Achieving Positive Behaviour & Promoting British Values

Children flourish best when their personal, social and emotional needs are met and where there are clear and developmentally appropriate expectations for their behaviour. Where appropriate children will be encouraged to consider the impact, their behaviour has on the people, places and objects around them; and to consider the views, feelings, needs and rights of others. We will positively promote good behaviour and value co-operation and caring attitude to enable children to develop as responsible members of society. These principals are embedded in the promotion of British values across the nursery environment.

We have named person who has overall responsibility for our programme for supporting personal, social and emotional development, including issues concerning behaviour.

Our Named Person is: TahiraQalib

We require the named person to:

• • Keep up to date with legislation, research and thinking on promoting positive behaviour and on handling children’s behaviour where it may require additional support.
• • Access relevant sources of expertise on promoting positive behaviour within the programme for supporting personal, social and emotional development.
• • Support staff by providing relevant in service training on promoting positive behaviour.

We aim to achieve positive behaviour by;

Creating positive learning environment

• • Staff model appropriate behaviour e.g. speaking in a pleasant voice, playing cooperatively, sharing being polite, tiding up and being kind to others.
• • Staff respond positively to children giving help, care, encouragement and attention.
• • Questions and prompts are used to respond to childinitiated interactions to promote language, problem solving, social and emotional development.
• • Staff use verbal and nonverbal prompts to teach new skills.
• • Considerate behaviour such as kindness and willingness to share are acknowledged.
• • Staff support children in developing self-esteem, confidence, a sense of belonging and of being valued.

Having realistic expectations

• • Children are individuals and develop at different rates and need to be developmentally. ready before they can learn a new skill.
• • All children make mistakes and most are not intentional.
• • Behaviours will be handled in a developmentally appropriate way.
• • Babies and very young children are unable to regulate their emotions, such as fear, anger or distress and require sensitive adults to help them do this.
• • Staff will remain calm and patient, helping children to manage their feelings and talk about them to help resolve issues and promote understanding.
• • Staff will be aware that some behaviour may arise from a child’s special needs.
• • A child may have insufficient language skills to express him or herself and may feel frustrated.
• • Children do need their own time and space, it is important to acknowledge children’s feelings and help them understand how others might be feeling.
• • A child may be exposed to levels of aggressive behaviour at home and may be at risk emotionally or may be experiencing child abuse. If abuse is suspected the nursery’s Safeguarding Children policy should be followed.

Use positive/consistent discipline

• • Positve discipline involves being consistent, responding immediately and modelling how to behave appropriately in an age appropriate manner.
• • Staff values children’s individuality whilst expecting reasonable behaviour.
• • When staff responds to unwanted behaviour they will remain calm and will not raise their voices.
• • When children behave in inconsiderate ways, staff will help them understand the outcomes of their action and support them in learning how to cope more appropriately.
• • It will always be made clear that it is the behaviour that is unacceptable and not the child.
• • An alternative to the undesirable behaviour will be discussed with the child to help them deal with the situation next time it happens.
• • Distracting and redirecting children’s activities are ways of discouraging unwanted behaviours.
• • We encourage the use of descriptivepraise to promote positive behaviour.

Managing unwanted behaviours

In all cases inappropriate behaviour will be dealt with at the time of the incident. Staff will use a variety of age appropriate techniques to deal with unwanted behaviour. These include:

Establishing clear rules- e.g. reminding of rules i.e. ‘we walk indoors and not run’.

Planned ignoring- paying no attention to a minor misbehaviour i.e. saying a rude word.

Encouraging positive behaviour- explain clearly what a positive behaviour looks like and what expectations are there, giving praise when achieved positive behaviour.

Logical consequences – If a child is continuously displaying disruptive behaviour then staff will try their best to ensure that they find out the causes of trigger and offer the child a choice of activities as distraction and stay with the child if thinking/reflective time required. When unwanted behaviour is ongoing and a cause for concern then the staff will use observations to establish any patterns underlying the behaviour. In consultation with parents an individual behaviour plan may be put in place to support management of the unwanted behaviour and ensure consistency in how this is dealt with.

Physical restraint

‘It is permissible to take necessary physical action in an emergency to prevent personal injury either to the child, other children, an adult or serious damage to property’.

