Behaviour Policy

In "Policy"

St Michael’s College aims to respond to the needs of each individual pupil developing the whole personality for fostering qualities of mind, body and spirit, feeling and imagination in a supportive Catholic atmosphere.

St Michael’s Catholic College Behaviour Policy 2024-25

College Behaviour System

Staff are responsible for:

  •  Creating a calm and safe environment for students
  •  Establishing and maintaining clear boundaries of acceptable student behaviour 
  •  Implementing the behaviour policy consistently
  •  Communicating the college’s expectations, routines, values and standards through teaching behaviour and in every interaction with students
  •  Modelling expected behaviour and positive relationships
  •  Providing a personalised approach to the specific behavioural needs of particular students
  •  Considering the impact of their own behaviour on the college culture and how they can uphold college rules and expectations 
  •  Recording behaviour incidents promptly 
  •  Challenging students to meet the college’s expectations

The senior leadership team (SLT) will support staff in responding to behaviour incidents.

Students

Students will be made aware of the following at the start of the academic year and at junctures throughout the year:

  • The expected standard of behaviour they should be displaying at college
  • That they have a duty to follow the behaviour policy
  • The college’s key rules and routines
  • The rewards they can earn for meeting the behaviour standards, and the consequences they will face if they don’t meet the standards
  • The pastoral support that is available to them to help them meet the behaviour standards

Students will be supported to meet the behaviour standards and will be provided with repeated reminders wherever appropriate.

Students will be supported to develop an understanding of the college’s behaviour policy and wider culture.

Students will be asked to give feedback on their experience of the behaviour culture to support the evaluation, improvement and implementation of the behaviour policy.

Extra support and induction will be provided for students who are in-year arrivals.

Lesson Expectations

In every lesson, all students should meet the following expectations:

– Arrive on time

– Arrive with correct uniform

– Arrive with all necessary equipment

– Arrive with completed homework

– Follow all teacher instructions in a timely fashion

– Apply yourself fully to all tasks throughout

– Work with others in a collaborative manner.

When students meet and exceed these expectations they will be rewarded in various ways; 

  • Verbal praise
  • Written praise (in book)
  • SIMS individual Merit points
  • SIMS House points
  • Phone call home.

If a student fails to meet any of the lesson expectations the classroom teacher will carry out the steps below;

  1. Two warnings
  2. Minor mention
  3. Major mention – resulting in a detention
  4. Removal to HOD/Dept – This may result in a Saturday detention
  5. SLT called – this will result in removal to the APB – alternative provision base. 

Unsatisfactory Behaviour and Interventions

Whilst actively encouraging and rewarding good behaviour, St. Michael’s Behaviour Policy makes clear that unsatisfactory behaviour will not be ignored or tolerated. Boundaries are made clear and sanctions are applied when students wilfully ignore the rules of the College.

In order for unsatisfactory behaviour to be dealt with effectively, it is considered important to have the fullest picture of a student’s behaviour so that any incident may be seen in the widest possible context.

Recording Unsatisfactory Behaviour

Every example of unsatisfactory behaviour must be logged in SIMS. This is closely monitored so that a pattern of behaviour can be recognised and therefore enable the pastoral team and all staff to better support every student. Every negative mention on SIMS is cumulative and will carry additional sanctions, as outlined below. Staff will also be recording positive merits for all students; these are cumulative and will result in rewards.. 

SIMS behaviour mentions

A. Negative behaviour mentions

Negative behaviour mentions are broken down into two groups;

Minor – 1 point

Major – 2 points

 

Weekly
2 points (in a day) Detention on that day
4 points Friday detention
5 points 1-hour Saturday detention
N.B. 4+ points in any one day could result in escalation to the APB 
Half Termly
Between 7-10 points Tutor call home to warn parents and continue to monitor
Between 10-14 points L/L call home to warn parents and continue to monitor
15 points 1 day in the APB & L/L reportL/L meet with parents
Between 20-25 points L/L call home to warn parents and continue to monitor
30 points 2 days in the APB & SLT report SLT meet with parents
35+ points 1 day fixed term exclusion SLT Key stage Lead report

N.B. depending on the severity of the sims mentions there may be a referral to the Principal and a longer fixed term exclusion.
N.B subject to change

B.     Positive behaviour mentions

Termly
·         Certificates for the top 5 students with outstanding work in each subject area·         Certificates for the top 5 most improved student in each subject area

·         Certificates to students for 100% attendance and punctuality that term

·         Certificates to the top 20 students for conduct house points that term

·         Tutor group prize for the tutor group with the highest attendance

·         Certificate and £10 Amazon voucher for Student of the term – as selected jointly by both Leaders of Learning
Annually
·         Certificates for the best student in each of the subject areas·         Certificates for students with 100% attendance and punctuality all year

·         Certificates for the top 20 students for conduct house points all year

·         Certificates for tutor award – best student in each of the tutor groups

·         £10 Amazon voucher for the 2 students selected for the Leaders of Learning award

·         Sister Ann Cup – to the student for demonstrating Sporting Excellence

·         RUAH Shield – to the student for demonstrating Salesian values throughout the academic year

·         Tutor class prize for the top attending tutor group in the academic year

·         House Prize for the House with the most collective house points

Detention Policy and Procedure

After college detentions may take place for 1 hour without prior notice. Notice will be given for longer detentions in line with the DfE guidelines. The detention system is centralised and staff are emailed a rota each half term.

