Positive Behaviour Guidance Policy

Our aim

To ensure that children's behaviour is supported and guided in a positive and consistent way which respects the rights and needs of individual children and staff.

Purpose

To foster an environment that:

• Encourages cooperation with each other and develops problem-solving skills to assist with conflict resolution.
• Promotes positive self-esteem and self-concept, and develops independence.
• Ensures staff understand child development and age-appropriate behaviour, encouraging and guiding children independently.
• Provides children with positive role models.

Core principles

• Allow children to have control over a situation and not be controlled by an adult.
• Interactions should convey respect for the child and help them understand why certain behaviours or actions are inappropriate.
• Behaviour management actions should always immediately follow the behaviour and be matched to the child and the situation.
• Positive guidance strategies should be developmentally appropriate and reflect the individual child.
• Our approach is regularly evaluated to ensure it is effective and appropriate.

Our practices

The behaviour guidance we provide children is shaped by the following:

• We encourage children to engage in cooperative and pro-social behaviour and to express their feelings and responses to others' behaviour confidently and constructively, including challenging the behaviour of other children when it is disrespectful or unfair.
• Our educators support children to explore different identities and points of view and to communicate effectively when resolving disagreements with others.
• Our educators discuss emotions, feelings, and issues of inclusion and fairness, bias and prejudice, and the consequences of actions.
• Our educators encourage children to listen to each other's ideas, consider alternative behaviour, and cooperate in problem solving.
• Our educators listen empathetically to children when they express their emotions, reassure them that it is normal to experience both positive and negative emotions, and guide children to remove themselves from situations where they are experiencing frustration, anger or fear.
• Our educators work with each child's family, and, where applicable, their school, to ensure a consistent approach is used to support children with diagnosed behavioural or social difficulties.
• We gather information from families about their children's social skills and relationship preferences, and record this in the child's file to inform experiences that help children develop and practice their social and shared decision-making skills.
• We ensure children are allowed to make choices and experience the consequences of those choices when there is no risk of physical or emotional harm to the child or anyone else.
• We acknowledge children when they make positive choices in managing their behaviour.
• Our educators use positive language, gestures, facial expressions, and tone of voice when redirecting or discussing children's behaviour with them, remaining calm, gentle, patient, and reassuring even when children strongly express distress, frustration, or anger.

Behaviour management strategies we use

• Logical consequences, e.g. if a child tips out the Lego, they help pack it away.
• Redirection of behaviour to a more appropriate outlet, e.g. a child banging blocks on the table can be redirected to clay or playdough.
• Positive reinforcement to encourage appropriate behaviour.
• Problem-solving opportunities with the help of an adult, helping children identify their own needs and feelings and respond to the needs of others.
• Ignoring attention-seeking behaviour that is not harming or interfering with other children.
• Sitting with children to talk about behaviour, giving a child who may be feeling angry or frustrated the chance to calm down. Children are not excluded from the group but given time to reflect with a staff member. Another staff member attends to any child who has been upset or hurt, and both children have the chance to discuss what happened.

Prevention strategies

Behaviour challenges can often be prevented by:

• Maintaining a developmentally appropriate and varied program.
• Establishing clear and consistent expectations relevant to the children's developmental levels.
• Staff modelling communication skills and appropriate behaviour.
• Staff being consistent in their expectations.
• Staff recognising causes of behaviour: anger, boredom, attention seeking, imitation, tiredness, over-excitement, changes at home, illness, and developing social skills.

Staff supervision

• Staff are aware of the number of children under their supervision and the environment the children are in.
• Staff are positioned so they have a clear view of the environment and the children.
• Staff use verbal and non-verbal communication to convey approval or disapproval to children.
• Staff are aware of children's play through interactions with them and are prepared to redirect before problems occur.
• Staff are supportive of each other's decisions.

What's considered unacceptable behaviour

• Behaviour which may cause harm (physically or emotionally) to children, staff, property, themselves, or others within the centre.
• Behaviour which may be persistently disruptive within the routine, affecting the needs and development of other children.

How this works with preschool-age children

At Roseville Kindergarten we care for children aged 3 to 6. At this age, children typically:

• Have more understanding of limits set.
• Show increasing self-control.
• Have increasing language skills to express emotions.
• Are able to play together with peers.

Common reasons children show challenging behaviour include: anger or frustration, boredom, attention seeking, tiredness, loss of control due to excitement, jealousy, or still-developing social skills.

Our implementation at this age:

• Acknowledging behaviour patterns.
• Encouraging children to talk about their feelings.
• Helping them understand it is OK to feel angry, but not to follow through with harmful actions.
• Developing a balanced program of rest and active periods.
• Comforting both children in an incident.
• Being fair and consistent.
• Modelling appropriate behaviour and language.
• Praising positive behaviour.

Strategies for overcoming inappropriate behaviour

• Our educators practice all-encompassing and socially inclusive care.
• Daily programs recognise, value, and reflect the social and cultural diversity of our community.
• Our educators role-model and actively encourage appropriate behaviours.
• Our educators form close relationships with family members so we can work cooperatively to overcome instances of inappropriate behaviour.
• Our educators empower children by giving them responsibilities that make them feel valued.
• Our educators help children deal with their anger, offering alternative dispute-resolution techniques that are socially acceptable.
• Our educators seek the support of children's services professionals when it is necessary.
• Our educators respond promptly to children's aggressive or inappropriate behaviour.

Biting

Although biting is most often associated with younger children, it can occasionally happen with preschool-age children too. At Roseville, where biting occurs, it is usually linked to aggression, deliberate action, or an unmet need that the child has not yet learned to express in words.

In the event of a biting incident, our educators follow this procedure:

• Check for broken skin.
• Clean all bites, regardless of whether the skin is broken or not.
• Apply a cold compress to the affected area.
• Contact the families of both children involved as soon as possible. Families are not told the identity of the other child.
• If the biter is a known infectious disease carrier or has facial herpes and the victim's skin is broken, the Nominated Supervisor conveys this information to the family.
• If biting continues, educators work with families and, if necessary, external agencies, to develop a Behaviour Guidance plan.
• An incident report is completed for any occasion where a child bites and submitted to the Nominated Supervisor.
• Educators monitor the behaviour of the child who has bitten and use distraction techniques to prevent the behaviour recurring.

When behaviour is persistently unacceptable

When a child's behaviour is persistently unacceptable and continually destructive or hurtful, and could result in harm to themselves or others, staff refer to the procedure for supporting and working with children displaying challenging behaviour. This always involves open communication with families and, where appropriate, collaboration with external support agencies.

We believe that challenging behaviour is communication. Our job is to understand what the child is trying to tell us, and to support them with skills and language to do so more effectively.