The Children Act Vo1.12 Chap 6.22

We only use physical restraint, such as holding, to prevent physical injury to children or adults and/or serious damage to property. All incidents of physical restraint will be reported to the nursery manager and are recorded on an incident form in the child’s personal file (what happened, what action was taken and by whom and the names of witness). The child’s parent are informed on the same day.

Hurtful behaviour and bullying

Most children under the age of five will at some stage hurt or say something hurtful to another child, especially if their emotions are high at the time but it is not helpful to label this behaviour as ‘bullying’. For children under five, hurtful behaviour is usually momentary and spontaneous.

• • We help a child to understand the effect that their hurtful behaviour has had on another child, we encourage and support children to self-regulate their own behaviour where ever possible.
• • We focus our attention on the child that was the subject of the hurtful behaviour, offering them comfort and reassurance.
• • Young children behave in hurtful ways towards others because they have not yet developed the means to manage intense feelings that sometime overwhelm them.
• • We help children to understand their feelings by talking about feelings and emotions and helping children to express them, making a connection verbally between the event and the feeling, for example ‘Adam took your car and you were enjoying playing with it. Did you feel upset? Older children will be able to verbalise their feelings better, talking about the feelings that motivated the behaviour.
• • We help young children learn to empathise with others, understanding that they have feelings too and that their action impact on others’ feelings.
• • Skills such as sharing and turn taking take time to develop. Children need repeated experiences supported by patient adult and clear boundaries.
• • In case of serious misbehaviour, such as racial abuse, we make clear the unacceptability of the behaviour and attitudes by means of expectations rather than personal blame.

We take bullying very seriously. Bullying involves the persistent physical or verbal abuse of another child or children. It is characterised by intent to hurt, often planned and accompanied by an awareness of the impact of the bullying behaviour. Bullying can occur in children five years old and over and in younger children where they have reached a stage of cognitive development where they are able to plan to carry out a premeditated intent to cause distress in another.

If a child bullies another child or children:

• • We give reassurance to the child or children who have been bullied: showing that we are able to listen to their concerns.
• • We intervene to stop the child who is bullying from harming the other child or children.
• • We explain to the child who is bullying why her/ his behaviour is not acceptable.
• • We help the child who has done the bullying to recognise the impact of their behaviour.
• • We make sure that children who bully receive positive feedback for considerate behaviour and are given opportunities to practice and reflect on considerate behaviour.
• • We do not label children as ‘bullies’ who bully other children.
• • We recognise that children who bully may be experiencing bullying themselves, be subject to abuse or other circumstances causing them to express their anger in negative ways.
• • Children who bully are often unable to empathise with others we do not insist that they say sorry unless it is clear that they feel genuine remorse for what they have done.
• • We discuss what has happened with the parents of the child who did the bullying and work with them a plan for handling the child’s behaviour.
• • We discuss what has happened to the parents of the child who has been bullied, explaining that the child who did the bullying is being helped to adopt more acceptable ways of behaving.

Rough and tumble play, fantasy aggression and weapons

Young children often engage in play that has aggressive themes – such a superhero and weapon play; some children appear pre occupied with these themes, but their behaviour is not necessarily a precursor to hurtful behaviour or bullying, although it may be inconsiderate at times and may need addressing.

• Teasing and rough and play are normal for young children and acceptable within limits. We regard these kinds of play as pro-social and not as problematic or aggressive.
• We will develop strategies to contain play that are agreed with the children and understood by them with acceptable behaviour boundaries to ensure children are not hurt.
• We recognise that fantasy play also contains many violently dramatic strategies, that themes often refer to ‘goodies and baddies’ and a such offer opportunities for us to explore concepts of right and wrong.
• We are able to tune in to the content of the play, perhaps to suggest alternative strategies for heroes and heroines, making the most of ‘teachable moments’ to encourage empathy and lateral thinking to explore alternative scenarios and strategies for conflict resolution.
• Many children will invariable play with their imagination, using fingers as a gun at the very least. This play often reflecting what they have observed or experienced. As with other forms of play it will be carefully observed and used as an opportunity to develop children’s appropriate understandings.

Risk play

Official advice to practitioners is to ensure that children encounter more risk in their play. The Early Year Foundation Stages states ‘Being overprotective can prevent children from learning about possible dangers and about how to protect themselves from harm.’ All play will be monitored for risk and appropriate risk assessment will be undertaken. However, we acknowledge that during play children will sometimes hurt themselves. Any injuries will be treated in the appropriate ways.

