Managing behaviour - 'The Firs' Way'
Our Values
Our approach to behaviour management is a fundamental element of our core values at The Firs. We are very passionate about creating a caring family atmosphere at our school and we provide consistent, fair and well understood behaviour guidance, because this is a key part of ensuring children feel happy and safe.
The Firs' Way
As a school graded outstanding for behaviour in our inspection in 2013 and reconfirmed in our re-inspection in 2017, we have a long-established track record of high standards, and we are always looking for ways to enhance our approaches, to ensure that we maintain those high standards.
At our school we all follow The Firs' Way. It's about putting the relationships we make with each other first. It's about caring for each other and respecting everyone around us. It's about developing a behaviour curriculum, that helps children to understand their feelings, develop the vocabulary to talk about them, so they can manage those tricky moments better, when they feel dysregulated.
The Firs' Way approach starts with the behaviour of adults, with our staff believing in the importance of maintaining a calm approach at all times, focusing on depersonalising all behaviour interventions. We have 3 school rules Ready, Respect, Safe, which simplifies the dialogue with children about their behaviour.
Staff give ‘first attention to best conduct’ praising compliance to indirectly tackle off task behaviour. Direct interventions are done calmly and in a non-confrontational way, giving children ‘take up time’ to comply with requests.
Restorative conversations are used to engage in powerful dialogue with children, focusing on what rules were broken, who was affected by their behaviour, what can be done to restore a positive relationship and what can be done differently in future. These conversations are taken very seriously and are very effective in helping children to see their responsibility for their actions.
The Firs' Way is about valuing relationships, it's about being caring, calm and thinking about the feelings of others. it is an effective and compassionate approach to behaviour management, that ensures we provide the best guidance and care for our children, including the most vulnerable.
If you want to find out more, download our behaviour policy below.