Guidance

• Behaviour in schools: advice for headteachers and school staff
• Behaviour and discipline in schools: guide for governing bodies
• School suspensions and permanent exclusions

Topic-specific guidance

• Preventing and tackling bullying
• Mental health and behaviour in schools
• Searching, screening and confiscation in schools
• Mobile phones in schools
• Drugs: advice for schools
• Use of reasonable force in schools
• Child-on-child sexual violence and sexual harassment (Part 5 Keeping Children Safe in Education)
• Sharing nudes and semi-nudes: advice for education settings working with children and young people

What is a behaviour policy?

All schools are required to have a behaviour policy that sets out the school’s expectations for conduct, the rules in place, the disciplinary measures applied when rules are broken, and the interventions and support to improve behaviour.

A school behaviour policy should adhere to the following principles:

• accessible and easily understood: clear and easily understood by pupils, staff and parents;
• aligned and coherent: aligned to other key policy documents;
• inclusive: consider the needs of all pupils and staff, so all members of the school community can feel safe and that they belong;9
• consistent and detailed: have sufficient detail to ensure meaningful and consistent implementation by all members; and
• supportive: address how pupils will be supported to meet high standards of behaviour.

Legislative framework

Schools maintained by the local authority must comply with Part 7 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006. Academies must comply with The Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014, Schedule 1, Paragraph 9.

Where can a behaviour policy be found?

Schools maintained by the local authority must publicise their behaviour policy in writing to parents, staff, and pupils at least once a year. The policy must also be published on the school’s website in accordance with What maintained schools must or should publish online.

Academies are expected to publish their behaviour policy online in accordance with What academies and further education colleges must or should publish online. If they do not, it should be made available on request.

Behaviour expectations for pupils with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND)

Pupils with SEND may be more likely to display behaviours that are perceived as challenging or disruptive, often as a result of their diagnoses and individual needs. Initial intervention to address underlying factors leading to misbehaviour should include an assessment of whether appropriate provision is in place to support any SEND that a pupil may have. The ‘graduated response’ (Part 6, SEND code of practice) should be used to assess, plan, deliver and then review the needs of the pupil and the impact of the support being provided.

While not every incident of misbehaviour will be linked to a pupil’s SEND, behaviour will often need to be considered in that context. Schools should consider whether a pupil’s SEND has contributed to the misbehaviour and if so, whether it is appropriate and lawful to sanction the pupil.

The law requires schools to balance a number of duties which will have bearing on their behaviour policy and practice, particularly where a pupil has SEND that at times affects their behaviour. In particular:

• schools have duties under the Equality Act 2010 to take such steps as is reasonable to avoid any substantial disadvantage to a disabled pupil caused by the school’s policies or practices;
• under the Children and Families Act 2014, relevant settings have a duty to use their ‘best endeavours’ to meet the needs of those with SEND; and
• if a pupil has an Education, Health and Care plan, the provisions set out in that plan must be secured, in accordance with S.42 Children and Families Act 2014, and the school must co-operate with the local authority and other bodies, in accordance with S.29 Children and Families Act 2014.

As part of meeting any of these duties, schools should, as far as possible, anticipate likely triggers of misbehaviour and put in place support to prevent these. Examples include:

• short, planned movement breaks for a pupil whose SEND means that they find it difficult to sit still for long;
• adjusting seating plans to allow a pupil with visual or hearing impairment to sit in sight of the teacher;
• adjusting uniform requirements for a pupil with sensory issues or who has severe eczema;

Further information on the exclusion of pupils with SEND can be found on the information page Vulnerable pupils.

Can pupils be disciplined for behaviour outside of school?

Schools have the power to discipline pupils for misbehaviour outside of the school premises.

Conduct outside the school premises, including online conduct, that schools might sanction pupils for include misbehaviour:

• when taking part in any school-organised or school-related activity;
• when travelling to or from school;
• when wearing school uniform;
• when in some other way identifiable as a pupil at the school;
• that could have repercussions for the orderly running of the school;
• that poses a threat to another pupil; or
• that could adversely affect the reputation of the school.

What disciplinary actions can a school take?

Schools can discipline pupils who have breached the behaviour policy, but it must be done in a consistent, fair, and proportionate manner. Some sanctions are relatively low-level, whereas others are more serious. The aims of any response to misbehaviour should be to maintain the culture of the school, restore a calm and safe environment in which all pupils can learn and thrive, and prevent the recurrence of misbehaviour.

Acceptable sanctions include:

• a verbal reprimand and reminder of the expectations of behaviour;
• the setting of written tasks such as an account of their behaviour;
• loss of privileges – for instance, the loss of a prized responsibility;
• detention;
• school based community service, such as tidying a classroom;
• removal, also known as internal isolation;
• suspension; and
• permanent exclusion.

How can schools support pupils in managing their behaviour?

In the section above on ‘Behaviour Expectations for Pupils with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND)’, we provided a few examples of interventions and reasonable adjustments that may help manage behaviour in pupils with SEND. More generally, there are a range of interventions that schools can consider, including:

• frequent and open engagement with parents, including home visits if deemed necessary;
• providing mentoring and coaching;
• short-term behaviour report cards or longer-term behaviour plans;
• pupil support units (see below); and
• engaging with local partners and agencies to address specific challenges such as poor anger management, a lack of resilience and difficulties with peer relationships and social skills.

What are pupil support units?

A pupil support unit is a planned intervention occurring in small groups and in place of mainstream lessons. Most pupil support units are established solely to accommodate pupils from the school in which they are located. The purpose of this unit can be two-fold:

• as a planned intervention for behavioural or pastoral reasons
• as a final preventative measure to support pupils at risk of exclusion.

In both circumstances, the underlying ambition should be to improve behaviour and maintain learning with the goal to successfully reintegrate pupils into mainstream lessons.

Many schools have more than one pupil support unit, each serving a different purpose. These units can broadly be grouped into four categories, although there is some overlap:

• Support for pupils with Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs and Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA)
• Academic support
• Proactive behaviour support
• Reactive behaviour support

Removal (Internal isolation)

Removal, also known as internal isolation, is where a pupil, for serious disciplinary reasons, is required to spend a limited time out of the classroom. The law on removal is set out in Behaviour in schools (pages 22-25).

The use of removal should allow for continuation of the pupil’s education in a supervised setting. The continuous education provided may differ to the mainstream curriculum but should still be meaningful for the pupil.

Removal from the classroom should be considered a serious sanction. It should only be used when necessary and once other behavioural strategies in the classroom have been attempted, unless the behaviour is so extreme as to warrant immediate removal.

Removal should be distinguished from the use of separation spaces (sometimes known as sensory or nurture rooms), which are used for non-disciplinary reasons.

Schools should:

• make clear in the school behaviour policy that removal may be used as a response to serious misbehaviour;
• make sure the reasons that may lead to pupils being removed are transparent and known to all staff and pupils;
• outline in the behaviour policy the principles governing the length of time that it is appropriate for a pupil to be in removal;
• ensure that the removal location is in an appropriate area of the school and stocked with appropriate resources, is a suitable place to learn and refocus, and is supervised by trained members of staff;
• design a clear process for the reintegration of any pupil in removal into the classroom when appropriate and safe to do so;
• consider whether any assessment of underlying factors of disruptive behaviour is needed;
• facilitate reflection by the pupil on the behaviour that led to their removal from the classroom and what they can do to improve and avoid such behaviour in the future; and
• ensure that pupils are never locked in the room of their removal.