Fortnightly Comment - 21st September 2012

Fortnightly Comment 21st

September 2012

From September 2012 we have introduced a new Behaviour Management and Monitoring System which is tied into the school’s new Behaviour Policy. Both of these initiatives have been introduced with dual intentions: to encourage and promote positive student behaviour both inside and outside the classroom, and also to provide a much better system to monitor achievements and behaviour incidents.

Although still in draft form (until final approval from school governors), parents are able to see the New Behaviour Policy in its entirety by clicking in the relevant section on the school website and are encouraged to send any comments to the school email address (enquiry@keaston.bham.sch.uk) for the attention of the Assistant Headmaster (Pastoral) Mr. O. Welsby.

In short, apart from clarifying the changes to Teacher’s powers as of January 2012 (as set out by the DofE), the new Behaviour Policy clarifies the rights, responsibilities and expectations of students at King Edward VI Aston School when in lessons, around the school site or when representing the school. It also provides a detailed explanation of the various rewards and sanctions that will be used to promote positive behaviour from our students. It is these latter sections which have seen the most changes. Our Rewards system has been expanded, with the introduction of “achievement points” which can be awarded by staff for academic achievement, good effort, particularly good class or homework, as well as good deeds. Achievement points will qualify students in each year group for twice yearly rewards afternoons, as well as tutor nominated achievement and progress awards to be distributed in whole school assemblies in the final week of each term.

The sanctions system has also been expanded to include a daily pastoral lunchtime detention, as well as twice weekly (Tuesdays and Fridays) academic and pastoral afterschool detentions. The old Saturday Morning detention has been replaced by a new “loss of free time” sanction and the provision for internal exclusions has also been developed. The idea behind the reform of the sanctions system is it provides greater student accountability for their actions and a more immediate consequence should a student choose to break the school rules.

For a full explanation of the new rewards and sanctions and how they will be used, please see the policy on the school website.

The new Behaviour Monitoring System that has been introduced builds on the current SIMS register used by staff to register students in every lesson, and allows staff to record electronically and achievement points they have awarded and any behaviour incidents that have occurred in their lessons. In addition the Student Support Office can record any incidents that occur outside of lessons, thus enabling a full profile to be developed for each student in the school over the course of each academic year. Tutors review all incidents for their forms on a daily and weekly basis and this not only makes students more accountable for their actions, but also means that the data can be effectively analysed by tutors, Year Leaders, and the Assistant Headmaster (pastoral), in order to identify trends and to enable positive interventions to take place before problems develop.

Should parents wish to see the achievement and behaviour record for the entire year to date for their son, please contact his tutor who will be able to provide you with an up-to-date summary of all achievement and behaviour incidents. Following the successful development and introduction of this new electronic monitoring system in the 2012-13 academic year, our intention for future academic years is to link this information to school reports and also to hopefully enable parents to view their son’s record via logging into the VLE; thus enabling parents to keep fully informed as to their son’s attitude in school at all times.

Mr. O. Welsby

Assistant Headmaster (Pastoral)