ACHIEVING POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR

Policy statement

Our nursery believes that children flourish best when their personal, social and emotional needs are met and where there are clear and developmentally appropriate expectations for their behaviour.

Children need to learn to consider the views and feelings, needs and rights, of others and the impact their behaviour has on people, places and objects. This is a developmental task that requires support, encouragement, teaching and role models. The principles that underpin how we achieve positive and considerate behaviour are part of our planning for promoting personal, social and emotional development.



Procedures

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

·        The named person will:

o   Keep herself up-to-date with legislation, research and thinking on promoting positive behaviour and on handling children’s behaviour where it may require additional support.

o   Access relevant sources of expertise on promoting positive behaviour within our planning for supporting personal, social and emotional development.

o   Check that all staff have relevant in-service training on promoting positive behaviour. We keep a record of staff attending this training.

·        We recognise that codes for interactions between people vary between cultures and require staff to be aware of, and respect, those used by members of the setting.

·        All staff and students are required to provide a positive model of behaviour by treating children, parents and colleagues with friendliness, courtesy and care.

·        New staff and students are made aware of the nursery’s Achieving Positive Behaviour Policy as sell as resources we use to support the policy, as part of the induction process.

·        All staff, parents and children are expected to keep to the guidelines.

·        We regularly review the nursery environment to ensure that it encourages positive behaviour.

·        We work in partnership with children’s parents who are kept informed about their children’s behaviour by their key Person. In instances of repeated inconsiderate behaviour, we work with parents by using our observation records to help build an understanding of the cause and to decide, jointly with parents, the best response.

Strategies with children who engage in inconsiderate behaviour

·        We use resources including ‘Framework for Intervention’ and ‘Promoting a Positive Behaviour Journey’ (Area SENCO team) to support us in promoting positive behaviour in the nursery.

·        We require all staff and students to use positive strategies for handling any incidents of inconsiderate behaviour, by helping children to find solutions which are appropriate for the children’s age and stage of development, we encourage children to acknowledge their feelings, explain why certain behaviour is unacceptable and support them in gaining control of their feelings so that they can respond more appropriately in future.

·        We ensure that there is an appropriate quantity of toys and other resources as well as interesting activities so that children remain engaged and conflict is avoided wherever possible.

·        Considerate behaviour is acknowledged and rewarded immediately.

·        Our planned learning opportunities and activities support children in developing self-esteem, confidence and a feeling of competence.

·        We support each child in developing a sense of belonging within the nursery, beginning with their Key Group.

·        Staff avoid situations where children only receive adult attention when they behave in an inconsiderate way.

·        If children behave inconsiderately we help them to understand the result of their actions and help them to discover more appropriate responses.

·        Children are never sent out of the room as a punishment. Nor do we use a ‘naughty chair’ or ‘time out’ strategy that excludes a child from the rest of the group. An exception is a child who finds it helpful to move away from the rest of the group for a short time to help them become calm. This will usually be a child with an identified Special Educational Need. Such practice will only be used if it has been agreed with parents and an adult will remain with them all the time. The child will remain in the nursery room.

·        Physical or corporal punishment is never used. Children are never threatened with such punishments. 

·        We do not use any technique intended to single out and humiliate individual children. 

·        We use physical restraint, such as holding, only to prevent physical injury to children or adults, and/or to prevent serious damage to property.

·        Details of such an event, including, what happened, what action was taken and by whom and the names of witnesses are recorded in the child’s personal file. The child’s parent(s) are informed on the same day.

·        In cases of serious unacceptable behaviour such as racial or other abuse, we make clear immediately the unacceptability of the behaviour and attitudes, by means of explanations rather than personal blame.

·        We do not shout or raise our voices in a threatening way to respond to children’s inconsiderate behaviour.

Nursery rules

·        We use four simple rules that are understood by the children to support considerate behaviour:

o   Be kind to your friends;

o   Take care of the nursery

o   Listen when someone is talking

o   Walk in nursery.

·        When adults see children actively adhering to these rules they are rewarded with a smiley face which is added to our rule display.

Max

·        We use a ‘living puppet’ Max, to help explore behaviour issues with the children. By telling stories involving Max and his friends we are able to discuss instances of inconsiderate behaviour without singling out individual children.

Children under three years

·        When children aged under three years exhibit inconsiderate behaviour we recognise that the support we provide will need to be developmentally appropriate and will be different from the support we offer to older children.

·        Very young children cannot regulate their own emotions, such as fear, anger or distress and require sensitive adults to help them do this.

·        Common inconsiderate behaviours include tantrums, biting or fighting. Staff always remain calm and patient, offering comfort for the intense feelings and help children to manage their emotions and to talk about their feelings to help them resolve issues and to develop better understanding.

