Positive Behaviour Policy

Policy details

• Date created - 11/2022
• Date reviewed - 23/11/2023
• Date approved - 30/11/2023
• Next review date - 22/11/2024
• Policy owner - M Round

1. Aims and Principles
2. Supporting Positive Behaviour
3. Promoting Positive Behaviour
4. Sensory Processing
5. Self-injurious behaviour
6. Behaviours which challenge
7. Staff Teams

Aims and Principles

The aims and principles of Co-op Academy Delius’ Positive Behaviour Policy is to reflect our beliefs that being able to self-regulate and manage their behaviour has a contributing factor on our pupils’ ability to engage with their learning. To help teach self-regulation and positive behaviour skills, we need to have an in-depth understanding of the complex needs of our individual pupils. We employ a holistic approach to ensure we are planning for the needs of all of our pupils with complex layered needs. This includes learners with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities (PMLD), Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Severe Learning Disability (SLD), Speech, Language and Communication Need (SLCN), and Physical Disability (PD).

We consider that behaviours which challenge always occur for a reason and might be the only way a learner can communicate - they can occur for a myriad of reasons which may be very specific to the individual. Learners who display, or are at risk of displaying behaviours which challenge, might need support which involves both positive behaviour support and some form of restrictive intervention. Any restrictive intervention must be legally and ethically justified, be absolutely necessary to prevent serious harm, and be the least restrictive option.

At Co-op Academy Delius we believe that:

• Our pupils want to have a positive experience at school
• Behaviour is a means of communication - we must ensure that all learners are supported to communicate their needs safely and appropriately using their preferred communication systems.
• With the right support and intervention, pupils can learn to self-regulate and manage their own behaviour.
• Mistakes are part of the learning process and we recognise that all of our learners are at different stages of the developmental process.
• All of our pupils have learning disabilities and other complex needs which impact on how they learn to regulate and manage their behaviour.
• Staff members must be given the opportunity to learn, understand and have insight into why our learners become dysregulated, and reflect on how and why it impacts on their behaviour.
• Staff members must work collaboratively with our learners, their families, and other professionals to develop strategies as part of a positive behaviour support plan.

Class teams can support our learners by:

• By observing, gathering and analysing data on behaviour - to ensure our interventions are personalised, well informed and planned according to the needs of each individual within the context of their class and their needs.
• To create bespoke and holistic Behaviour Support Plans when necessary, sharing these with families, and to reflect on these regularly as a team, updating and sharing this information.
• To reflect on the use of the classroom and wider school environment and how this impacts on individual pupils’ behaviour, providing the safest and most positive regulation-friendly space possible.
• To work in close partnership with all stakeholders - our pupils, their families, and other professionals e.g. Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Speech and Language Therapists, Social Care, CAMHS etc.

The resources, interventions and pedagogy to support positive behaviour for our learners:

• A variety of individualised and accessible modes of communication (Total Communication)
• Clear and realistic expectations
• Rules and boundaries
• Predictable routines and structure, with clear beginnings and endings
• A clear Reward and Recognition system
• A commitment to relationship reparation
• Predictable responses to behaviour incidences, both positive and challenging.

Supporting Positive Behaviour

The quality of staff relationships with pupils are crucial. Each adult is significant for our learners. To foster successful, enabling relationships we need to:

• Actively build trust and rapport with all pupils
• Have high expectations for all learners. When we demonstrate belief in them, it supports them to succeed. Succeed Together.
• We treat learners with dignity and respect at all times by communicating carefully and clearly in a way that is accessible and appropriate.
• Consider the function of the behaviour; why the pupil is behaving this way and need does it serve?
• Identify the strengths of the learner and build on these.
• Firmly hold appropriate and agreed boundaries and Behaviour Support Plans.
• Seek support from the Behaviour Team, wider professional networks and  problem solve behaviours that challenge.
• Be continually respectful to all pupils; not talking about them over their heads or in front of other pupils.
• We are non-judgmental about learners’ life experience, but we use behaviour data to inform our planning to support them.

The quality of the school-home relationship in relation to behaviour is also crucial. It is important that we:

• Work jointly and plan with families to ensure consistency in our approaches. Behaviour Support Plans are co-created with families, the team around the child and are regularly reviewed. This includes any form for restrictive physical intervention used to keep the young person safe in incidences of extreme dysregulation.

