Primary school behaviour policy

[WhiteHorse92]

Hi,

My son will be starting reception September next year, we are looking at the 2 closest schools, they are the same distance away and looking at admissions data from recent years, pretty sure he'd get a place at either. Obviously I've read up on things to consider and ask and they both tick the same boxes. Now one of the things you should apparently consider when looking at a school is their behaviour policy.

We went to the open day for school A and they talked a lot about their 'Regulation Station' and how they use it for emotional regulation. They have a restorative approach to bad behaviour and talk to children about their emotions and do emotion coaching and ask the pupils to identify which emotions led to the behaviour and how to do better next time and are reminded how to behave if it happens again, so a more 'gentle' approach, if that's the right word?

School B, haven't been to the open day yet but their behaviour policy is a lot more matter of fact, sets out exactly what will happen at each step and takes a more disciplined approach. For example, each class has a set of rules, break a rule and you get disciplined. First offence this will happen, second offence this will happen, third offence will be a serious chat with headteacher, policy mentions specific consequences for serious behaviour offences such as removal from classroom/suspension and specific consequences for bad behaviour during playtime. All behaviour incidents are reported on a child's record so everything can be monitored.

Wondering what people's thoughts are on the 2 approaches? Do you think behaviour in a school is generally better using a particular approach? Does it really matter in the grand scheme of things and I should focus on other stuff?

I didn't really get a gut instinct with school A so hoping I will with school B so it's an easy decision but if I'm feeling 50/50 after the school B open day this is one of the things that sets them apart.

At the start of my teaching career, I would have said A. Having experienced what happens when behaviour isn’t properly addressed, I now say B…

Do you know any parents to ask how it works in practice?

Both my DD are well behaved, polite and easy going.

We would choose School B in a heartbeat.

I don't. The parents I know have children my sons age so it's all new to them as well 🙈

Slight plot twist, school B is an infant school, I just checked and the junior school the kids go to afterwards uses restorative so 🙈. To be fair, I've still heard good things about the junior school and their behaviour policy doesn't sound as 'extreme' as school A?

There was just a certain vibe I got from school A that made me feel uneasy. I might be overexaggerating, but it just came across like they were trying to say that they had lots of difficult poorly behaved children and they get taken to a special room to calm down and have a chat about their feelings and that's the end of it, but in not so many words? I have heard some parents have removed their children from that school as well, which doesn't seem like a good sign....

I'm assuming you mean Paul Dix!

Yes, he's 'an' expert...but only on 'his' preferred (published!) method. He's certainly not 'the' expert though!

There are many others who would disagree with his approach...and have also published, so 🤷‍♀️

You say: Schools with the "strict" policy often do have better behaviour, but that's because they have failed the ones who can't meet it.

This doesn't even make sense! If they 'often have better behaviour' (they USUALLY have better behaviour 👌🏻) how can this be 'because' they have failed anyone??

You say yourself that the consequences approach works for 90% of children...that's not too shabby is it? No approach, not even a platinum plated one, will work for all children 🤷‍♀️

The gentle/restorative approach will have very little impact on the 10% of children who (for whatever reason...and sadly there are many reasons!) find school challenging.

I've worked in both types of school...guess which one was better for teaching and learning?

We went through a short period of the " restorative " approach. The children hated it ( and the staff too!) Those who made the odd, minor slip up were mortified having to sit down and " discuss" their behaviours, they knew they had slipped up and didn't need their noses rubbing in it! The hard core couldn't give a shit! We went back to " approach B" and it works much better for all. Those very few who constantly struggle still have the consequences but have adaptions and modifications to suit - and the other children are understanding that some children need additional support because they see that there are still consequences. As with most schools, there are still the " conversations " around behaviour but they tend to be more proactive- working out how to avoid situations and issues- than reactive. Behaviour is generally pretty good and usually commented on favourably by those who visit us!

Personally I think that the kids who are inclined to bad behaviour very quickly learn how to play the restorative justice system. They learn what to say and how to say it in order to get them off the hook. This then this causes huge resentment from the better behaved kids.

I know a few teachers whose schools use the Paul Dix methods and they absolutely hate it. As others have said, it looks good on paper but just doesn't work.

B every time (I'm a teacher). A doesn't work for every child by any means.