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Virginia Primary School - Behaviour support policy - 2025

Last updated: 2025-05-02

Virginia Primary School's behaviour support policy guides:

  • the behaviour we expect of children and young people
  • how staff, parents and carers will support positive behaviour
  • the safe inclusion of children and young people.

Virginia Primary School's policy aligns with:

  • the Department for Education behaviour support policy (PDF 165 KB)

    • About behaviours

    Children and young people's behaviours fall along a continuum. This means behaviour can range from safe to unsafe.

    Range of behaviours

    • Positive, inclusive and respectful behaviours.
    • Developmentally appropriate boundary testing. This behaviour can interrupt learning but can be redirected.
    • Behaviours that cause concern due to their severity, frequency and duration. This behaviour significantly interrupts learning and needs consistent guidance and support.
    • Complex and unsafe behaviour which can place children, their peers and others in danger.

    All along the continuum, the policy and practice approach is proactive, consistent, responsive and tailored to the child or young person's needs.

    How we implement the department's policy

    We will support the safe inclusion of children and young people in learning with these actions.

    Promote

    We will promote, model and support productive and positive behaviour.

    • Promote a school wide positive behaviour approach through embedding, teaching and demonstrating school values into behaviour expectation processes.
    • Behaviour expectations and school values are displayed and embedded across the site and are communicated with children, parents and carers through multiple streams.

    Teach

    We will explicitly teach positive behaviour and expectations about behaviour.

    • Create routine classroom practices in the learning environment with clear behaviour expectations. This guides children on how to positively participate in learning and with peers.
    • Explicitly teach and demonstrate positive behaviours and provide opportunities for children to practice positive behaviours through applying the school values.

    Intervene

    We will intervene to prevent, reduce or redirect behaviours of concern. We will use methods that are the least exclusionary possible.

    • Staff use routine and contextualised proactive strategies to support and co-regulate children to prevent behaviours of concern and support wellbeing levels.
    • A supervised wellbeing space is available to children in need of support related to behaviour and wellbeing concerns. Children are supported by an educator to regulate and re-establish a calm, learning ready state, in order to re-engage in the learning environment.

    Work with others

    We will work with children, their families, professionals and other key adults to understand the environmental, social and family context of a child or young person's behaviour. We will draw on these people to support positive behaviour change.

    • Engage children in the process of developing behaviour support plans to include and value student voice in behaviour approaches.
    • Meet with children and their families to work together towards understanding reasons for behaviour and work collaboratively on positive behaviour plans and outcomes.
    • Use case management and Team Around the Child approaches to coordinate, assess, plan, monitor and review behaviour interventions.

    Respond

    We will respond to behaviour visibly and fairly. Responses will help grow confidence and trust.

    • Provide students with multiple avenues of reporting concerns to staff. Listen to student reports, follow up on concerns, and provide students with reassurance that matters will be investigated and followed up without disclosing personal information of the parties involved.
    • Investigate concerns about behavioural incidents based on reported information. Speak to relevant parties, gather further understanding of the incident and the experiences of those involved, and determine appropriate consequences and outcomes.
    • Apply accepted and evidence-based behaviour responses. Tailor to children or young people’s circumstances. Take special measures for children with disability or additional needs, children in care and Aboriginal children.
    • Document planned behaviour support responses in Behaviour Support Plans, Safety and Risk Management Plans, and Safety and Support Plans.

    Repair and restore relationships

    We will repair and restore relationships harmed by behaviours of concern.

    • Restorative meetings are facilitated to support children in the repair of relationships after an incident and establish behaviour agreements in order to move forward in a safe and harmonious manner.
    • Students have safe office/wellbeing spaces to engage in restorative practices to repair relationships with one another and express feelings and apologise for inappropriate behaviours, with the support of a staff member.

    Create safety and wellbeing

    We will create safety and wellbeing for people involved in behaviour incidents.

    • Give students the opportunity to speak and be heard following a behaviour incident. Wellbeing and counselling support is also available for students experiencing distress or in need of additional wellbeing support.
    • Following the investigation process, staff will discuss behaviour incidents with students and communicate and explain the routine outcomes/consequences for behaviours involved.
    • Staff provide fair consequences in response to investigated incidents; to secure an overall safe school environment with clear boundaries to promote fairness and consistency in school behaviour.
    • Engage department supports when responding to serious incidents. For example the Social Work Incident Support Service. Responses might include telling parents and carers of those involved in or effected by the behaviour, making site safety plans and positive behaviour contracts.

