Building a Friendly and Safe School
Section A RULES AND BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT PROCEDURES
1. Rationale
Our school’s policy is derived from the School’s Vision Statement and the shared values underpinning teaching at Holy Rosary Primary School. The rationale for developing whole school classroom and playground rules, rights and responsibilities and behaviour management procedures, including reward systems, is to promote positive and responsible behaviour, which ultimately is self managed. Through consistent application of these throughout the school, children will be familiar and understand the expectations placed upon them.
In order to promote awareness and consistency, it is important that all staff members take the time to teach the Rights and Responsibilities and likely consequences, to their class, in the first two weeks of the school term and where necessary thereafter. It is also necessary for relief staff to be made aware of them.
The rights and responsibilities will be posted in all areas of the school, for example, classrooms, computer room, outside the canteen.
Whilst it is important to note that these apply to every member of the school community, it is through the correct modelling of our school rules; rights and responsibilities that the children will learn.
The use of any form of child abuse, corporal punishment or other degrading punishment to manage student behaviour is explicitly forbidden.
These terms are defined in accordance with the Guide to Registration Standards and Other Requirements for Non-Government Schools:
Child abuse: Four forms of child abuse are covered by Western Australian law:
- Physical abuse occurs when a child is severely and/or persistently hurt or injured by an adult or a child’s caregiver.
- Sexual abuse, in relation to a child, includes sexual behaviour in circumstances where:
- the child is the subject of bribery, coercion, a threat, exploitation or violence;
- the child has less power than another person involved in the behaviour; or
- there is a significant disparity in the developmental function or maturity of the child and another person involved in the behaviour.
- Emotional abuse includes:
- psychological abuse; and
- being exposed to an act of family and domestic violence.
- Neglect includes failure by a child’s parents to provide, arrange or allow the provision of:
- adequate care for the child; or
- effective medical, therapeutic or remedial treatment for the child.
Corporal punishment: Any punishment in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light; typically involving hitting the child with the hand or with an implement; can also include, for example, forcing the child to stay in an uncomfortable position. It does not include the use of reasonable physical restraint to protect the child or others from harm [UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 8 (2006)].
Degrading punishment: Any punishment which is incompatible with respect for human dignity, including corporal punishment and non-physical punishment which belittles, humiliates, denigrates, scapegoats, threatens, scares or ridicules the child [UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 8 (2006)].
BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT PROCEDURE
| Rights and Responsibilities | Examples |
| Respect Other People and Ourselves Right: We all have the right to feel safe and important in our school Responsibility: Take care not to hurt others verbally, physically or by bullying. Take care of your own well being. | 1. Always speak to others in a polite and friendly tone. 2. Include everyone when playing 3. Keep your Hands and Feet to yourself. 4. Speak truthfully about others 5. Wash hands before eating, after using the toilet, eating healthily |
| Be Courteous and Considerate Right: We all have the right to be treated fairly and have our opinions considered. Responsibility: Be thoughtful, respectful and courteous to others. | 1. Always speak to others in a polite and friendly tone. 2. Please and Thank you to ALL |
| Respect Property Right: We all have the right to have our property and our school’s, respected by others. Responsibility: Take care of personal and school property. | 1. Only take what is yours. 2. Take care of other peoples’ property. 3. Put things back in the correct place. 4. Look after and return sports equipment. 5. Look after computers 6. Respect school property at all times |
| Move Safely Around the School Right: We all have the right to move safely around the school Responsibility: Move safely around the school | 1. Walk on paved areas and around corners. 2. Respect the environment and use the footpaths. 3. Let others through doorways. |
| Always Wear the Correct School Uniform. Right: We are proud to show others that we belong to Holy Rosary Responsibility: Wear the correct uniform with pride | 1. Shoes, sandals to be worn. Thongs are not acceptable and you won’t be able to play 2. Hats to be worn in allocated areas 3. School uniform and hat must be looked after (only name to be placed on hat. No cutting or defacing of hat) |
2. Positive Reinforcement
When students demonstrate genuine respect and care for others by acts of kindness, courtesy, awareness of the environment or simply positive behaviour, this will be acknowledged. Children will receive verbal praise from staff on playground duty or in the classroom.
Staff also implement other classroom based reward programmes.
3. Duty Procedures
All staff need to ensure that they are on time and actively roam around so students know that staff are on duty.
All staff members strive to create a safe, positive and rewarding play environment, however should any child on any day decide not to comply with the school expectations then the following will occur.
Bum Bags are used to carry EpiPens. These will be kept in the fridge in the child’s classroom.
4. Minor Misbehaviour
Children need to be counted at playtimes and in class for breaking school rules.
