Ready Respectful Safe

It is essential from early childhood that children become aware of their role within a community and the impact, both positive and negative, that their actions have on others. Children need to learn to take responsibility for their behaviour and realise that they have a choice in how they behave. Through a restorative and positive approach to behaviour management we will help children develop their feelings of self- worth and self-esteem. By promoting social and emotional development we will help children develop not only an understanding of acceptable behaviour, but also a positive attitude towards learning which makes it possible for them to reach their potential. At Southsea Infant School we enable children to become independent, work with and consider the feelings of others, meet challenges and achieve.

The School operates under the “Ready, Respectful, Safe” rules, teaching children that they should be ready to learn, respectful of the people and environment around them and ensure that they are keeping themselves and others safe. The rules are the guidelines for promoting a good working atmosphere and positive relationships to enable everyone to fulfil their roles happily in school. Within classes, there are discussions about what this means and what it looks like in our school.

We feel as though ‘Ready, Respectful, Safe’ complements the central pillar of our approach to behaviour management, which is the restorative approach, describing the practice of the philosophy and processes of restorative justice. A restorative approach enables us to establish positive, nurturing relationships with all children and stakeholders in order to develop a safe and caring school culture. The restorative approach relies on a relationship-based framework, allowing adults to model emotional literacy and develop pupil empathy, so that their drive to behave in a negative way is challenged by the impact their behaviour has on others. It is also used to respectfully respond to children’s inappropriate behaviour, while offering an inclusive, educational, non-punitive approach to make things right for everyone involved. We believe this is the most effective method of achieving a united school community of which all its members can be proud.