Behaviour in Primary 

At Eerde we find it important to positively guide students, we try to encourage them to take responsibility and teach them to be accountable for their behaviour. We reward those students who make positive behaviour choices and encourage practices that will develop, maintain and repair relationships, building a community based around empathy and self-learning.

Primary code of Honour 

To encourage positive behaviour choices the students in each class come up with a list of class practices which they will follow, the Primary Code of Honour. This will change each year as the students come up with this themselves and will differ for each class.

Restorative practices

All students in their school career  – even the best behaved ones – will at some point find themselves in some sort of a situation or predicament where they did not anticipate the consequences of their actions.

Restorative practice is a set of principles and practices that encourage children to take responsibility for their behaviour by thinking through the causes and consequences of their actions. It involves helping the child think through their behaviour, and what they can do to make it better.

Restorative practices centre around a set of key questions that help and allow children to think about their behaviour and understand how they can correct it.

What matters is that the child who caused harm and others involved are given the space to hold a restorative conversation. It allows children to understand responsibility, accountability and develops empathy for others’ feelings.

In many cases, restorative practices lead to long-term and lasting behavioural improvements and an overall better learning culture.  

The following questions will be asked and can also be the start of a discussion in circle time.

• What happened?

• What were you thinking and feeling at the time?

• What have you thought about it since?

• Who has been affected and in what way?

• How could things have been done differently?

• What do you think needs to happen to make things right?

We might also say to our students:

• What would you think if this happened to you?

• What other choice could you have made?

• How can you make sure this does not happen again?

An age appropriate restorative justice practice will be discussed.

To think of:

• Verbal apology to the persons involved

• A handshake with saying sorry

• Writing a letter or making a drawing 

• Write or discuss a reflection

• Taking work home that is not completed in class

• Missing an activity - for serious issues 

Primary Code of Honour