We believe that children and adults flourish best in an ordered environment in which everyone knows what is expected of them and children are free to develop their play and learning without fear of being hurt or hindered by anyone else. We aim to work towards a situation in which children can develop self-discipline and self-esteem in an atmosphere of mutual respect and encouragement.

It is central to the philosophy of the Nursery that all staff should be very positive at all times towards the children, towards each other and towards the nursery. Any issues or problems arising with children, other members or staff or parents should be discussed in private with the head of the nursery. The passing of negative comments about parents, other staff or children is not acceptable in any other form.

As outlines in the Early Years Foundation Stage(EYFS)guidance,it is important when considering a child’s behaviour to look at factors in the setting they are in that could be influencing behaviour before looking for strategies to “fix the problem”. Two key areas to consider are: the environment and relationships.

In order to achieve this:

• Rules governing the conduct of the Nursery and the behaviour of the children will be discussed and agreed within the Nursery and explained to all newcomers, children, their parents and nursery staff members.
• All Nursery staff will ensure that the rules are applied consistently, so that children have the security of knowing what to expect and can build up useful habits of behaviour.
• All Nursery staff will try to provide a positive model for the children with regard to friendliness, care and courtesy.
• Nursery staff members will praise and endorse desirable behaviour such as kindness and willingness to share.
• The Nursery will take positive steps to avoid a situation in which children receive adult attention only in return for undesirable behaviour.

Our behaviour management guidelines are:

• Be firm, fair and consistent – we will aim to be aware of any child’s behaviour problem and all try to be consistent in the approach that we use to deal with it.
• Set good examples – we all know that children learn by example, so we as adults will try to be aware of our actions and strive to behave in the way we would expect children in our care.
• Develop a positive image for each individual child – by encouraging every child, regardless of age, gender or disability to take part in Nursery activities. We will ensure that all toys and equipment are equally accessible to the children, always striving to promote all cultures within the nursery by way of books, displays, toys, discussion.
• Criticise actions rather than child – by explaining to the child that it is their behaviour that is unacceptable and needs to be changed and always reassuring them, praising positive behaviour.
• Give appropriate outlets for self-expression – by providing opportunities for physical activities such as physical play, music and movement etc., and by encouraging children to talk about their feelings.
• Praise and encouragement – by offering praise and encouragement, children will gain confidence and a feeling of self-importance.

When children behave in unacceptable ways:

• Physical punishment, such as smacking or shaking, will be neither be used nor threatened.
• Children will never be sent out of the room by themselves.
• Techniques intended to single out and humiliate individual children such as the “naughty chair” will not be used.
• Children who misbehave will be given on-to-one support by a nursery staff member in seeing what was wrong and working towards positive behaviour.
• Where appropriate this might be achieved by a period of “time out” with a nursery staff member.
• In cases of serious misbehaviour, such as racial or other abuse, the unacceptability of the behaviour and attitudes will be made clear immediately, but by means of explanations rather than personal blame.
• In any case of misbehaviour, it will always be made clear to the child or children in question that it is the behaviour, not the child, is unwelcome.
• Nursery staff will not shout, nor raise their voices in a threatening way.
• Any behaviour problems will be handled in a developmentally appropriate fashion, respecting individual children’s levels of understanding and maturity.
• Recurring problems will be tackled by the whole Nursery, in partnership with the child’s parents, using objectives observation records to establish an understanding of the problem or possible cause.
• Nursery staff will be aware that some kinds of behaviour may arise from a child’s special needs.
• If a child has been identified as having special needs, the staff would refer to the “policy for children with special education needs” before any actions are taken.

We have to set boundaries in order to:

