Our Behaviour Policy (available HERE) sets out the School's high standards and clear expectations for good behaviour that reflect the Christian culture and ethos of the School. 

Our core objectives include the development of a happy, calm and orderly school environment where children can learn and teachers can teach.  Our aim is to see pupils floursh and grow in their understanding of good behaviour so that the whole community thrives. Our intention is to educate the whole child with an emphasis on Christian character development.  We seek to work in collaborative partnership with parents to promote good behaviour.   

Our approach to behaviour management is based on biblical principles and Christ-centred relationships.   We take the teaching of Christ about loving God and loving our neighbour as foundational.  In line with our discipleship model of education, we point pupils to the life of Jesus as exemplifying the compassion, integrity and courage that they can seek to imitate.  We emphasise kindness and respect for others and teach pupils to reflect on the impact of their behaviour on others.  We encourage pupils to work towards the restoration of relationships and teach them to give and receive forgiveness.

We adopt an educational approach to promoting good behaviour, adapated to pupils of different ages and with different needs.  We believe that promoting good behaviour impacts positively on pupils' mental health and overall wellbeing. 

For pupils, key behaviours and attitudes are assessed and included in reports to parents up to twice a year. 

The policy is regularly reviewed by the Governing body at Christian Fellowship School. 

Pupil expectations

• Learn to make good choices that keep you and others safe and happy
• Take responsibility for what you choose to think, say and do
• Contribute positively to building up a strong class community and maintaining a good environment for learning
• Be kind to one another, respecting other people and their property
• Set an example to younger pupils and respect older ones.
• Show courtesy towards adults and respect for the roles of all members of staff
• Tell the truth about your actions
• Reflect on the impact of your behaviour on others
• Accept the challenge of changing your behaviour when it falls below the School's behaviour standards
• Make every effort to restore relationship and remedy the damage done to the community through misbehaviour
• Work with staff to overcome areas of weakness and improve behaviour standards.
• Extend forgiveness when others have wronged you
• Recognise discipline and correction as signs that you are loved and valued
• Aim to grow in self-discipline
• Work towards developing a strong moral character that is motivated by the inherent value of good behaviour and not only extrinsic rewards and sanctions
• Allow your conscience to guide you to good behaviour even when under peer or other pressures. 

Communicating clear expectations and rules

• Senior leaders set out high expectations for pupils that are communicated to pupils by their form or class teacher.  School rules give practical details of how the principles work out in different settings.
• Lower, Middle and Upper School each have a code of conduct (based on the whole school principles) that communicates the key ideas in age-appropriate language.  These codes of conduct are displayed in appropriate places in the School.
• Classroom rules are concerned with workmanship, consideration of the learning needs of others and respect for the teacher.
• Some lessons or specialist rooms have detailed health and safety rules which must be learnt and adhered to.
• The playground and general indoor environment provide opportunities for pupils to behave in a safe and trustworthy way when less closely supervised..
• Field trips, educational visits and residential activities have particular rules based on minimising risks and presenting a good public image.
• The dress code demonstrates an identification with and pride in all that CFS stands for.

Rewards and Reinforcement of Good Behaviour

• There is an automatic and intrinsic reward for good behaviour in the level of trust and freedom allowed and the good relationships and happy atmosphere enjoyed
• Praise and commendation are used as often as possible: good behaviour usually gives pleasure to someone else and the relational aspects are valued
• The school uses the ‘House ‘system to reward good conduct/work with points that contribute to the House totals; personal success is also rewarded in the form of certificates and trophies
• For primary aged children teachers use a behaviour ladder system to teach young children to modify behaviour and motivate them towards good behaviour
• Good work is rewarded by being published in some way or by showing it to another person for praise
• Other rewards include special privileges and activities such as “golden time”, special treats or letters of commendation home.

Discipline

• We endeavour to observe and prevent poor behaviour as far as possible. Otherwise we try to intervene early to minimise disruption or to stop escalation
• Discipline targets the behaviour, not the person, and is dealt with on the basis of the principles behind the behaviour e.g. disrespect or dishonesty, etc.
• The school operates an assertive discipline policy. This means that where the boundaries are clear, when sufficient warning about consequences has been given, and if the pupils are of an age and ability to control their behaviour, then staff will act decisively when poor behaviour is observed. They will take exception to behaviour as unacceptable because of the principle being broken and the negative effect or potential consequences. To minimise disruption to lessons a pupil will generally be removed (exit procedure) and will often have a reflection time using a prompt sheet before the matter is discussed and a sanction applied as appropriate. Where poor behaviour is reported, then an investigation will precede action.

Sanctions

• Sanctions are designed to reflect a natural consequence where possible e.g. detentions that impose a time penalty on the pupil may be used as a sanction for lateness, time wasting or not giving enough time to a piece of work.
• Community service may be used to restore a situation; if the environment has been disrespected then a practical chore may be given; if someone’s property is damaged or offence given then a task involving serving the person may be used
• Sanctions relating to an affront to the community, at class or school level, usually involve loss of community inclusion such as: a short removal from a lesson, missing a social time, a period of work isolation, or suspension and ultimately exclusion. 
  See full Behaviour Policy HERE
• The level of sanction reflects the seriousness of the misbehaviour, the need for justice to be seen but also the responsiveness of the pupil. Honesty and remorse may not deflect a consequence but will definitely restore relationships quickly, clear the conscience and allow for a fresh start.
• Repeated misbehaviour will result in escalating sanctions.  Sometimes a pupil may be put ‘on report’ and will be monitored closely until their behaviour improves and they regain their teachers' trust.  As part of formulating a strategy to foster better behaviour choices, Heads of School will discuss the pupil's needs with the form teacher, other teaching and learning staff and with the SENDCo and the Safeguarding team, as appropriate.  They will also engage with parents to understand their perspectives.

Bullying and Child-on-child Abuse

We want every pupil to feel safe and secure at CFS and therefore we take any incidents of bullying or suspected bullying seriously.    

We define bullying as deliberately hurtful treatment (either physically or emotionally) repeated over a period of time, perpetrated by an individual or a group, which is difficult for victims to defend themselves against (power imbalance).  

Bullying may take the following physical or emotional forms:

• physical – hitting, kicking, taking belongings
• verbal – name calling, insulting, making offensive remarks
• cyber-bullying – unkind messages, humiliating posts or comments, intentional exclusion
• indirect – spreading nasty stories about someone, exclusion from social groups, being made the subject of malicious rumours
• psychological – intentionally provoking or ‘winding someone up’ to cause a reaction.

Any incidents of bullying or suspected bullying will be handled in line with our school Anti-Bullying Policy, with parents informed throughout the process. Ongoing monitoring will be used afterwards to ensure that the bullying does not re-emerge. All incidents of bullying will be recorded and filed securely. See the full Anti-Bullying Policy on the Policies page.

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Parents

• Where a pattern of behaviour begins to build or where a serious incident occurs we endeavour to inform parents and seek their involvement
• Pupils usually value their parents' opinion, highly, therefore at CFS we encourage parents to praise positive behaviour generously and reinforce appropriate sanctions for poor or negative behaviour, bearing in mind that restoration of relationship should always be part of the process.