Are these really sanctions for poor behaviour?

[beadyeyed]

In a prospectus for a local school it gives details of behaviour rewards and sanctions. Under it's list of sanctions it includes 'outside agencies involvement' and 'pastoral support plan'. These are apparently the final steps before exclusion.

Surely these would be helpful for the pupil rather than being sanctions for poor behaviour?

persistent bad behaviour (as it would be if you got to final stages before exclusion) is often thought to indicate underlying causes, in which case schools are required to show what steps they have taken to turn the situation around. Exclusion is hard to achieve and every step along the way has to be fully documented. Its a very standard thing for schools to expect to call on behaviour support specialist teachers, educational psychologists and many other professionals (the 'outside agencies') to develop such things as consistent responses to poor behaviour, anger management, family support etc (the pastoral support plan) rather than head for exclusion.

and while its a positive intervention for the child, it can't really be classified as a reward.

There would be sanctions for poor behaviour as well. These would have been tried before the steps you outline. Some schools use detentions, report cards, time out of lessons, and lots of other interventions to improve behaviour.

A good school will have a whole school behaviour policy and that will outline sanctions.

Very few children are fundementally evil. Usually there is a reason for extreme behaviour. Surely it would be doing a child a disservice not to involve outside experts and a pastoral support plan.

Sometimes a profoundly dyslexic child will misbehave because they cannot access the curriculum or the teacher has assumed they are stupid. Sometimes a child with low intelligence will act the clown rather than admit the work is too hard. An educational pychologist can indentify issues.Simple things like extra support with reading can turn round behaviour dramatically.

A good school will not give up on a child easily. If a child cannot cope with mainstream primary then managed transition to a special school is better for the child.