I’ve already described how we listen to your responses to the end-of-year annual reports. In this and the following two news articles, I’ll talk through the findings of the annual surveys. Here, I’ll describe the feedback we received on the subject of behaviour and our ‘warnings’ system.
One respondent pondered why we were asking this, and wondered whether it was because warnings and our policy overall wasn’t working. Not the case! We have a Relationships Management Policy (other schools might call this a Behaviour Management or Discipline Policy, but we place relationships at the heart of what we do) and it works really well, including the warnings system. We actually asked the question because we always want to review what we do – a chance to step back and reflect on whether we can do even better – as part of a continual cycle of self-evaluation. (It was also prompted by some remarks by the then Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, who suggested last year that schools return to using lines as a form of discipline – more on that below…)
Another parent wondered whether we should have positive consequences, too – we do! Each classroom teacher has their own system(s) in place. In Year 3, for example, Mrs Keatings rewards teamwork as well as individual effort, using team points and stars respectively. In Year 6, Mr Owen favours ‘golden tickets’ whilst Mr Wilks is partial to ‘fuzzies'(!). And don’t forget we have our weekly certificate assembly, where teachers acknowledge especially impressive learning and SEAL skills, as well as the coveted Cool Class Cup, awarded to the class whose individual pupils have earned the most Cool Class tokens.
Unlike the question on homework (more about that in a later news article), your views on our behaviour systems were almost all very, very positive: the vast majority of you supported the warnings system as a way to manage bad choices in school and most of you did not want any changes made, whether this involved lines or some other consequence. Many of you were adamant that we should not allow writing to be seen as a punishment, and a sizeable minority took the opportunity to criticise the views of Mr Gove – a ‘dinosaur’ with little expertise in the area of education sums up a significant number of your comments. Whilst I don’t wish to comment directly on Mr Gove’s ideology, or that of any Secretary of State for Education, I am pleased that you do support what we do around relationships and behaviour.
(Incidentally, one parent did say that they had reinforced the five warnings consequence that his/her child had received at school by issuing lines at home. First, it’s really encouraging to know that home treats poor behaviour choices as seriously as school does, and that we will be supported in this way; second, it was great to also read that the mix of consequences at both school and home worked; and third, it shows that a sort of mixture of traditional and modern strategies can work, as long as the overall message about behaviour choices being good/bad is consistent and clear for the child.)
Thank you for your views. Some specific points – like two requests to know more about the consequences at each stage of the warnings system – can be acted on really easily. All the comments will be passed to the Pupil Support sub-committee of the Governing Body for further consideration.
Look out for more news about your views…