• Provide guidance & general rules.
• Prevent chaos.
• To ensure health & safety.
• Learn acceptable & unacceptable behaviour.
• Promote moral & spiritual well-being.
• Provide security for children.
• Prepare children for life in society.
• Promote caring.
• Good practice for dealing with unacceptable behaviour
• Take into account the child’s age, stage of development, understanding and individual needs.
• Minor behaviour problems can and should be ignored.
• Praising appropriate and positive attention may be sufficient to change the unacceptable behaviour.
• Change your tone of voice to illustrate your disapproval of behaviour, adopting a firm tone.
• To gain attention of a child/children raise your voice but do not shout, talk to them at their own level and gain eye contact where possible.
• Let the child know that it is the behaviour that is unacceptable, not the child.
• Never humiliate or ridicule the child/children in front of others, take them aside and talk to them about their behaviour quietly.
• If the child is involved in a dispute with another child and they need intervention to avoid injury, ask the children how it happened and allow them to give ideas on how to solve the dispute.
• Use positively phrased comments. Explain to the child by using examples, if possible, e.g. If throw the sand, it could go in Susie’s eyes and hurt her, so please don’t do it. I saw you make a beautiful sand castle this morning. I’d like to see another one.
• If the child persists in presenting unacceptable behaviour tell them what the consequences will be if they continue, e.g. they will not be able to play with the activity, watch a video or stay in that area any more. Follow this through by directing the child to another activity of their choice.
• If the behaviour is dangerous or disruptive, time out may have to be used to enable the child to calm down and give staff/parents/carers the opportunity to talk to the child at their level of understanding, to hold and comfort them as appropriate. Reward the child for good behaviour on return.

Children’s behaviour can be affected by many external factors, such as:

• Family problems (new baby, new house, change in routine, family relationship difficulties).
• Neglect (lack of care, personal or emotional, lack of attention).
• Bullying.
• Inconsistent boundaries (between parents/carers at home or staff/parents at nursery).
• Lack of play space.
• Insufficient positive attention.
• Language delay.
• Inability to express feelings.
• Not enough stimulation/boredom.
• Staff shortages/conflict/unfamiliar staff.
• Staff/parent stress/poor attitudes.
• Too high expectations.
• No freedom of choice.
• Not enough time to complete activities/bad time management.
• Other factors
• Lack of sleep/tiredness.
• Illness, feeling unwell.
• Medical conditions e g hyperactivity.
• First time at Nursery (settling into routines, expectations).
• Minor or major change in general routines.

It is of vital importance that staff and parents/carers work closely together to ensure that children have consistency in the management of their behaviour by means of regular discussion and the sharing of methods and information.

Language development as strategy for behaviour management

A large number of children who are described as having behaviour difficulties, actualy have difficulties with their language and communication. Instead of being able to say: “Can I have a turn please?” they often push/hit other children or snatch things from them as they have no other way to communicate their needs.

When looking for ideas to support these children an approach known as “commenting” is a valuable way to help them learn language: Describe the child’s or your own play or behaviour/feelings.

The child may be referred to their local Children’s Centre (Chatterbox or Screening group) – if the child is supported to learn more language, their difficult behaviour often reduces as they are less frustrated and able to make their needs known in a more appropriate way.

Work as a team to reinforce all the above-working with parents and carers

It is essential that parents are involved as much as possible in every part of the dealing with unacceptable behaviour.The more they are consulted at each stage of their child’s development, the more likely it is that their child will achieve their full potential.

There are simple factors that support this partnership:

• Making parents feel welcome each time they come to nursery
• Inviting them into special events and open days
• Taking time to chat to them about any issues outside nursery that could influence their child’s behaiour
• Allocating each child,a key-worker and making sure that the parent knows who this is if they need to contact them or discuss things.
• Ensuring there is plenty of information available for parents about local support groups.

We recognise that children will pick up speech/behaviour  habits from their parents, and may use speech which is inappropriate (for example racial comments) without realising this to be the case. If this happens the parent must be contacted immediately and the difficulty pointed out. The parent will be requested to work with their child to show them that the comments they have made are not acceptable within the Nursery.

Where the parent refuses to accept that the child has made these comments, or seeks to justify the comments  because they are valid, or just ‘child talk’, and that the child ‘doesn’t  mean it’ the teacher must insist that action is taken to stop the child behaving in this way, and that the justifications or excuses are not acceptable.

Unacceptable verbal behaviour within this context includes any form of racist comments, verbal bullying and swearing.

Unacceptable physical behaviour will be dealt with in the same way.

The incident must be written down and recorded in the incident book.

If the child shows no sign of improvement in behaviour the child’s parents must be sent a written warning, explicitly stating what the child is saying that is unacceptable, and warning the parent that the child will be expelled from the Nursery if the behaviour does not stop immediately.

If the behaviour is not resolved the child may be excluded from the nursery.