In line with 123 Magic, the staff will either:
Ignore
Emotion coach or Count 1 2,3
A 3 at playtimes will mean the child needs to sit out (“Take 5”) in a spot near the teacher or walk with the teacher for 2 to 5 minutes (use staff discretion). (If walking with the teacher remember to maintain a low verbal approach and not engage in discussions or this can feel like a reward).
More than one Take 5 during a playtime period will mean the child needs to spend the rest of the playtime in the office and have a chat with leadership.
Please COUNT children for :
- Purposely littering
- Rough play – not keeping hands and feet to themselves
- Running in the undercover area
- Going upstairs unsupervised/without permission
- TACKLING
- Swearing or unkind/threatening words to others (eg “I’m going to bash you”)
In the event that a child is found to be breaking a school rule which warrants time out just at the end of recess or lunch time, the teacher instructs the child that at the next play time they must report to the duty teacher and complete their Take 5 The duty teacher issuing the time out must inform the teacher for the following duty time to expect the student.
5. Time Out/”TAKE 5″ Consequence Chart
| Year Level | Number of Take 5s | Consequence |
| Kindy to Year 2 | 4 x Take 5s before the next playtime | Student to sit at front office for next playtime (including eating time), speak to the Principal and complete reflection sheet. Parents will be notified. |
| Year 3 to Year 6 | 2 x Take 5s before the next playtime | Student to sit at front office for next playtime for a detention (including eating time), speak to the Principal and complete reflection sheet. Parents will be notified. |
| Specialist classes | 1 x Take 5 before end of session | Student to sit at front office for next playtime for a detention (including eating time), speak to the Principal and complete reflection sheet. Parents will be notified. |
| All Years | More than 1 office detention in 1 day (eg recess and lunch) | Parent meeting required |
| More than 2 office detentions in a week | Parent meeting required and Behaviour management Plan required – may include in school /out of school suspension, or after school detention |
6. Serious Misbehaviour
e.g. Violence towards another person, injury to another person, bullying, wilful property damage, verbal abuse or verbal threats towards others, walking out of class without permission.
Automatic removal from the playground or class and sent to the office while a member of the Leadership Team is contacted. They will decide the appropriate consequence based on the severity of incident and previous history.
7. Detention
It is at the discretion of the Leadership Team, depending on the severity of the incident and the student’s history in relation to behavioural issues as to whether an after school or lunchtime detention will be issued.
8. In School Suspension
In School Suspensions may also be issued following a serious incident. Duration of in-school suspension may range from half a day to three days.
9. Out of School Suspension
Holy Rosary’s policy on Out of School Suspension is guided by the policy of the Catholic Commission of WA, which states:
“Suspension means temporary withdrawal of a student’s rights of attendance at school. It is a disciplinary measure which may be invoked by the Principal, where a student’s conduct and behaviour are deemed prejudicial to the good order or reputation of the school.”
(Catholic Education Commission WA Policy, July 2001)
Parents will be notified of a pending or proposed suspension so that steps can be taken to avoid this course of action. The Principal will take into account all previous circumstances and will consult with another Leadership Team member and the child’s teacher prior to invoking an out of school suspension.
10. Exclusion
If it is proposed by the Principal of a diocesan accountable school that a student be excluded, the Director of Catholic Education or the Director’s delegate (s) shall be informed and the circumstances pertaining to the exclusion discussed prior to formalising the decision to exclude the student.
Before any decision is made to exclude a student, the parent or guardian of the student shall be informed personally that exclusion is a likely outcome based on results of the investigation.
The parent or guardian shall then be given the option of voluntarily removing the student from school.
Should a parent or guardian agree to remove a student from the school, the Principal is to work collaboratively with the parent or guardian to help find an alternative school for the student.
Only after a parent or guardian has declined to voluntarily remove the student from the school should the Principal take a decision to exclude the student from the school. The parent/guardian shall be informed in writing that a decision to exclude has been taken.
After a decision to exclude has been taken, the Principal should continue to work collaboratively with the parent or guardian if assistance is sought to find an alternative school for the excluded student.
The principal shall maintain detailed records of the events and discussions related to the decisions to exclude the student from the school.
Records pertaining to the exclusion should be regarded as ‘Restricted Access Records [ref: Policy Statement: The Management of Confidential Information in School] and be accessible only to employees specifically designated by the Principal.
11. SEQTA
Please record into SEQTA, all serious playground misbehaviour and any inappropriate class behaviour. If a child is consistently misbehaving, the parents must be contacted and Leadership Team notified.
