Our
pre-school believes that children flourish best when they know how they are
expected to behave and should be free to play and learn without fear of being
hurt or unfairly restricted by anyone else.
We aim
to provide an environment in which there is acceptable behaviour and where
children learn to respect themselves, other people and their environment.
·
We
have a named person who has overall responsibility for issues concerning
behaviour. Julie Skipp
·
We
require the named person to:
- keep
her/himself up-to-date with legislation and research and thinking on handling
children's behaviour;
- access
relevant sources of expertise on handling children's behaviour; and
-
check
that all staff have relevant in-service training on handling children's
behaviour.
·
We
require all staff, volunteers and students to provide a positive model of
behaviour by treating children, parents and one another with friendliness, care
and courtesy.
·
We
require all staff, volunteers and students to use positive strategies for
handling any conflict by helping children find solutions in ways which are
appropriate for the children's ages and stages of development - for example
distraction, praise and reward.
·
We
familiarise new staff and volunteers with the pre-school's behaviour policy and
its rules for behaviour.
·
We
expect all members of the pre-school - children, parents, staff, volunteers and
students - to keep to the rules, requiring these to be applied consistently.
·
We
praise and endorse desirable behaviour such as kindness and willingness to
share.
·
We
avoid creating situations in which children receive adult attention only in
return for undesirable behaviour.
·
We
recognise that codes for interacting with other people vary between cultures
and require staff to be aware of - and respect - those used by members of the
pre-school.
·
When
children behave in unacceptable ways, we help them to see what was wrong and
how to cope more appropriately.
·
We
never send children out of the room by themselves.
·
We
never use physical punishment, such as smacking or shaking. Children are never
threatened with these.
·
We
do not use techniques intended to single out and humiliate individual children.
·
We
only use physical restraint, such as holding, to prevent physical injury to
themselves, other children or adults and/or damage to property. Details of such an event (what happened, what
action was taken and by whom, and the names of witnesses) are brought to the
attention of our pre-school leader and are recorded in our Incident Book. A parent is informed on the same day and
signs the Incident Book to indicate that he/she has been informed. It should
never be used as a punishment.
·
If
“Time Out” is used, where children displaying unwanted behaviour are temporary
removed from the situation, they should never be left on their own and periods
of time should not exceed a few minutes.
In cases
of serious misbehaviour, such as racial or other abuse, we make clear
immediately the unacceptability of the behaviour and attitudes, by means of
explanations rather than personal blame.
·
We
do not shout or raise our voices in a threatening way to respond to children's
behaviour.
·
We
handle children's unacceptable behaviour in ways which are appropriate to their
ages and stages of development - for example by distraction, discussion or by
withdrawing the child from the situation.
·
We
work in partnership with children's parents.
Parents are regularly informed about their children's behaviour by the
supervisor.
·
We
work with parents to address recurring unacceptable behaviour, using objective
observation records to help us to understand the cause and to decide jointly
how to respond appropriately.
·
Adults
will be aware that some kinds of behaviour may arise from a child's special
needs.
Bullying
involves the persistent physical or verbal abuse of another child or children.
We take bullying very seriously.
If a
child bullies another child or children:
·
we
intervene to stop the child harming the other child or children;
·
we
explain to the child doing the bullying why her/his behaviour is inappropriate;
·
we
give reassurance to the child or children who have been bullied;
·
we
help the child who has done the bullying to say sorry for her/his actions;
·
we
make sure that children who bully receive praise when they display acceptable
behaviour;
·
we
do not label children who bully;
·
when
children bully, we discuss what has happened with their parents and work out
with them a plan for handling the child's behaviour; and
·
when
children have been bullied, we share what has happened with their parents,
explaining that the child who did the bullying is being helped to adopt more
acceptable ways of behaving.
This
policy was originally adopted at a meeting of
19/05/11
Held on
(date)
Julie Skipp
Signed
on behalf of the pre-school