Our behaviour policy is unique to our school and is the result of re-evaluating our approach in summer term 2022. We are determined that our HEART values underpin everything we do and therefore HAPPINESS, EXCELLENCE, AMBITION, RESPECT and TOLERANCE are the values that we aim to cultivate in our students through our behaviour systems and procedures.
We believe our policy ensures that expectations remain high whilst also understanding that one size does not fit all and that some young people require both adjustment and significant wrap-around care. We have built internal resources and capacity to reduce suspensions and support our students and their families during moments of crisis in the form of OUR HEART CENTRE and will work extremely closely with parents/carers, external agencies and other partners to remove the barriers to meeting expectations that some young people face.
High standards of behaviour are vital in ensuring that teachers can teach, and students can learn. Having high expectations is also pivotal in ensuring that young people feel safe in school. Attention to small details such as uniform allow conversations to be focused upon learning.
Our behaviour policy in classrooms is progressive, fair and focuses on correction. It aims to remind students for the need to focus on learning and ensures that they are rewarded when they do so. Conversely, it ensures that students understand that negative behaviours, if repeated, will result in a sanction. Our sanctions system has been developed using evidence-based approaches and combine the principles of immediacy with restorative approaches, where every student who breaches the behaviour policy receives the relevant refocus restorative programmes from our HEART Centre team.
We require that teachers apply the classroom system consistently and fairly. There are, however, a very small minority of students for whom this system may not by itself engage them in learning and for these students we make reasonable adjustment and try alternative approaches. There may, for example, be issues related to SEND that rightly need adjustment to be made and significant intervention.
There are also issues of mental health which will sometimes require a different approach as part of a wider Pastoral Support Plan and support from HAPPINESS AT HEART, our dedicated mental health service.
We will put in place a bespoke plan tailored to each child with the ultimate aim of giving children the care they need and the ambition to keep children where they belong – in mainstream education. Where possible we will avoid the use of permanent exclusion.
This policy and its implementation will work in tandem with our HEART Centre which is our well-being and inclusion provision at Trinity High School and Sixth Form Centre.