Detentions may be set for anything logged on SIMS for negative behaviour. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that their parents/guardians are made aware of the detention time and date.

Detention takes precedent over any other after college activity, this includes Year 11 study clubs. If a student knows they have a detention and are found to be attending an enrichment activity rather than their detention there may be an additional sanction.

In all detentions, students should be reading, working or revising.

Lunchtime Detention

These are at any teacher’s discretion, students will always be able to have their lunch.

Whole College Detention

If a student is late to college, is unsuccessful on their behaviour report, or displays behaviours that Leaders of Learning or SLT think warrant an hour detention.

Saturday Detention

If a student receives five or more negative points in a week or commits a serious misdemeanour deemed worthy, they will receive a 1-hour Saturday detention with a member of SLT.

Parents will be notified by the student’s Leader of Learning and via an Edulink letter.

Students are expected to be in the College at their designated detention time and be in full college uniform. Failure to attend a Saturday detention on time or at all is deemed to be serious and will result in a two-day placement in the Alternative Provision Base (APB).  If a student fails to attend a Saturday detention they will have one day in the APB, if they miss two in a term they will spend two days in the APB and if they miss three Saturday detentions they will have a one-day exclusion followed by one day in the APB.

Behaviour Reports

If a student persistently misbehaves or fails to produce work to a satisfactory standard, the Leader of Learning will use a Behaviour Report to monitor how the student is throughout each day for two consecutive weeks. At the end of each day, the student will meet with their Leader of Learning to review their day. The Leader of Learning will go through the grades the student received for registration, each lesson and behaviour around the College. Students will receive a Pass, Fail or Distinction for each part of the day. If a student receives a Fail grade, they will have an automatic 1-hour detention at the end of the day. If they receive three or more fail grades in a day, they will be referred to the APB for a two-day placement.

Leaders of Learning will call home to inform parents/guardians when a student is being placed on report. When a student successfully completes two weeks on report they will be removed from report, Leaders of Learning will call home to confirm this. If a student has been unsuccessful, they will remain on report to the Leader of Learning for a further week. If a student is unsuccessful in their third week of report to their Leader of Learning, a meeting with parents/guardians will take place so that together we can remind the student of the College expectations. The student will then be referred to Senior Leadership Team (SLT) report. This report works in the same manner but the student will see the SLT member at the end of the day rather than their Leader of Learning.

A student will be on report to SLT for two weeks, if unsuccessful, parents/guardians will meet with SLT then the student will be referred to report to the SLT Key Stage Lead. If the student still does not make enough positive progress, the SLT Key Stage Lead will refer the student to Ms Corcoran.

When students successfully complete report to their Leader of Learning or SLT line manager they will go back to baseline (please see Appendix 2). When a student successfully completes a report to the SLT Key Stage Lead or Ms Corcoran they will return to a Leader of Learning report for one week before returning to Baseline (please see Appendix 2).

Alternative Provision Base

If a student persistently misbehaves or commits a serious misdemeanour they may be referred to the Alternative Provision Base (APB) for a placement. This means that the student is withdrawn from normal college routine, in line with the DfE guidelines, and appropriate work will be set. Parents will be contacted to be informed of this sanction, initially with a call then with a follow up letter

  1. Prior to entry into the APB, students must hand in their phones to the L/L
  2. On entry to the APB students should sit at their designated workspace.
  3. Students will follow their normal lesson timetable, they should place their timetable on their desk. For the most part, students will access live lessons and complete work in their usual subject books. Where this isn’t possible, students will be directed to relevant subject specific tasks.
  4. Students will be given a grade for each period of their day. To successfully pass a day in the APB, students are required to complete a sufficient amount of work each period and to follow all rules.
  5. Students will be allowed to go to the toilet at the same time as all other students in the College (i.e. break and lunch) but they will use the toilets in S14 and go one at a time. They should not use the toilets at any other time.
  6. Students will have their lunch in S14, they will be able to choose a sandwich, dessert and drinks.

If a student has been referred to the APB their college day finishes at 4.30. They will sit a whole college detention for one hour, failure to do so results in a further day in the APB. If a student has been referred to the APB as an internal fixed term exclusion, parents will be expected to come into the college for a reintegration meeting.

If a student persistently fails to follow the rules of the Alternative Provision Base they will face a Fixed term exclusion followed by a placement in the APB

Referrals to the Alternative Provision Base can only be made by SLT, in consultation with Mr Daly or Ms Nottage.

Fixed term Exclusions

All fixed term exclusions will be followed by at least one day in the APB as part of the reintegration process. For further details on exclusions, please see the separate Exclusion Policy.

Incident Investigation

When an incident takes place that is deemed to be more serious than a whole college detention and/or than a minor/major sims mention, it will be investigated by Leaders of Learning or SLT. Students and staff will be expected to complete an incident report if they were directly involved or witnessed the incident.

Relevant parents will be informed of the outcome of any investigation and possible sanctions. Parents will not have access to incident report forms.