KS5 Behaviour For Learning Policy

Vision for KS5 Behaviour for Learning: Dream Big, Work Hard, Be Kind

We aim to support students in becoming successful, happy and emotionally resilient members of the sixth form and wider school community. A community where students treat one another with respect and fairness; bound by a common set of values that allows for outstanding learning to take place. Students will demonstrate exemplary behaviour that will enable everyone to achieve. All will feel safe and confident in supporting one another; contributing positively to wider society. Underpinning this vision will be a focus on supporting students with developing an A Level Mindset (V.E.S.P.A*) so they can successfully cope with the demands of sixth form study. Students must be clear about what is expected of them as well as the consequences of not meeting sixth form expectations.

*V = VisionE= EffortS = SystemsP = PracticeA = Attitude

Objectives

To ensure students know and understand what our staff expect of them
To help students meet our sixth form expectations
To provide a transparent, workable and realistic framework for the consistent management of all behaviour-related issues
To support the re-engagement of students who have not met sixth form expectations

Principles

The KS5 Behaviour for Learning Policy reflects a partnership between all members of the school.
The Behaviour for Learning Policy is positive in nature and seeks to be preventative rather than punitive in approach and to maximise re-engagement Integral to the policy is the promotion of self-awareness, self-discipline, accountability, personal responsibility, and respect for self and others.
Sixth Form expectations will only be achieved by all students if the behaviour for learning policy is implemented consistently
The school is fully committed to promoting and celebrating equality, diversity and inclusion and building together an environment/school community where everyone feels safe.
We will endeavour to ensure the KS5 Behaviour for Learning Policy reflects this commitment both in design and implementation.

SECTION 1

POSITIVE ETHOS AND STUDENT BEHAVIOUR

The behaviour for learning policy is underpinned by six basic expectations of students:

Good attendance and punctuality
Meeting of work deadlines
Work completed to the best of their ability
Positive behaviour
Smart appearance
Successful Independent Study

From September 2019 these expectations will be incorporated into a learning agreement which all students sign as part of the enrolment process on ULAS under the heading ‘commitment to P16 at TCS’ and are shown below:

Attending all lessons, registration periods, coaching slots, work placements and support sessions set out on your weekly timetable unless there is a valid reason, communicated by parents, for not doing so
Be prepared for all your lessons by making sure you bring the appropriate equipment necessary
Dressing in an appropriate manner for school, according to the dress code stipulated in the P16 planner
Completing all class work, homework, coursework and assignments set by staff, on time, and to the best of your ability.
Showing respect for all members of the school community and behaving at all times, and in all places, in a way which helps the school to provide a safe, fair, clean and positive learning environment.
Using the school’s Information Technology resources for appropriate educational activity, and making sure that you do not use them for inappropriate or illegal activity.
Acting as a positive ambassador for P16 with our wider school community, partner schools and the local community.

SECTION 2

STUDENT REWARDS

Celebrating Success
Sixth form staff should celebrate the success of all students whenever and wherever it occurs in a variety of ways. Focussing on success and positive outcomes is essential in developing a positive culture and ethos across our sixth form. The many ways we aim to celebrate success are listed below and will be reviewed by students, staff, parents/carers and governors during the academic year.

Communication
The foundation of this structure is the attitude of the staff in all their dealings with students and parents. This should be based on respect and consideration at all times. All staff should give positive feedback to students whenever and wherever possible. This builds self-esteem and helps to build and support the ethos we are aiming for. Where feedback and constructive criticism are required it should be focused on specific actions and behaviours, or on work, rather than on students as individuals. It should, whenever possible, be accompanied by indications of how to do better and praise for something well done as per the school’s assessment policy.

Rewards Systems
At the end of each term a praise assembly will be held to encourage and reward P16 students. This approach is designed to reward students who consistently meet and exceed sixth form expectations. Staff will nominate one student per subject but staff can also recommend students for rewards due to a range of reasons including attendance, punctuality, activity outside of the classroom and around sixth form and the school as a whole. Each student will receive a printed award in recognition of this achievement.

Postcards Home
When students achieve in ways which merit more high profile recognition, any member of staff can contact parents and carers. In addition to this, staff should, in recognition of good or outstanding behaviour, send a postcard home or request that one be sent from the Head Of Sixth Form. A stock of pre-printed postcards will be available in the staffroom or in the sixth form centre. Any member of staff may complete one of these by noting the details of a particular achievement in the space on the card and adding the student name. This should then be passed to Mrs Devereaux (KS5 Student Support Manager) who will ensure the card is posted home. Where possible, staff should use these cards regularly so that a steady stream of good news about students feeds into our community. It should be used, for example, to thank students for extra effort and voluntary commitment, particularly good work or effort, or for meeting targets that have been set.