·        If tantrums, fighting or biting are frequent, we try to find out any underlying cause – such as changes at home. Sometimes a child has not settled well and the behaviour might be caused by separation anxiety.

·        We focus on ensuring that children have formed an attachment with their Key Person, so that the child will feel secure when in the nursery.

Rough and tumble play and fantasy aggression

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

·        We understand that teasing and rough and tumble play are normal for young children. We regard these kinds of play as being 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 behavioural boundaries that prevent children from getting hurt.

·        We recognise that fantasy play also contains many violently dramatic scenarios such as ‘blowing up’ or ‘shooting’ and there are often references to ‘goodies’ and ‘baddies’. These offer opportunities for the children to learn about right and wrong. 

·        We are able to tune into 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.

Hurtful behaviour

We take hurtful behaviour very seriously. Hurtful behaviour is common in children under 5 and to label such behaviour as bullying is unhelpful. For very young children hurtful behaviour is usually momentary, spontaneous and done without any real understanding of the feelings of the person whom they have hurt.

·        We recognise that children behave in hurtful ways towards each other because they have not yet developed the ability to manage their feelings which can sometimes overwhelm them.

·        We help children to manage their feelings.

·        We understand that self-management of intense feelings, especially of anger, happens when the brain has developed neurological systems to manage the physiological processes that take place when responses of anger or fear have been triggered.

·        We help this process by offering support, calming an angry child, as well as the child who has been hurt by the behaviour. By helping the child to return to their normal state, we are helping the brain to develop the physiological response system that will help the child to regulate their own feelings in the future.

·        Pre-verbal children will be helped to calm down by holding and cuddling. Verbal children will also respond to cuddling to calm them down, but we offer them an explanation and discuss the incident with them to their level of understanding.

·        We recognise that young children require support to understand the range of feelings they will experience. Their understanding is supported by our naming the emotions and helping the children to explore the different feelings. We might recall an incident and suggest how the child might have felt. 

·        We support the children in developing empathy with other children and understand that others will experience the same feelings as they do and how a child’s actions can affect the feelings of others.

·        We support children to learn strategies for resolving conflict, for example, who has a particular toy.

·        It will take time for children to be able to share or take turns. For children to be able to develop these skills they will need many experiences with problem solving and they must be supported by patient adults and clear, appropriate boundaries.

·        Social skills are supported through adults modelling appropriate behaviour and through planned activities including drama and stories. We help children to develop self-esteem and confidence in children, recognising their emotional needs through close and committed relationships with them.

·        We help children to understand the effect that their hurtful behaviour has on other children. Children are not forced to say sorry, but we encourage this if it is clear that they are genuinely sorry and wish to express this to the person they have hurt.

·        When hurtful behaviour becomes problematic, we work with parents to identify the cause and find a solution together. We know that the main causes of such behaviour are:

o   The child does not feel securely attached to someone who can understand their needs, either at home or in the nursery

o   The parent, or Key Person in the nursery, does not have skills in responding appropriately. Negative patterns can develop where hurtful behaviour is the only response the child has with which to express their anger.

o   The child may have insufficient language, or mastery of English, to express him or herself and may feel frustrated

o   The child is exposed to levels of aggressive behaviour at home and may be at risk emotionally,or may be experiencing child abuse.

o   The child has a developmental condition that affects how they behave.

·        Where this does not work, we use the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Code of Practice (2014).to support the child and family, making appropriate referrals where necessary.

Bullying

We take bullying very seriously. Bullying involves the persistent physical or verbal abuse of another child or children. It is characterised by an intention to hurt, is often planned, and accompanied by an awareness of the impact of bullying behaviour.

A child who is bullying has reached a stage of cognitive development where he or she is able to plan to carry out a premeditated intent to cause distress to another. Bullying can occur in children aged around five years and over so will not usually be an issue in the nursery. In the unlikely event of a child in nursery engaging in bullying behaviour, we respond as follows:

·        We show the children who have been bullied that we will listen to their concerns and act upon them.

·        We intervene to stop the child who is bullying from harming the other child or children.

·        We explain to the child doing the bullying why his or her behaviour is unacceptable.

·        We reassure the child or children who have been bullied.

·        We help the child who has been bullying to recognise the impact of their behaviour.

·        We do not label any child as a ‘bully’.

·        We recognise that children who bully others may be being bullied themselves or be subject to abuse or other circumstances that cause them to express their anger in negative ways towards others.

·        We understand that children who bully often struggle to empathise with others. We do not insist they say sorry unless and until it is clear that they feel genuine remorse.

·        We discuss what has happened with the parents of the child who did the bullying and work out with them a plan for handling the child’s behaviour.

·        We share what has happened with 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.