2.9 Support Children & Young Peoples Positive Behaviour

2.9 Support children & young peoples positive behaviour

1.1 Describe your settings policies and procedures relevant to promoting childrens positive behaviour:
My setting has a ‘Behaviour Policy’ that was recently updated/revised. The main aim of the policy is to promote good behaviour and respecting others through the promotion of self discipline, consideration for others and collective responsibility. The policy includes a code of conduct, and sets out the boundaries of acceptable behaviour by establishing clear rules which, are to be applied consistently and fairly across the whole school.

The expected behaviour within school is widely distributed and displayed in classrooms, the dining hall and corridors, as is the behaviour expected in the playground. The policy is quite clear on rules for staff which include; Focus on good behaviour, praise wherever possible, be as fair as possible and never ignore bad behaviour. The school uses a ‘sanctions’ and ‘rewards’ system. Typically the rewards are; class points, showing good work to others, prizes, certificates, school ‘happy book’. The sanctions would typically include; Pupil goes to time out area, name on board, loss of playtime, incident noted in red book, referral to Headteacher and parents informed. Exclusion is the most serious sanction and is only taken in extreme circumstances.

In the EYFS team where I am based, the class rules have been simplified relevant to the age group we are teaching/supporting. The children contributed to the rules and they are; ‘Kind Hands’ Kind Feet’ and ‘Kind Mouths’. These images are displayed in all EYFS classes and easy reference can be made to them if a pupil is not following the behaviour policy. The emphases, however, is the same throughout the school, we praise and reward good behaviour and set good examples for the children we support.

1.2 Describe with examples the importance of all staff consistently and fairly applying boundaries and rules for children’s behaviour:
It is extremely important for staff to apply behaviour boundaries and rules fairly and consistently so that, pupils understand what the boundaries are and what is expected of them. It needs to be demonstrated that they are being applied fairly by everyone, and as a result pupils are far more likely to respond positively to them. If the behaviour policy is applied inconsistently, then the results will be inconsistent.

The behaviour policy at my setting has recently been updated. The policy now includes welfare staff, teaching support, admin staff and caretaking staff. We have had meetings to discuss how we should apply the rules and this highlighted quite a few inconsistencies. The welfare staff hadn’t previously received any guidance on dealing with behaviour and had developed there own way of applying sanctions during playtime. This wasn’t in line with how sanctions were being applied by teachers and support staff and therefore we had a number of the ‘same children’ consistently being in time out, on the wall, losing playtime hours etc. When we introduced the revised behavioural policy, which was supported by meetings and training we saw a dramatic improvement in the behaviour of pupils who were regularly in sanctions. The new system is far simpler to implement, everyone understands how it is applied, including the children who are responding positively.

2.1-2.4 Write an account relating to an occasion when you have applied positive behaviour strategies and explain how they were successful, include the following:

• Age of children, immediate setting and activity

• Skills and techniques used for encouraging and supporting childrens positive behaviour.

• The benefits of encouraging and rewarding positive behaviour.

I have applied positive behaviour strategies on a pupil aged 5 in reception class. The pupil consistently misbehaved during snack time where the class is allowed to go and choose a snack and milk in groups of 6 to the snack area without supervision. It had become normal behaviour for this pupil to empty the snack over the floor, open several cartons of milk, shout and run along the corridor and generally intimidate other children in the snack area. The pupil was constantly in sanctions and behaviour wasn’t improving. I was asked to supervise the snack area and assess what was happening.

After the first day observing I decided that the best initial action would be to keep the pupil busy. So, I allocated him a task of being the ‘fruit man’ with the very important job of ensuring that everyone was offered a piece of fruit. I was then able to praise him for doing something really good and for looking after others. I informed the class teacher so that they could also praise him and reward him with a sticker for his card. I talked to him (at his level) about how great it was to see him making really good choices and what a big help he was at snack time. I think this pupil got used to being told ‘no’ and reprimanded for poor behaviour that it became normal for him. I used a diversionary tactic that made him feel important and needed, then praised him for such great work.

Encouraging and rewarding positive behaviour in children promotes confidence and a sense of worth. Essentially it demonstrates to them that is how to get ‘rewarded’ and therefore they are more likely to repeat positive behaviour in order to ‘receive the reward’ and praise.

As previously mentioned in 1.1, it is important for adults to be effective role models and set good examples of positive behaviour. Therefore expectations of behaviour are the same for everyone, we all have to show respect and consideration for others.