Subject Awards
For exceptional achievement over the course of an academic year, staff should consider making a formal Commendation to be awarded at the annual Y13 Leavers’ ceremony which usually takes place in late June and the final Y12 praise assembly which takes place in July. Commendations with details of the achievement should be submitted to the google doc shared for this purpose. Each student will receive a printed award in recognition of this achievement.

Part B Formal Disciplinary Action

SECTION 1

SIXTH FORM EXPECTATIONS

Attendance
Sixth Form at TCS will clearly state our expectations regarding attendance and ensure that the consequences of poor attendance are clearly reinforced. Sixth Form students are expected to maintain a minimum attendance of 90% per term. Staff must complete registers in a timely and accurate manner to ensure our attendance systems are effective in supporting student learning. Teaching staff will take a register during each registration period and lesson. They should note that details of some absences may already have been entered centrally and these should not be overwritten. Tutors, subject teachers and members of the Sixth Form Team are responsible for discussing with students incidences of unexplained absences and lateness. Any student missing a lesson will receive an email from Mrs Devereaux on the day of their absence unless it is authorised by parents. This email will also be shared with parents. If the student regularly misses lessons the subject teacher or HOD should contact the tutor and the P16 team by email. Failure to maintain 90% attendance could result in a student being asked to leave an A Level course or the sixth form for good, unless there is a valid reason for this absence. Y12 students need to maintain 90% attendance to be allowed to proceed into Y13. In the unlikely event that a student has truanted sixth form lessons this will have a stage 1 meeting.

Punctuality
TCS expects all students to attend every registration period and lesson on time. Lateness should be challenged and recorded as a number of minutes late. Persistent punctuality issues must also be challenged and appropriate action taken. If a student is late more than 3 times in a term, this will result in a stage 1 meeting.

Meeting of Work Deadlines
Students are expected to complete and submit work to set deadlines. In all cases of students not submitting work to a set deadline, subject teachers must discuss the incident with the student. The student’s name should then be added to the sixth form catch up sheet. The student then has until the end of the day to get the work to the teacher. If they do so the teacher should highlight the student’s name in green. The sixth form team will check this document at the end of each day and ask any students on the list whose names have not been highlighted, to stay after school to complete the work. Subject teachers should also liaise with their HODs about this and potentially have a meeting with the student to ensure it does not happen again. If the student does not stay for sixth form catch up they should see the Haed Of Sixth Form studies during form time the next morning. If a student misses three deadlines in one term they will have a stage 1 meeting with their tutor and a member of the sixth form team.

Work Completed to Expected Standard
Students are expected to complete and submit work to the expected standard. If a student fails to do this the subject teacher need to discuss this with students to ascertain why the student is not meeting the expected standard of work.. A stage 1 meeting with HODs and with parents and / or carers should also take place if submitted work continues to be below the expected standard. Students must attend all identified support activity provided. If students do not attend support activity as expected, disciplinary action has to be put in place.

Dress and appearance
Sixth Form students are student leaders in the school community. Their dress and appearance must therefore be appropriate to support and encourage the ethos of the school and the uniform and appearance policies in operation in Years 7 to 11.

Sixth Form students are not required to wear uniform but must dress appropriately for school in a casual but smart manner. They should remember that:

Wearing hats indoors is not permitted
Inappropriate slogans must not be worn on clothing
Jeans and trousers are to be smart and without rips or holes
Overly short or tight shorts are not appropriate for school
Skirts and tops should be of an appropriate style and length and tops should not display midriffs, or bare backs,
Strapless and “off the shoulder” tops should not be worn.
Students should avoid outrageous hairstyles or obvious colourings
Facial piercings and tattoos are not acceptable. Apart from the ears, not other visible body piercing is allowed; except one small discrete nose stud.
Headscarves that cover the hair for religious reasons are permitted
If a student fails to comply with these expectations they will be sent home to change. If this happens 3 times or more in a term this will lead to a stage 1 meeting.

Food, drink and litter
Sixth form provide students with excellent facilities in which they can enjoy their lunchbreaks and social time. Students are not allowed to bring food and drink into lessons or in the free rooms provided upstairs. Students are not allowed to consume food from fast food companies on the school site and all students should pick up their litter.

Mobile phones
We expect sixth form students to follow the same mobile phone policy used throughout the school as we don’t feel mobile phones are conducive to effective study. Therefore, mobile phones are not permitted to be used in registration periods or lessons. If students are caught with a mobile in lessons or registration periods it will be taken from them and passed to Mrs. Devereaux where it can be collected at the end of the school day. Sixth form students are allowed to use phones in study periods but if they are seen using them inappropriately the same rules will apply.

Unacceptable Behaviour
Any behaviour which demonstrates a serious risk of harm to self or to others, for example bullying, harassment, insulting or threatening language, theft, violence, incitement, being under the influence of alcohol or drugs, damage to property, theft, reckless driving onsite, will be considered a serious breach of the learner agreement. In these circumstances, the matter will be dealt with immediately (refer to section 3) and the student could be asked to leave the sixth form.

