behaviourmanagement

Behavior Management Policy

We believe that the children and adults flourish best in an ordered environment in which everyone knows what is expected of them and the children are free to develop their play and learning without fear of being hurt or hindered by anyone else. We aim to work towards a situation in which children can develop self-discipline and self esteem in an atmosphere of mutual respect and encouragement.

In order to achieve this:

All adults will try to provide a positive model for the children with regard to friendliness, care and courtesy and to offer strategies for handling any conflict.

Rules governing the conduct of the group and the behaviour of the children will be discussed and agreed within the pre-school and explained to all newcomers, both children and adults.

All adults in the pre-school will ensure that the rules are applied consistently, so that children have security of knowing what to expect and can build up useful habits of behaviour.

Adults in the pre-school will praise and endorse desirable behaviour such as kindness and willingness to share.

We will take positive steps if a child is believed to be behaving badly simply to gain adult attention.

When the children behave in unacceptable ways:

They will be given one-to-one adult support in seeing what was wrong and how to cope more appropriately. Where appropriate, this might be accomplished by a period of “time out” with an adult.
Children will never be sent out of the room on their own.
Physical punishment, such as smacking or shaking, will be neither used or threatened.
Techniques intended to single out and humiliate single children such as “naughty chair” will not be used.
Physical restraint, such as holding will be used only to prevent personal injury to children or adults and/or damage to property. Any significant event of this sort will be recorded and the parent informed the same day.

In cases of serious misbehaviour such as racial or other abuse, the unacceptability of the behaviour and attitudes will be made clear immediately, but by means of explanation rather than personal blame.

In any case of misbehaviour or bullying it will always be made clear to the child or children in question that it is the behaviour and not the child that is unwelcome.

Adults will not shout or raise their voices in a threatening way.

Adults in the pre-school will make themselves aware of, and respect, a range of cultural expectations regarding interactions between people.

Any behaviour problems will be handled in a developmentally appropriate fashion, respecting individual children’s level of understanding and maturity.

The whole pre-school will tackle recurring problems by using objective observation records to establish an understanding of the cause.

Adults will be aware that some kinds of behaviour may arise from a child’s special needs.