IN CLASS RULES AND BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT
SUGGESTED HOLY ROSARY CLASSROOM EXPECTATIONS
| CLASSROOM EXPECTATIONS | EXAMPLES |
| 1. Follow Directions | 1. Listen to the teacher 2. Ask questions if you’re not sure. 3. Ask permission to leave the classroom. |
| 2. Respect Others. | 1. Speak politely and use good manners. 2. Wait for your turn to speak. 3. No physical, verbal or emotional bullying. |
| 3. Respect Property | 1. Taking care of other peoples’ property. 2. Return borrowed items in same condition. 3. Keep desks and chairs clean. 4. Look after and return sport sequipment. 5. Look after computers |
| 4. Think Safely! | 1. Move around the room carefully. 2. Pass objects to others. 3. Only enter the room when a teacher is present. |
1. Positive Reinforcement
It must be emphasised that all staff members strive to create a positive rewarding and enriching learning environment. This needs to be considered at an individual and a whole class level. At times specialised attention is required to address difficult situations. In such cases staff can introduce a program to encourage cooperation and if necessary the School Psychologist may be consulted for assistance. However, should any child on any single day decide not to comply with school/classroom expectations (which are clearly defined at the commencement of each term) the following will occur.
Section B: BULLYING
1. Definition of Bullying
Bullying is a pattern of wilful, conscious behaviour intended to hurt, injure upset, threaten or embarrass an individual or group. Bullying is a repetitive attack, which causes distress not only at the time of the attack, but also by the threat of future attacks. It involves an imbalance of power.
Its’ nature can be:
verbal – name-calling including racist and sexist remarks, put downs, threatening;
physical – hitting, tripping, poking, punching, kicking, throwing, objects, spitting;
social – ignoring, hiding, ostracising, sending nasty notes
psychological – stalking, dirty looks, spreading rumours, hiding or damaging possessions, singled out for unfair treatment, is picked on.
2. Practice and Procedures
- Any staff member observing a bullying incident or receiving a report of bullying must respond in accordance with this policy.
- Remove child/ren from harm and attend to them if required.
- A decision needs to be made about whether this is an incident of bullying. Check definition.
- The level of seriousness must be assessed before beginning the anti-bullying process.
- If it is deemed not serious, staff members can help by discussing the child’s feelings and possible options to deal with the harassment. This is particularly relevant to junior students. State the School’s stance of not tolerating bullying. Notify a member of the Leadership Team, who will then decide if the situation can be resolved by the staff member or if a member of the Leadership Team or School Psychologist needs to be involved.
- Any intervention will focus on helping all children involved and the No Blame Approach will be applied
- The Leadership Team will assess in view of severity and history and will then adopt a consequence be it detention, in-school suspension or out of school suspension.
This school currently has a number of programmes established to promote a caring and supportive environment. These educational and positive programmes we hope minimize bullying and violence.
However, in the event that bullying occurs, the school will react firmly and promptly. There are a range of sanctions available depending on the seriousness of the situation.
The teacher will support students who raise a concern in regard to bullying by finding out the facts of the incident. This will involve meeting with those concerned using a shared concern or ‘no blame’ approach to address the issue. Parents’ or caregivers will be contacted at an early stage and where appropriate, referral will be made to the School Psychologist to develop positive strategies to overcome bullying.
3. Serious Incidents
Any incident involving physical injury, physical bullying and serious damage to property or repeated bullying behaviour will result in the student being sent to a member of the Leadership Team.
Consequences for serious incidents will be at the discretion of the Leadership Team and may involve any one or a combination of the following consequences.
- Class teacher and parents informed
- Implementation of an Action Plan (i.e. referral to School Psychologist, individual contract, extra support)
- Lunchtime/After school detention (depending on age) with Behaviour Journal (look at making amends e.g. apology letter, payback damages….)
- In-school detention with different recess and lunch arrangements for 1 – 3 days
- Out of School suspension or other appropriate action.
4. Proactive Measures
1. At the commencement of each school year, and periodically throughout the year, classes will discuss the Behaviour Management Policy.
2. Copies of the Behaviour Management Policy will be made available to all current parents/caregivers on the school website.
3. Information on bullying will be made available on request to parents, teaching and non-teaching staff in the form of literature, educational sessions as required or through discussion.
4. Students will be given opportunities to talk about bullying in general.
5. Discuss appropriate standards of behaviour and school rules with all students (assemblies).
6. Identify students at risk/awareness of individual needs and develop individualised support plans Teacher/ School Psychologist).
7. Organise appropriate referral for students experiencing difficulties (Support Teacher, School Psychologist).
8. Teach social skills, anger management, resiliency and protective behaviours as part of the curriculum.
9. Emphasis on conciliatory approach (listening to both sides, not labelling, problem solving).
10. Continue with “Buddies Programme” pairing younger students with more senior students for a variety of activities both with an academic and social value.
11. Encourage co-operative learning.
12. Use student support services where necessary.
13. Responsible and safe behaviour will be recognized and rewarded.