Behaviour Management System
The behaviour in our school is very good. OFSTED inspections confirm this: ‘Pupils at Vandyke are proud and articulate ambassadors for their school. They enjoy learning and achieve well. They thrive as a result of the school’s ambition for all pupils to become ‘world ready citizens’. This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils are confident, courteous and aspirational. They behave well and move around the school calmly.’ (Jan 2024).
The comments made by OFSTED are a result of strong teaching, high expectations, positive relationships and a consistent approach to managing behaviour.
The behaviour system that we employ is built around an assertive discipline model that prioritises praise and incorporates levels of consequences in a format shown below.
Behaviour for learning structure
The graphic below sets out the four levels of negative behaviour, and the consequences for those behaviours. The Behaviour for Learning section of our Student Behaviour Policy (page 8 onwards) defines specific behaviour concerns and the behaviour that breaches the school’s policy. All behaviour points will be logged on SIMS by staff and these will be visible to parents/carers and students on Edulink without comments.
Students who persistently refuse to accept the rules of the school or the authority of the staff will run the risk of being suspended. You can read our Suspension and Permanent Exclusion Policy here.
The system very much allows students to have the opportunity to put things right on three occasions before serious actions/sanctions are put in place. When we speak to students about how this is used, either individually or in assemblies, we are always very careful to emphasise that it really is their choice how far they go up the levels. Bearing this in mind, if a student does reach level 3 or 4, this is obviously a serious matter and we have therefore devised a series of actions and sanctions that will take place if a student reaches these levels in a lesson. These could include the following:
- The incident is recorded on the behaviour log;
- A discussion with the teacher and/or Head of Year at the end of the lesson to determine what went wrong and how to prevent it next time;
- A short detention to catch up on work missed;
- A phone call home;
- Student is withdrawn from the room and placed in the Achievement Support Centre;
- Student is placed on a subject or tutor report;
- Fixed term suspension
We record all incidents that have gone to level 1 or above on a computerised behaviour log which is regularly reviewed by tutors and year staff to ensure that incidents are followed up quickly. By doing this, we hope not only to save paper but also to use it as a tool to track students’ behaviour and progress in lessons.
It is worth noting that in addition to recording negative behaviour, we also use the log to record positive behaviour, recording when students achieve well in lessons, homework and coursework.
We will continue to regularly consult staff and students about our behaviour systems. If you have any concerns or questions about this please do not hesitate to contact your son/daughter’s Tutor or Head of Year. You can read our current Student Behaviour Policy here.
