Behaviour and anti-bullying

We want life at school to be enjoyable for every pupil. Pupils can appreciate their lessons and make progress on their learning, move around all school spaces safely and make friends in a calm, friendly environment at our school. 

We tach pupils how to be well organised, effective learners and respectful to everyone in our community. We acknowledge good behaviour with praise and great behaviour with rewards. We also impose consistent, clear and unavoidable sanctions for unacceptable behaviour. We ensure that pupils understand the consequences of choosing not to follow our behaviour policy and support pupils to learn to manage their behaviour in order to develop self-discipline.

Bullying is not tolerated at Ark Pioneer Academy.

We focus first of all on prevention of bullying behaviour, which feeds into our pillars of 'Instilling Values' and developing 'Self-Discipline' We encourage pupils be kind to each other and promote positive role models. We emphasise the importance of having integrity and speaking out when you are uncomfortable about any behaviour. We remind pupils regularly of who they can speak to (a teacher, form tutor, senior staff or any trusted adult) if they are uncomfortable about anything that has happened to them to anything they have seen. 

We are very clear that we will not tolerate unacceptable behaviour. If bullying is suspected or reported, the incident will be dealt with by our pastoral team. We investigate any issue raised, contact and involve parents/carers, sanction appropriately and facilitate restorative justice and/or reconciliations between pupils. 

If you are concerned that your child could be experiencing bullying, please let us know by contacting your child's Form Tutor or Head of Year.

We are confident that your child will be in an environment where corridors and courtyards are safe places, teachers and pupils are respectful to each other and where your child’s progress is rapid because the lessons are focussed, calm and teachers can teach to a very high standard. Fundamental to this is our ‘Catch-up’ system - where pupils have an opportunity to reflect and think about how they can avoid repeating the same mistakes.

• Catch-ups are held on the same day that they are issued as an immediate consequence is the best way for pupils to learn; it means that they can come into school the following day having reflected on what went wrong and of course, start afresh 
• Parents will be notified before 4pm (or 3:10 on Wednesdays) via text message
• If you ever require further clarification, please request a meeting or phone call with your child’s Form Tutor or Head of Year

We very much appreciate the support of parents on this matter and are always willing to discuss questions or issues when they arise. You can help by:

• Signing their planner each week and looking at the checks they are receiving so you are aware of any issues 
• Discussing their self-discipline in relation to their future aspirations and how self-discipline can help them to achieve their goals
• Asking your child what they have learnt from their checks and how they will improve for next time rather than what they did wrong
• Focussing on broader areas that they need to develop rather than discussing individual checks
• Reminding your child that they can ask their teacher, Form Tutor or Head of Year about any check they are unsure of before school, at break, lunch, after school or at the end of a lesson 
• Speaking to your child’s Form Tutor or Head of Year for clarification if you have any questions about checks or catch-ups
• If your child is getting equipment or homework checks, supporting them to get into a routine of checking their homework and packing their bag before they go to bed each night
• Look through your child’s exercise book, asking them what they are learning in the subject, what they are doing well with and need to improve and check their presentation of work meets your expectations

We recognise parents and carers may decide that their child can have their own mobile phone or smart device during their time at secondary school. We know this may be part of safety measures so the child has a method to contact parents/carers as an independent traveller. 

During the school day, mobile phones are not required at school and pupils should not have them on their person or in their coat or bag. We expect phones to be switched off at the gate and headphones removed. 

• Years 7 - 9 have a phone box and wallet to store their phone in. These are brought out to the courtyard to make it easy and quick for pupils to hand in, and locked away through the school day.
• From year 10 onwards pupils have lockers to store their phones and school equipment. 

We welcome pupils to come in from 8am when the gate opens; phones should be stored at 8:25am so children can be at line up with their homegroup on time before their first Values & Character session.

Pupils can collect their phones at the end of the school day.