Achieving positive behaviour

Coordinator - Carol Richardson

There are many influences on the way that children behave, but our behaviour, as adults, has the most powerful effect.

We encourage staff to consider their own behaviour in preschool including non-verbal communication:

  • smiling and welcoming children in

  • subtle changes in tone

  • pace and volume of the voice

  • suppressing emotional response

  • getting as close to the child’s eye level as is practical

  • turning away from children and leading them rather than standing over them and directing

  • actively listen to children

  • be willing to share some of yourself

We promote the 5 to Thrive ethos working with children to promote self regulation and mindfulness. Staff stay calm and model appropriate behaviour when a child is dysregulated e.g. angry, cross, upset. They will often talk them through their feelings helping them to name them and explaining that it is ok to feel like this while encouraging them to calm. Staff teach children to name their emotions to try to identify them thus giving them ownership of them.

Staff practice positive reinforcement of appropriate behaviours and use breathing techniques and mindfulness to develop self awareness and self control.

Procedures when dealing with challenging behaviour

Staff deal with challenging behaviour with these strategies, fairly and consistently:

  • get down to the child’s level

  • use a calm controlled voice

  • use of hand signal (if necessary) e.g. a flat hand held up to stop someone running

  • using the word ‘stop’ where appropriate and ‘walk’ as the action word rather than ‘don’t run’

  • gently explain possible consequence of the action

  • reinforce the appropriate behaviour by modelling or using others as an example etc

  • praise the achievement of more appropriate behaviour 

If a child should be aggressive to others they may be withdrawn from the group or activity to allow them to calm down. Staff must remain calm, tone of voice should remain calm. When and if appropriate staff may discuss the incident with the child, this should be done with patience and sensitivity to support the child to understand their own feelings and learn to regulate them. If deemed necessary, the incident will be documented on a Communication form and discussed with parents.

If a child needed to be physically removed from a situation or restrained for his/her own safety or the safety of other children, there must always be two adults present. Actions should be narrated calmly to the child. The incident should be recorded and discussed with the parent and any appropriate support or interventions put in place. If the behaviour persists the parents may be called to collect their child during the session.

Our SEND team can have slightly different approaches to behaviour management depending on the needs of the child. Staff will work with parents and sometimes other professionals to support children’s behaviour management while taking into account their particular needs and any action required on their SSP or EHCP.

Feb 24