The quality of relationships with other multidisciplinary professionals. It is essential that:

• We work collaboratively with other professionals working with pupils to ensure their input into planning and interventions
• We share up to date information with appropriate professionals to ensure consistency between different contexts and environments.

The quality of our provision for positive behaviour outcomes:

If we are able to support each pupil at their individual level of need and development, it is more likely that challenging, harmful or self-injurious behaviour will decrease.

To do this, we must:

• Have communication systems and resources readily available when a pupil is becoming dysregulated.
• Have a good understanding of pupils sensory processing needs and have appropriate strategies and resources available to support the learner to access sensory strategies that may support them to regulate.
• Provide a classroom environment conducive to positive behaviour which enables all pupils to learn and regulate effectively.
• Accurately assess and understand the learners’ needs by referring back to their EHCPs, Annual Review notes, and BSPs.
• Support the learner to develop high self esteem, so that they believe that they can succeed.
• Give frequent positive reinforcement when things are going well and minimal feedback for behaviour we wish to discourage.
• Know what motivates each learner and use this as positive reinforcements.
• Actively teach Behaviour for Learning.

Promoting Positive Behaviour

In some classrooms, Classroom Rules are appropriate to promote, support and reinforce positive behaviour. These should be:

• Few in number
• Where developmentally appropriate, agreed collaboratively with the learners.
• Communicated in a way that the learners can understand - e.g. visual displays using boardmaker symbols, objects of reference, social stories etc.
• Positive - i.e. what we can do as opposed to what we should not be doing - ‘kind hands’ not ‘no hitting’.
• Regularly referred to by the class team
• Appropriate to the developmental level of the pupils.

Routines and structure are essential in supporting our pupils to understand expectations and to help predict the world around them, lessening anxieties. Class teams should:

• Help embed routines and structure through appropriate communication strategies such as visual timetables, touch cues, objects of reference, verbal cues and sound signifiers.
• Once structure and routines are established and pupils are well regulated, staff teams should reflect on how to support pupils to adapt to changes in routine in a safe, planned out and supportive manner.

Communication and Social Interaction Needs

Communication is at the heart of our curriculum and is essential to help develop our pupils' self-regulation skills to help them manage their behaviour. To support a pupil who has become dysregulated we should aim to understand the function of the behaviour e.g. what is being communicated/ what sensory need is not being met? Class teams need to have strategies in place to support learners to express how they are feeling and how we can meet their needs proactively. Class teams need to consider the following and how it can impact on our learners’ ability to regulate and manage their behaviour positively:

• Communication devices and strategies should work both ways: to give instructions and also allow pupils to have a voice, make choices and express their needs.
• That our pupils often need processing time.
• Some pupils have difficulty with verbal and non-verbal communication (body-language, gesture)
• Difficulties in comprehending social rules and conventions
• Difficulty in understanding their own emotions and being able to express these
• Difficulty in understanding others’ emotions
• Difficulty in predicting what will happen next - causing anxiety
• Lack awareness of danger
• Difficulty in adapting to new or unfamiliar situations
• Difficulty in managing social relationships and/or interactions with peers including friendships and falling-out / bullying.

Class teams should employ a Total Communication approach for all pupils, utilising alternative and augmentative communication. Staff recognise that:

• Visuals are permanent - spoken language disappears
• Visuals allow time for language processing
• Visuals prepare students for transitions allowing them to feel less anxious and self-regulate better.
• Visuals help build independence, confidence and self-esteem.
• Visuals are transferable between different contexts.
• Visuals are useful when pupils are dysregulated as they replace the need for social interaction which can aid de-escalation.

Reward and Recognition

Class teams should consistently employ Co-op Academy Delius Reward and Recognition policy, rewarding pupils for a range of different positive outcomes, including behaviour. This will reinforce positive behaviour outcomes.

Some pupils may also need bespoke, motivator based rewards which are based on instant-reward as delayed gratification may be difficult to achieve initially. These should be well planned out and a consistent approach used with the view to extending the time between rewards as the goal of the approach.

Consequences

It is important for learners to clearly link a specific behaviour with its consequence, however we do not endorse sanctions or punishments. For example, if a pupil disrupted an activity which made others feel unsafe, that learner would have a break, they would be supported by an adult to consider their actions, when ready they would apologise to the group and then continue with the activity.

The consequence needs to be a natural consequence to support the learners’ understanding of both positive and negative consequences.

