At Central School and nursery, we are committed to promoting positive behaviour by promoting attachment led, trauma informed approaches to support our children and young people. At Central School we promote emotional wellbeing and mental health as an overarching attainment strategy and create a learning environment which takes account of the whole child and their mental, emotional and psychological readiness to learn. Marcus (2016) argues that to close the attainment gap, we must first put the child at the centre and ensure that we meet the child’s individual needs.

At Central School, all adults will strive to achieve this by aiming to: 

1. Empower, Never Disempower
Avoid battles for power with children. Children who have experienced trauma often seek to control their environment to protect themselves, and their behaviour will generally deteriorate when they feel more helpless. Classroom discipline is necessary, but should be done in a way that is respectful, consistent, and non-threatening. 

2. Provide Unconditional Positive Regard
As consistently caring adults, our staff have the opportunity to help children build trust and form relationships and we strive to respond with unconditional positive regard. 

3. Maintain High Expectations
Set and enforce limits in a consistent way. Maintain the same high expectations of a child who has experienced trauma as you do for their peers. 

4. Check Assumptions, Observe, and Question
Trauma can affect any child and can manifest in many different ways. Realise when you are making assumptions, and instead, talk with the child and ask questions. Make observations about the child’s behaviours and be fully engaged in listening to his/her response. 

5. Be a Relationship Coach
Modelling our values and principles with children and in the interactions between staff provides children with first-hand experiences upon which to model their behaviour. 

6. Provide Guided Opportunities for Helpful Participation
Model, foster, and support ongoing peer “helping” interactions. Our PSW/I and P teacher can also support with this. 

In our classrooms we will:

• Act as good role models
• Value all children
• Focus on and emphasise the positive
• Listen to and take children’s problems seriously
• Show compassion
• Communicate with and support colleagues in meeting children’s needs
• Have a good sense of humour
• Create an environment of respect.
• Give the child opportunities to make choices. Give children an opportunity to have a sense of agency and control in their own lives. Create structures within which children can make choices during their day.
• Talk about safety and what steps you will take to help the child be and feel safe.
• Connect the child to the appropriate resources and people.
• Have a predictable environment with clear expectations for behaviour
• Have structure during the class day, try not to deviate from it often. Staff will provide “cool down” time and space for the child that is not described as discipline.
• Establish a quiet, safe place in the class area for children to go when they are feeling overwhelmed. It should be a comfortable space away from others, with comfortable furniture, blankets and pillows.
• Throughout the school we will try to develop a safe area and/or safe person the child can access if a situation is stressful or threatening.
• Have some sensory materials for children, such as a small rubber ball they can squeeze, stuffed animals, pillows with different types of fabric, pipe cleaners, rocks, crystals, play doh or clay, paper for scribbling, colour markers/pencils, puzzles, etc.
• Recognise early warning signs and flag these to the child in a range of ways – verbal and nonverbal. For example, observe and note physical arousal cues i.e. foot tapping, fist clenching, body tensing. 

RESTORATIVE APPROACHES AND CONSEQUENCES

Children need to be held accountable for respecting themselves and others, but not by being shamed into submission. Most children who are acting out have experienced shame and have a low self-image. Instead, we need to show them a window into a different way of managing how they handle their emotion. Helping children gain awareness of their stress response and teaching them positive ways to respond to stress are key steps that help them deal with all kinds of challenges. As adults, we are responsible both for providing safety and for maintaining expectations. 

Kohn (1993) warns of the dangers of adopting a purely behaviourist approach, which Kohn (1993) refers to as “sticks or carrots”, when children are only presented with two options, rewards or punishments. Therefore, we have decided to use restorative practices rather than punitive measures. However, this does not mean that there are not consequences for behaviours which impact upon others. Children will be accountable for their actions towards others and will participate in restorative conversations to repair relationships with their peers and adults, when these have been ruptured. When we believe that we are being heard and understood, we are far more inclined to engage in a healthy conversation that leads to a positive resolution. We all need to be validated and reassured in some way—to be able to process our feelings of stress and frustration and know that others understand what we are experiencing. 

After a successful repair, the resolution can truly happen. Resolution means coming to terms with what happened and collaborating to find alternative ways of acting to prevent future disruptions of the same type. This process involves addressing the questions: 

• How do we keep this from happening again?
• What can we do differently to ensure that this will not happen again?
• Are there other people we need to involve so that they, too, can know how we hope to act differently? 

If it is felt that a restorative conversation is not an appropriate response to behaviours displayed then the following may be considered:

• Telephone conversation with parents
• Meeting with child and staff member involved (HT to support)
• Meeting with child and parents (initially with class teacher and then HT)
• Refer to HT using behaviour monitoring record
• Target sheet to promote positive behaviour
• Promoting Positive Behaviour risk assessment
• Mediation with peers (may require more than one session)
• Support with targeted interventions
• Alternative playtime plan
• Multi Agency support sought if necessary
• Internal exclusion if unable to repair relationships and still possible risk to self and others. 

PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS TO PROMOTE POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR AND ATTACHMENT 

To support the school in meeting the needs of their children, parents should: 

• Contribute to, be aware of and support Promoting Positive Behaviour.
• In partnership with the school, address and resolve issues, as it is important that children see us working together.
• Trust the school to investigate fairly and inform you when undesirable behaviour has occurred.
• Support their children to be Kind, Respectful and Responsible.
• Recognise that we are all working towards the same goal.