    Behaviours of concern

    Behaviours of concern:

    • are challenging, complex or unsafe behaviours
    • are more serious, happen more often or last a long time
    • significantly interrupt learning for the child or others
    • could put the child or others in danger
    • need consistent guidance and support.

    Behaviours that disrupt learning or safety will always receive a response that considers:

    • the needs of the child or young person with behaviours of concern
    • other people's rights to learning and safety.

    How we respond to behaviours of concern

    At we use specific responses to behaviours of concern.

    Educator responses

    • Provide quality differentiated teaching practice. This is a way to meet each child and young person's learning styles and needs. For example, the teacher plans ahead to clearly teach values and safe and inclusive behaviours.
    • Create plans that support positive behaviour change. Partner with parents, carers and others to do this.
    • Interrupt behaviours of concern. Name and describe behaviours of concern to help students understand what they are doing that is inappropriate and redirect students to the preferred behaviour. Support students to develop and practice the skills required to maintain the preferred behaviour.
    • Provide time and space for students to self-regulate with appropriate support and supervision in wellbeing areas/front office.
    • Educators will respond to children demonstrating behaviour concerns and carry out routine behaviour processes e.g. reminders, buddy class or office time outs.
    • Providing matched consequences to support student accountability and responsibility for actions (e.g. picking up rubbish at lunch in response to littering).

    Leader responses

    • Monitor behaviour. Act on any reports about behaviour of concern. This includes incidents that happen out of hours or off-site that impact relationships at ${name}.
    • Consider the use of suspension and exclusion from school to support safety. This is after we consider all other options to reduce danger.
    • Report criminal offences to the police.
    • Work with the Education Director and Department for Education staff to plan whole of site communications about serious behavioural incidents.
    • Provide leadership and / or external assistance to facilitate restorative processes (including re-entry meetings) where staff and children or young people directly involved require impartial assistance to resolve the issues.
    • Follow up with students of concern and communicate with caregivers.

    Department level responses

    • Negotiate other learning options away from school to make sure the school community is safe. This is after we consider other options to reduce danger.
    • Support staff and local leadership in how they respond to a child or young person.

    Responsibilities

    Children and young people

    • Treat others with kindness, respect and inclusiveness.
    • Make sure their actions are safe, respectful and inclusive. This includes verbal, physical and online actions.
    • Seek help from adults to intervene when they see behaviours of concern in person or online.
    • Report behaviours of concern to their classroom teacher, Leadership, SSO or front office staff either independently or with peers.
    • Support their friends and peers to seek help from trusted adults. Do this if their friends are experiencing behaviours of concern.
    • Support their friends to behave in safe, respectful and inclusive ways. Do this if their friends are engaging in behaviours of concern.

    Parent and carer

    • Report any child or young person's concerning or unsafe behaviour to teacher or Leadership via direct contact, phone call, or book a meeting.
    • If an incident happens, work collaboratively with us to resolve concerns.
    • Follow the complaint resolution process to deal with concerns. A copy of the complaint resolution process is on our website or in our front office.
    • Show and encourage safe, respectful and inclusive relationships with: their own children; other children and young people; other parents and carers and staff.
    • Support their children to develop safe behaviours at home. Check on and supervise their children’s social interactions, including online.
    • Seek support from our staff to create consistent responses to behaviours of concern. This includes at home and at our site.
    • Take part in learning opportunities about safe and inclusive behaviour. Find out how we work with parents, carers, children and young people.
    • Know about our behaviour support policy and procedure. Know how to identify and report behaviours that are concerning or unsafe.
    • Talk to their children about safety issues, including unsafe behaviours. Help them understand what it is, why it’s harmful and how to respond. Use the same messages that Virginia Primary School promotes.
    • Make sure their children keep coming to our site while a behaviour issue is being resolved. This is in a child or young person’s best interest. If you feel that your children coming to our site is not in their best interest, talk to us.
    • Seek external professional support for their children when needed.
    • Do not approach other children or parents about behaviours of concern. Report this to us for follow up.
    • Understand that, because of confidentiality, we cannot share information about other children.
    • Support their children to stay off-site during suspension, exclusion or expulsion. A child can still come on-site if they have the leader’s written approval.