Behaviour

At Fishponds Church of England Academy, we believe in positive behaviour management, through praising and reinforcing good choices, reflecting on our school values and encouraging the children to take responsibility for their own actions. Our behaviour policy should be read in conjunction with our Equalities Policy and Safeguarding Policy.

The school's vision 'Loving to learn, learning to love' ( underpinned by 1 Corinthians 13 v4-7), demonstrates this clearly and we have summarised what this means in three simple golden rules, that all in our school community are expected to follow:

1. Be respectful

2. Work with pride

3. Act with love

We teach children how to form positive relationships with those around them through our PSHE ( Personal , Social and Health Education) curriculum, following the Jigsaw scheme of work. Alongside this, our weekly collective worship sessions focus on the 12 core values of our school. Children explore what these values mean, in terms of how we should behave towards one another, and we have high expectations that all members of our school community uphold these values. 

At Fishponds C of E Academy, we believe that there is a reason behind every behaviour. We understand that children need an environment where they feel safe to practise and learn appropriate behaviours and we offer a range of opportunities for this, depending on the needs of individuals. Relationships are at the heart of everything we do, as we know that strong relationships built around trust, mutual respect, consistency and fairness are key to develpoing a loving, safe environment, where children strive to go above and beyond. The school is in the process of adopting The Pivotal Approach for behaviour management, which involves focussing on children making the right choices and praising them for doing this consistently. It also avoids the path of ever-increasing sanctions, which often deter children from school and do not reflect the inclusive nature of our community. 

We do not believe in shaming children for making the wrong choices. We believe that their behaviour is between them, their teachers and their parents/carers and is not the business of others in the class. We therefore keep behaviour charts hidden and ensure consequences are shared privately with children, where appropriate. 'Celebrity status' is given to those making the right choices in our school, through praise. Where an incident has occured, a restorative conversation may be held with those involved and children are given the opportunity to reflect on the concsequences of their actions and to make it right, through a calm conversation that respects all perceptions of the situation. 

We are aware that some children need a different approach to enable them to be successful in the school environment. We may therefore alter the provision, support and strategies used with these individuals, to allow them to succeed in our community. We offer a range of interventions for SEMH (Social, Emotional, Mental Health) needs, including Brick Club, Socially Speaking, Social Detectives and 1:1 mentoring. For some children, an engagement plan is put in place to identify the individuals' needs and any triggers or barriers impacting on their behaviour. The Pastoral Team work alongside staff, parents/carers and most importantly, the child, to provide support with any additional needs. 

Download our full Behaviour Policy below.

We are working hard as a school to sustain improvements in attendance and punctuality. Quite simply, if children are not in school, they are not learning and may fall behind. If children are late, they often miss the important start to the day and can feel unsettled, embarrassed or unsure of what to do when they come into class later than other children. We can only improve outcomes for all children in school by working together with you as parents and carers.

We have worked hard to create a policy that sets out the process for requesting leave of absence from learning clearly. It also shows the steps that are in place to monitor and challenge attendance and punctuality if it is not good enough as well as rewarding excellent attendance for children who come to school every day on time.

A copy of our attendance and punctuality policy is available from the school office. or you can read it at the bottom of the page.

Mrs Harvey, our attendance officer, will also be able to answer any questions you may have. Here are the highlights of the policy for you to read.

• Please ring school before 9.30 am on 0117 9030491 stating the reason your child will not be attending;
• Lessons start at 8.45am and your child needs to be in school by this time;
• Please fill in a leave of absence request form in advance to apply to remove your child from their learning for any reason;
• You do not have an automatic right to remove your child for a family holiday in term time: this may result in a fine;
• No leave of absence is authorised in the first two weeks of the school year, or for Y6 pupils after Easter and before their SATs in May. All other absences may be unauthorised and you could be referred to the Welfare Service or issued with a fine;
• Attendance over 96% is seen as good. Attendance under 85% will trigger a letter, a meeting or a referral with the Welfare Service and the possibility of a fine. 
• Make sure your child comes to school on time every day, unless there is a very good reason.