Staff expectations
All members of staff at Al Faisal International Academy have a very important role to play regarding behavior and discipline at the school and adhere to the following code of practice:
- All staff, both teaching and non-teaching must take responsibility in maintaining the ethos and discipline in school to provide consistency
- Praise where appropriate
- Draw attention to good behavior
- Rules should be expressed positively and their rationale explained. Pupils should play an important part in forming school and classroom rules
- A balanced system of rewards and sanctions should be in place
- Be disappointed, upset, even angry at the behavior and reject that, but not the child who is still valued as a person
- Ignore petty, attention-seeking behavior when it does not significantly infringe classroom rights
- Minimize unnecessary confrontation, undue criticism or embarrassment
- All responses should be seen as fair
Pupil Expectations:
We expect the children at Al Faisal International Academy:
- To address/refer to all members of staff and other pupils politely and by using their name
- To be honest and assume responsibility for their own actions and belongings
- To arrive to school on time, in proper school uniform and with a positive attitude to work
- To walk around the school and enter and leave school in an orderly manner
- To show self-control and not react angrily at any times
- To show kindness and tolerance towards others without bullying mentally, emotionally or physically
- To show good manners (i.e. please, thank you)
- Not to swear or use bad language
- Not to interrupt when someone is talking
- To assume responsibility for a tidy and clean learning environment and to use litter bins provided
- To care for and use school property and equipment correctly and sensibly
- To use sanitary facilities appropriately and wash hands afterwards
- To never leave the school grounds during school hours unless supervised by a member of staff
- To only bring toys and other valuable items into school when given permission to do so
- Not to chew gum at school
- Not to wear jeweller (girls are allowed small earrings or studs)
- Not to wear make-up or nail varnish
The children are constantly reminded in a positive way of these expectations and are reminded of these during assembly periods on a weekly basis.
Classroom Behavior
At Al Faisal International Academy, we believe that positive teaching strategies help prevent disruptive behavior. Children are given work appropriate to their needs so that self-esteem and confidence can develop. Children should feel an integral part of the school so they do not feel the need to cause disruption.
Hence, in our classrooms
- routines are clearly established and children are involved in this process
- children are expected to participate in all activities with a positive attitude
- consistent expectations for learning are set
Rules are clearly presented to the class at the earliest opportunity by the Class Teacher, and are reminded of those on a regular basis. Pupils are made clear what is expected of them.
Tasks are matched to ability to ensure a sense of success for all children. Learning objectives are communicated to the children in every lesson and Success Criteria are generated as appropriate, to ensure that children know what, how and why they are learning
Children are listened to and taken seriously
- The Class Teacher will learn as much as possible about each child in the class
- The Class Teacher will ensure that an emotionally upset child is supported by informing the appropriate people (i.e. Academic Manager, Office Staff, etc.) are involved so that action can be taken
- The Class Teacher will have the flexibility not to over-react to situations over which the child has very little control (i.e. lateness, fee-payment, etc.)
Rewards
At Al Faisal International Academy, there is an emphasis on the positive approach to behavior management. Pupils will be encouraged and praised and negative criticism is to be avoided. Where it is considered that criticism is appropriate, it will be constructive in its approach and include advice on how to improve behavior.
Reward systems are in place for every pupil in the school. However, as we aim to promote healthy eating (refer to Healthy Food Policy), sweets will not be used as a reward.
Intervention Planning and Sanctions
There are a number of strategies throughout the school to address poor behavior and teachers are encouraged to develop their own methods which are appropriate to the age group and maturity of their classes. However, all staff at Al Faisal International Academy follows the same protocol for intervention where this is necessary. This is:
- Focus on Learning:
This includes ignoring poor behavior and noticing children who are on task and learning but it is also vital that the learning is well planned and differentiated so that all children are able to stay on task.
- Non verbal interventions:
Often looks or a small head movement from the Class Teacher is enough to deter children from further disruption
- Verbal Intervention:
This is meant to be a warning, however it is important that it is, wherever possible, still linked to learning or questioning.
- Delay confrontation:
Where possible, confrontation should be avoided in front of an audience. Children should be given the choice to join in with the learning so that there is a ‘win’ situation
- Consequences:
Consequences of poor behavior should be based on ‘certainty not severity’. Children should understand a consequence will definitely happen whether they begin to join in with the lesson or not (i.e. they cannot win back break time with good behavior).
Consequences are:
a. Loss of break time: children are required to stay in for their break time.
b. Time out sessions: if a pupil continues to behave inappropriately despite two prior warnings in class, said student will be removed from the class for a ‘time-out-session’, and will be given some classwork to complete during this time. Pupils are to spend such ‘time-out-sessions’ in Academic Manager’s office.
- Involvement of the Academic Manager: should the pupil continue to behave inappropriately, or should a more serious incident have occurred, the Academic Manager will get involved.
- Tasks as Punishment: for certain pupils, it may be appropriate to issue a task as punishment for inappropriate behavior. This should be a useful task, yet not one the pupil particularly enjoys or considers to be a reward. The Class Teacher or the Academic Manager will decide the nature of this task and when it has to be undertaken by the pupil (i.e. cleaning up the playground, rearranging books in the school library).
- Detention: if a pupil continues to persistently display poor behavior, he may be issued with an after school detention, accompanied by a letter to the parents informing them of the child’s poor behavior and the necessary detention signed by the Academic Manager.
Reasons for the issuance of detentions are:
- Persistent defiant behavior
- Persistent disruptive behavior
- Behavior that puts others in danger (i.e. constant fighting, aggressive behavior towards others)
- Persistently breaking school or classroom rules
- Disrespect towards any adult around the school
- Persistent refusal to do homework or bring copy books to school
Three detentions at any stage of a term, warrant the issuance of a warning letter to parents/pupil which will go on the pupil’s file, and further, the Academic Manager together with the pupil, the parents and the Class Teacher, will set ‘behaviour targets’ for the pupil – the pupil is ‘on report’.
Bullying
Through assemblies, stories and other areas of the curriculum the philosophy of respecting each other, helping and protecting those smaller or weaker than ourselves is explained. Al Faisal International Academy has a no-tolerance stance towards bullying and any incidents are to be reported and recorded.
If bullying is reported by parents or child, procedures outlined in the ‘Anti-bullying Policy’ are to be followed.
Immediate Suspension:
On occasion, it may be necessary to suspend a pupil from Al Faisal International Academy with immediate effect. Only the Academic Manager can suspend a child from school. Such an action will be exceptional and generally relate to extreme behavior, constituting a serious breach of school rules. However, the Academic Manager also has the right to exclude a child where the health, safety and welfare or education of others are threatened.
Such offences include:
- Assaulting a member of staff or another pupil
- Possession of illegal substances (i.e. cigarettes), an offensive weapon (i.e. knives) or any other object which could be potentially hazardous
- Serious physical or indecent assault against fellow pupils
- Persistent bullying (ongoing intimidation or physical, emotional, verbal abuse against other pupils)
- Refusing to cooperate with staff when the pupil’s or other pupils’ education or welfare are at risk
- Causing serious damage to school property or the school building