Reparation

We encourage our pupils and staff to always be given the opportunity to repair after a challenging incident, ‘turning it round’ and starting afresh. What this looks like can differ for individual pupils, from a discussion, to walking out to the buses together at the end of the day. There is a section of each Behaviour Support Plan to accommodate this.

Sensory Processing

Sensory processing needs can impact a learners’ ability to self-regulate and manage their behaviour. Sensory processing is the ability to register, discriminate, adapt and respond appropriately, both physically and emotionally to sensory input from the environment. Class teams should ensure that they:

• Organise the environment clearly, with visual cues and signposts
• Speak clearly, slowly and calmly, giving processing time.
• Sensory processing needs should inform suitable learning environment adjustments and support understanding pupil actions.
• Support pupil needs through sensory circuits daily, providing a class sensory toolkit, and referring pupils to the Sensory Team for a sensory profile if their sensory needs are having a continuous negative impact on their learning. This referral may result in access to the Engine Room resource area for additional sensory processing support, or a referral for Sensory Occupational Therapist intervention.
• Monitor physical and emotional well-being of pupils and recognise signals of being distressed, unwell, in pain or upset.

Self-injurious Behaviour

Self injurious behaviour is when a pupil physically harms themselves. This may be head-banging on floors, walls or other surfaces, hand or arm biting, hair pulling, eye gouging, face or head slapping, skin picking, scratching or pinching, forceful head shaking, to name a few. The pupil may have no other way to communicate their needs, wants or impulses. Head slapping or banging may be a way of telling us that they are frustrated, anxious, a way of making sure they don’t have to complete a task they don’t like, or because they are in pain and the head banging alleviates this. Hand biting may be due to excitement or because they require additional tactile input on their body to manage their sensory needs. Chin punching might be because then a learner has a helmet put on and their hearing is muffled, making the environment sounds lessen. Or because they’re experiencing tooth pain.

When self-injurious behaviour occurs, staff should work collaboratively with families and other professionals to find ways to prevent or replace this behaviour.

• Respond quickly and consistently when a learner self-injures.
• Keep responses low-key. Limit verbal comments, facial expressions and other displays of emotion. Speak calmly and clearly in a neutral tone of voice.
• Reduce demands: the task may be too difficult or overwhelming.
• Remove physical and sensory discomforts - consider sensory processing issues.
• Redirect and distract - use communication strategies.
• Provide light physical guidance - e.g. gently guide their hand away from their head
• Use barriers: place a barrier between the learner and the object that is causing harm. For biting, provide another object to bite like a chewy. Forehead slapping, a pillow or a cushion between the head and hand.
• Consider physical interventions - working closely with other professionals and families when there is a risk of serious harm, consider the use of helmets, arm gaiters, or gloves to protect a pupil. These also may reduce the sensory experience and frequency of the behaviour. Physical restraints are very restrictive and should always be used under the guidance of a specialist/ therapist to ensure they are used safely and appropriately, and with a plan to fade out their use over time. Physical restraints to address the cause of the behaviour, so they must never be used in isolation without teaching the learner new skills which address the reason for the behaviour.

Behaviours which challenge

The majority of pupils will respond positively when class teams work within these guidelines, but some pupils may need additional support at different times in their school career and will exhibit behaviours which challenge.

The Behaviour Team will support on behaviours which challenge by:

• Monitoring behaviours through the Frequent Minor Behaviours Form and Incident Form data.
• Termly Behaviour Team meetings and strategies.
• Monitoring Behaviour Support Plans.
• Termly Team Teach twilight sessions for all staff.
• Attending RAMP risk assessment meetings .
• Holding multidisciplinary meetings with other professionals around specific behaviours
• Working closely with the Sensory Team to support behaviours.
• Working closely with families
• Attending EHCP annual reviews

Bullying (including cyberbullying)

• We do not tolerate bullying, but we acknowledge that some of our learners may not fully understand how their behaviour impacts on others or be experienced as bullying
• Bullying should never be ignored
• All instances of bullying must be recorded on the behaviour recording forms and on CPOMS
• Parents and carers should be informed via telephone or face to face
• Every instance needs to be addressed, in line with this policy, with each learner involved taking responsibility for his/her actions, apologising and agreeing to stop/change the behaviour causing concern.
• Learners need to be supported to develop age-appropriate level online literacy so that they are able to keep themselves safe online and report cyber bullying - we do this through our Computing curriculum, our PSED curriculum, and our termly Online Safety Days.
• We deliver opportunities for families to learn about online safety and how to manage this at home.

