or cause the victim humiliation, distress or alarm. Upskirting is a criminal offence and anyone of any gender, can be a victim
E-Safety and Digital Citizenship
At Ashurst Primary we take online safety extremely seriously. A key part of all digital learning and the implementation of our computing curriculum is to ensure that our pupils’ safety is paramount.
All children have a right to enjoy their learning online and be able to access safe online spaces and benefit from the many opportunities that a connected world can bring, appropriate to their age and stage of learning.
Pupils build online resilience through the ‘Education for a Connected World framework – Project Evolve’ the framework aims ‘to support and broaden the provision of online safety in education’. This together with ‘Purple Mash E-Safety’, National Online Safety resources, London Grid for Learning resources and ‘Jigsaw’, the school’s PHSE program, supports our aims to promote the development of safe and appropriate long-term behaviours, build resilience and effect a positive culture in pupils online learning and use.
In addition, our Collective Worship and PSHE and RE curriculums, support and teach children how to make safe, informed choices and what healthy and respectful behaviour towards others looks like. This safe and positive behaviour is modelled by all staff.
It is important to help children to distinguish between friendship disputes and squabbles, teasing and bullying. The children are taught a that bullying is something which happens several times on purpose.
Staff are encouraged to report anything they are worried or concerned about, and this will be recorded on our safeguarding platform: CPOMS.
This will be used to collate all behaviour incidents so staff can look for patterns or triggers. Staff can also make others aware when specific children need support or guidance. This ensures adults can be extra vigilant and aware of any disagreements amongst pupils which may lead to poor behaviour choices. When an incident is deemed to be bullying, several different actions can be taken dependent on the individual circumstances.
These could include;
• Seeking the views of others who may have witnessed bullying incidents and recording witness statements.
• Discussing the incidents with those involved individually and then often together.
• contacting parents.
• Developing a circle of friends to support those affected.
• Providing a ‘named adult’ within school to support children and offer suitable interventions.
Power to use reasonable force.
Staff have the power to use reasonable force to prevent pupils injuring themselves or others, damaging property and to maintain good order and discipline in the classroom.
In some circumstances, staff may use reasonable force to restrain a pupil to prevent them:
• Hurting themselves or others
• Damaging property
Incidents of physical restraint must:
• Be used as a last resort
• Be applied using the minimum amount of force and for the minimum amount of time possible.
• Be used in a way that maintains the safety and dignity of all concerned.
• Never be used as a form of punishment.
• Be recorded and reported to parents.
Children in need of additional Intervention:
Some children need additional support in learning how to behave appropriately. Behaviour is always trying to communicate an unmet need. Social and emotional difficulties can have a clear impact on aspects of learning for the learner and others in the class. We see social and emotional needs as a learning difficulty so will use individual provision for the children who need it. (See SEND policy)
Complaints:
Complaints from parents should be directed as outlined in the school’s complaints procedure.
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Other supporting documents: |
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SEND Policy |
Complaints Policy |
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Acceptable use Policy |
Safeguarding Policy |
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JIGSAW (PSHE), Computing, RE and Science curriculum documents |
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ASHURST CE AIDED PRIMARY SCHOOL
OUR EXPECTATIONS FOR BEHAVIOUR
IN and AROUND SCHOOL
DISCUSSED AND AGREED BY CHILDREN AND STAFF
MARCH 2024
- We care for other people and their things.
- We take responsibility for and appreciate our belongings.
- We are honest with each other.
- We are polite and use our manners.
- We listen to and respect what others have to say.
- We talk and behave appropriately in school situations.
- We do our best and work hard.
- We look after the school and its surroundings.
- We don’t share our food in case others have allergies.
- We walk slowly and safely.
- We sit on our chairs sensibly and tuck them in.
- We ask the teacher before leaving the classroom or playground.
- We don’t leave the building or cross the road without an adult.
- We don’t climb on the school wall.
- We know what to do when the whistle blows at the end of play.
- We know how to respond to alarms and emergency situations.
- We don’t play on the playground before or after school.
- We agree to respect the rules for using the Internet safely.
- We understand how to stay safe, and do so, when travelling by minibus, coach, train or car.