Staffing

We familiarise new staff and volunteers with our behaviour policy and guideline for behaviour.

• All staff volunteers and students are required to provide a positive model of behaviour by treating children, parents and one another with friendliness, respect and courtesy.
• Staff will not humiliate, ridicule, use or threaten physical punishment. Techniques intended to single out a child will not be used e.g. A ‘naughty chair or sending a child out of a room for exclusion/isolation. However, child will be supported to have some thinking time to process and reflect on the behaviour that occurred.
• Staff will not use an area i.e. the quite area as part of the discipline process (by sending a child for bad behaviour), so children do not see these as negative areas.
• We recognise that cods for interacting with other people vary between cultures and require staff to be aware of and respect them.
• Behaviour will be a standing agenda item for team meetings ensuring staff have the opportunity to discuss any concerns and share good practice.

Partnership with parents

We work in partnership with children’s parents. Parents are regularly informed about their children’s behaviour by their key parson. We work with parents to address recurring inconsiderate behaviour using our observation records to help us to understand the cause and to decide jointly how to respond appropriately.

• Staff will share with parents what strategies they are using to discourage the behaviour so we can work together to ensure consistency.
• If a serious incident occurs an incident form will be completed and parents informed.
• Where a child’s behaviour continues to give cause for concern staff will consult with parent/carers about possible ways in to support the child.
• We may advise parents to seek specialist advice (for example sometimes hearing or speech problems lead to difficulties in understanding rules).
• An individual Play Plan will be set up where necessary. If aspects of a child’s behaviour are putting their own or other’s safety at risk, the procedure to be followed will be written into the Individual Play Plan.

Working with other agencies

In some cases, in agreement with parents we may request additional advice and support from other professionals. This may include the Early Education Team from County Council.

Promoting British Values

The Cradle Nursery actively promotes the fundamental British Values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths or beliefs. These are interpreted by our children as learning right from wrong; learning to take turns and share; and challenging negative views and stereotypes. We do not promote explanations. This is already implicitly embedded in the early Years Foundation Stage and integral to our Inclusion, Equality and Diversity Policy.

Democracy: making decisions together

• Encouraging children to know their views count, value each other’s views and values, and talk about their feelings.
• Demonstrate democracy in action, for example children sharing views on what the theme of their role play area could be with a show of hands.
• Support the decision that children make and provide activities that involve turn taking, sharing and collaboration.
• Ensure that all children understand rules apply to everyone.

Rule of law: understanding rules matter

Ensure that children understand their own and others’ behaviour and its consequences and learn to distinguish right from wrong.

• Collaborate with children to create the rule and the codes of behaviour, for example to agree the rules about tiding up.
• Ensure that all children understand rules apply to everyone.

Individual liberty: freedom for all

• Provide opportunities for children to develop a positive sense of themselves, developing their self knowledge and self esteem by talking about their experiences and learning.
• Allowing children to risk on an obstacle course, increasing their confidence in their own abilities.
• Provide a range of experiences that allow children to explore the language of feelings and responsibility, reflect on their difference and understand we are free to have different opinions.

Mutual respect and tolerance: treat others as you want to be treated

• Management and Leadership should create an ethos of inclusivity and tolerance where views, faith, cultures and races are valued and children are engaged with the wider community.
• Children should acquire a tolerance, appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures. For example by learning about similarities and differences between themselves and others and among families, faith, communities, cultures and traditions. Share and discuss practices, celebrations across cultures and experiences.
• Staff should encourage and explain the importance of tolerant behaviours such as sharing and respecting other’s opinions.
• Staff should promote diverse attitudes and challenge stereotypes by sharing stories that reflect and values the diversity of children’s experiences.
• Staff should provide resources and activities that challenge gender, cultural and racial stereotyping.

What is not acceptable is:

• Activities promoting intolerance of other faiths, cultures and races.
• Failure to challenge gender stereotypes and routinely segregate girls and boys.
• Isolating children from their wider community.
• Failure to challenge behaviour (whether of staff, children or parents) that are not in line with the fundamental British Values of Democracy, Rule of law, Individual liberty, Mutual Respect and Tolerance for those with different faiths and beliefs.

Any member of staff found to be behaving in an unacceptable manner will be subject to disciplinary procedures.