Discriminatory Language / Incidents

Although very rare, incidents which include elements of racism, homophobia, sexism or those which are related to disability, gender presentation or religion are not acceptable within our school’s community.

Incidents should:

• Be dealt with in line with this Policy with further advice and a coordinated response from the Senior Leadership Team.
• Be recorded on CPOMS
• Be understood that some learners use discriminatory language without understanding its impact and this must be viewed as an opportunity to teach pupils how to be respectful to each other.
• Be considered for a further referral to another team potentially for radicalisation or sexualisation reasons.

Further guidance in the academy Equalities Policy.

SVSH

Sexual violence and sexual harassment can occur between two or more children of any age and sex, from primary through to secondary stage and into college. It can occur also through a group of children sexually assaulting or sexually harassing a single child or group of children. Sexual violence and sexual harassment exist on a continuum and may overlap; they can occur online and face-to-face (both physically and verbally) and are never acceptable.

Incidents of SVSH will be reported through the appropriate safeguarding procedures. Actions include working with the safeguarding team to carry out an AIM Assessment checklist and a RAMP if necessary.

Searching, Screening and Confiscation

Co-op Academy Delius follows guidance contained within the Searching, Screening and confiscation document (see link below). This is to ensure school staff and pupils feel safe and secure.

Searching, screening and confiscation in schools

Restrictive Physical Intervention

Restrictive Physical Intervention is the positive application of sufficient force to ensure, by physical means alone, that a learner does not cause injury either to him/herself, another pupil, a member of staff, or significant property damage. See Sept 23 update -  Co-op Delius Postive Handling Plan 2023.docx

At Co-op Academy Delius we employ a Team Teach approach to managing behaviours which are challenging, 95% of which is about de-escalation and understanding behaviour. All of the Behaviour Team are Intermediate Team Teach Tutors and can lead Team Teach courses and refreshers, with yearly updates to their own qualifications and the staff team as a whole.

Restricting Liberties

At Co-op Academy Delius, pupils should never be:

• Locked in a room alone, without support and supervision.
• Deprived of food or drink
• Denied access to a toilet
• Isolated in ways that they are unable to express or communicated needs including non-verbal cues
• Prevented from leaving spaces or rooms unless it is for their own protection or to protect the immediate safety of others. The intervention should be proportionate, reasonable, and necessary.

Class teams should be mindful that some of our pupils’ equipment may restrict their liberties, for example adapted chairs with straps or gaiters and helmets. This equipment should only be used as part of a plan in guidance with a specialist/therapist.

Corporal Punishment

Corporal punishment is illegal and is never used at school.

Touch

Contingent touch (i.e. a pat on the shoulder in a public place) may be used appropriately.

Guiding touch (i.e. holding hands, linking arms) may be used appropriately to direct pupils during transitions. For very young pupils appropriate touch may include cradling or hugging. Some learners with complex needs may request squeezing or deep pressure. This will be documented as part of their sensory profile or behaviour support plan and will only be in appropriate contexts and areas of the body.

Exclusions

Fixed Term Exclusions

We do not believe that exclusions are an effective way to support learners with SEND. As such, we will always try to adapt and personalise provision to support our learners to enable them to access education.

In extremely exceptional circumstances, it may be necessary to exclude a learner for a fixed period of time and this would be considered very carefully.

Exceptional circumstances include, but are not limited to:

• Incidents where the safety of the learner, other learners or staff is seriously compromised.
• Incidents of knife crime or the deliberate use of weapons in school
• Incidents of sexual violence
• Incidents of significant deliberate damage to property

Decisions to exclude a pupil would be made on an individual basis and would be a reasonable and measured response.

Permanent Exclusions

In the event that Co-op Academy Delius was not able to meet the needs of an individual pupil, we would work closely with the pupil’s family and the Local Education Authority to find a suitable alternative placement for a managed move.

Staff Teams

Senior Leadership Team

• Emma Hardaker - Headteacher
• Charlotte Millea - Deputy Headteacher
• Rob Cameron - Deputy Headteacher
• Matt Round - Deputy Headteacher
• Aimee Helie - Assistant Headteacher
• Iain Mackie - Assistant Headteacher

Behaviour Team

• Matt Round - Behaviour Lead
• Emma Hardaker
• Rob Cameron
• Iain Mackie
• Jess Sims-Walton
• Christina Burns-Leigh
• Dominic Senior

Sensory Team

• Matt Round
• Aimee Helie
• Alison McLaughlan