SECTION 2

FORMAL STUDENT DISCIPLINARY ACTION

If students continue to fail to meet sixth form expectations despite support such as meetings with teachers, tutors and the sixth form team, formal disciplinary action will be put into place. At any stage in the disciplinary process the head of sixth form studies has the right to ask the student to leave sixth form studies at TCS or place the student on a contract.

Stage 1: Student Meeting
If a student begins to regularly break the terms outlined in the learning agreement then a meeting will be called between the student, their tutor, the subject teacher, the HOD and the Director of post 16. In this meeting there will be a discussion about what is going wrong and what needs to be put right in the form of short term targets. It will be made clear to the students that if these targets are not addressed within the agreed timeframe the student will start on a report. The students will be given a timeframe in which to address the issues raised in the meeting. A letter or email will be sent home to outline the targets discussed in this meeting and when they will be reviewed. If successful at this stage in the disciplinary process the student will not progress to stage 2 unless problems arise again.

Stage 2: Student Report
If the targets set in stage 1 are not met the director of Post 16 will invite the student, their tutor and his/her parents/carers to attend a meeting to start the student on a Student Report. At the meeting a formal Student Report (Stage 2) will be agreed which clearly sets out the requirements for re-establishing the terms of the Learning Agreement. These targets will be shared with relevant teachers. A date for review of the report will be set at the meeting. At the review meeting, the tutor and head of sixth form will use feedback from staff to assess the degree to which the student has met the terms of the report. Where the terms of the Student Report are not met, the head of sixth form will decide whether or not to proceed to the next stage of the Disciplinary Process. A student could be asked to leave sixth form at this stage if it is felt the student is not cooperating with staff in trying to improve. If the student is successful at meeting the targets at this stage they will be taken off report for good unless similar problems arise in the near future.

Stage 3: Student Contract
If the terms of Student Report have not been met, the head of sixth form may decide further support for a student is required by proceeding to Stage 3 of the Student Disciplinary Process; Student Contract. In the meeting it will be made clear to parents/carers how the Learning Agreement has been broken and the steps that have been taken to try and re-establish it. At the meeting, the haed of sixth form will present the reasons that the school is concerned about the student’s behaviour and/or progress and ask the student to present their point of view as to why targets have not been met on their report. Once the head of sixth form is satisfied that the student and their parents/carers have a full understanding of all views and issues as possible, the meeting will conclude with the student and their parents signing the student contract which will outline final targets which need to be reached within a given timeframe. This contract will be monitored by the head of sixth form and progress against targets will be discussed at a formal review meeting. If the student is successful at meeting the targets at this stage they will be taken off contract for good unless similar problems arise in the near future.

Where the terms of the Student Contract (Stage 3) are not met, or where the head of sixth form feels that the situation is too serious to be resolved by a contract, the student could be asked to leave the sixth form.

SECTION 3

EMERGENCY SUSPENSION

In some cases, such as where further investigation is required or there is a risk to the student(s) or members of the school community, it may be necessary to suspend students from P16 pending an investigation with immediate effect. Such a suspension is not itself a disciplinary action and will only be taken when it is needed to protect students, staff or school property. Only the head of sixth form or a member of the SLT formally deputising for them has the authority to issue such a suspension. In the event of the head of sixth form not being in school, a member of the sixth form Team, in liaison with the former, will assume this authority. If such action is taken, the member of staff acting with the director’s authority must contact home to advise parents/carers of the suspension. An email should be sent to the student and parents/carers setting out the reasons for the suspension and setting up an investigative meeting as soon as possible. The investigation will be carried out by the sixth form team, and may involve interviews with other witnesses including students and staff. Depending on the outcome of the investigation a meeting (stage 3) may be arranged as outlined above.

Sixth Form Learning agreement

I agree to adhere to the following criteria in the P16 learning agreement and understand that breaking this agreement will lead to me entering into the sanctions as outlined in the policy.

Attending all lessons, registration periods, coaching slots, work placements and support sessions set out on my weekly timetable unless there is a valid reason, communicated by parents, for not doing so
To be on time for all of my registration periods and lessons
To maintain a minimum of 90% attendance for each term
Be prepared for all lessons by making sure to bring the appropriate equipment necessary
Dressing in an appropriate manner for school, according to the dress code stipulated in the KS5 Behaviour For Learning policy
Completing all class work, homework, coursework and assignments set by staff, on time, and to the best of my ability.
Showing respect for all members of the school community and behaving at all times, and in all places, in a way which helps the school to provide a safe, fair, clean and positive learning environment.
Using the school’s Information Technology resources for appropriate educational activity, and making sure that you do not use them for inappropriate or illegal activity.
Acting as a positive ambassador for P16 with our wider school community, partner schools and the local community.