Behaviour Management

Values
At Beach Haven School, values are encouraged, modeled and explored.
We believe that although our school community comes from a wide range and diversity of experience, we collectively believe and uphold a range of values that are reflected in the way we think and act. 
Each term, a new value is introduced as a focus and reinforced at school assembly and in classrooms.  However all four Values are emphasized and reinforced throughout the year as Values are not something that happens in isolation. 
Our 4 Core Values are

• Respect
• Responsibility
• Excellence
• Integrity

Every opportunity for positive reinforcement of students who displayed our values is made by teachers in classrooms and by duty.  Students can enter the “Caught Being Good” box, receive verbal praise, House Points, awards etc.

Student Welfare and Taking Responsibility 
At BHS, we like to work with our students to help them build the skills they need for both now and for the future.  The social and emotional welfare of our students is important, as this provides the foundation for academic success.  We do this by:

• Providing opportunities for our students to take responsibility for their own behaviour and to “get it right”, to learn, to practice, and to understand the importance of acceptable social behaviour.  
• Ensuring our students understand that all behaviours have consequences, and that their choices have consequences, both positive and not so positive.
• Ensuring our School Values are encouraged modeled and taught by all staff.  Values are an integral part of our school and classroom culture.  The schools 4 key values are Responsibility, Respect, Integrity and Excellence, which were determined through community consultation.  The BHPS values are integrated across the school curriculum and day. 

School Principles
Three school principles exist to encourage “doing the right thing”.
1.    Show respect and care for self and others which implies:

• Being kind to others
• Using fair play in all situation
• Speaking nicely to others
• Showing good manners

2.  Show respect and care for property, which implies:

• Eating only your own lunch and play lunch
• Telling the teacher if you have no lunch
• Asking permission to use other people’s things
• Taking care of your own, and others, property

3.  Keep yourself and others safe, which implies:

• Walking in and around buildings
• Knowing where and how to play (Fairplay and rules of the game)
• Sitting down to eat
• Staying within the school grounds
• Following Road Patrol instructions

Choices Have Consequences
Consequences for student behaviour can be either positive or negative. We focus on “catching them when they’re good” as these positive reinforcers have a powerful effect. 
Teachers implement a variety of methods to reinforce positive behaviour at our school. 
In all situations our focus is encouraging appropriate and positive behaviour and catching kids when they’re doing good.
When students need support for ‘doing the right thing’, we have a school wide behaviour plan in place.
A Visual Behaviour Plan (BHS) is displayed in classrooms and around the school.  This is referred to often.
Beach Haven teachers use a range of positive reinforcement strategies both inside and outside the classroom, and these include:

• Verbal praise
• House points
• Smiles
• Star of the week
• Syndicate awards
• Group points
• Work brag visits to Principal / Syndicate Leaders / other teachers.

The Steps used across the school:

Step 1       Classroom/duty teachers will firstly deal with inappropriate behaviour using Time Out (sometimes students just need a quiet space and time to reflect and be calm) , WITS (walk away, ignore, talk it out, seek help) Peer Mediation and other behaviour modification techniques.
The student will be warned about the following consequences if they choose to continue misbehaving.  At all times teachers endeavor to be fair and allow students an opportunity to ‘make it right’ (restorative justice).

Step 2        If the inappropriate behaviour is repeated, the student will be sent to the Deputy Principal to request the Behaviour Book and explain to the D.P. why they have been sent. The student will take the book to the classroom teacher who fills in the details. Consequences will be chosen appropriate to the infringement, eg. warning, letter of apology, picking up rubbish with duty teacher,  detention, or call home depending on the severity etc.

Step 3       If the behaviour is repeated within a short time frame, the student is again sent to the D.P, who will enter the details and determine the consequences. The D.P. will discuss the behaviour choices with the student.

Step 4       If the behaviour continues, the student is sent for the book, the class teacher will ring the parents/guardians to advise them of the behaviour concerns, enlist support from home and determine if there are any possible contributing factors. Consequences are overseen by  the DP.  A behaviour contract may be implemented at this step. The Syndicate Leader will be advised.

Step 5       Continued inappropriate behaviour at this stage the DP will ring and require the parents to attend a meeting at school, with the student, classroom teacher and D.P.  The Principal will be advised of the meeting. During the meeting, all parties will work together to devise an agreed behaviour contract to be signed by the student, parents and class teacher. Referrals will be made for relevant agency support at this stage if necessary.

Step 6       If there are no signs of improvement after the duration of the behaviour contract, the Principal will instigate a more serious approach, in consultation with family and the Ministry of Education.

Important to note;

• The Principal/DP/APs will deal with extreme behaviour instantly.
• At any time, depending on the severity of the situation, some steps may be skipped.
• Parent and family involvement is important – research shows that when school and family are a team, students experience success!
• Teacher discretion is used when following the steps, according to the severity of the incident and the child concerned. e.g. jumping steps to phone home may be a better option in some situations.

Knowing where and how to play (Fairplay and rules of the game) is reinforced in class, and teachers have their own negotiated systems to respond to behaviour within classes.

Sometimes student behaviour is a cry for help, and can be indicative of other things.  We work hard with our students, families, staff and specialists to ensure appropriate support is in place.  Privacy is important and sometimes we are unable to share the ‘why’ behind what is happening, however there is much happening to support all students.   

Support for Students
Should a student require additional emotional, social or behavioral support, BHS is fortunate to have a wide range of support systems available.  Some of these include;

• Skilled and experienced senior leaders who are able to access, where appropriate, resources in a timely manner (this includes the Resource Teachers of Learning and Behaviour, Special Education Services, Ministry of Education) 
• Onsite Counselling for students (referrals can be made by staff, parents or students can self refer)
• Pastoral Care programmes – sometimes students need a little bit of extra social or emotional support and this can be facilitated through our Pastoral Care programme where selected students participate in socially appropriate activities such as craft and cooking, which strengthen social skills.
• Skilled and well-trained Teacher Aides to support student both social, emotional and academic learning, where appropriate.
• Many other supports exist – for more information about how we support our students socially, emotionally and academically, please feel free to make a time to see one of our senior staff