Conduct

Having a restorative approach does not mean a lack of boundaries or consequences but those consequences should be proportionate and appropriate and the young person should be supported to understand why their behaviour was unacceptable, the potential or actual impact it had on others and how they can learn new strategies for coping with difficult emotions. We manage each incident separately and try to consider potential causes of the behaviour, working with the students to better understand their behaviour. We promote ‘working with’, not ‘doing to’.

We believe that children and young people need good relationships and to be able to feel safe in their environment before they will be ready to learn. For many of our young people, we recognise that educational settings have not held positive experiences for them and so we work from a relational point of view first and foremost, building trusting relationships where consequences and boundaries are clear but respect is key and relationships are repaired and restored as soon as possible. We want our young people to feel that it is ok to make mistakes, as long as we learn from them and try to do a little better each day.

‘Staff have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour and conduct across school. These expectations are commonly understood and applied consistently by pupils most of the time. Pupils say that while bullying does happen in their school, teachers deal with this promptly and they feel safe. Pupils have key workers who support them with any behaviour concerns. Reflection time is used to manage poor behaviour. Adults demonstrate caring relationships with pupils.’

Ofsted 2023

We have a Conduct Team in school, who work with staff to provide training and support and also work with individual students who may need additional help to regulate. The team promotes positive behaviour through modelling, rewards and consequences, and clear expectations.

Over time, the majority of our students show improved behaviour and attitudes to learning and say they feel safe in our school. Where this is not the case, we will work closely with families and everyone involved to try to support the young person as much as possible.