Positive Behaviour Policy

At Little Wonderland Nursery we believe that children flourish best when they know how they and others are expected to behave. Children gain respect through interaction with caring adults who act as good role models, show them respect and value their individual personalities. Little Wonderland Nursery actively promotes, encourages and praises positive, caring and polite behaviour at all times and provides an environment where children learn to respect themselves, other people and their surroundings.

 

Children need to have set boundaries of behaviour for their own safety and the safety of their peers. Within Little Wonderland Nursery we aim to set these boundaries in a way which helps the child to develop a sense of the significance of their own behaviour, both in their own environment and that of others around them. Restrictions on the child’s natural desire to explore and develop their own ideas and concepts are kept to a minimum.

We aim to:

• Recognise the individuality of all our children and that some behaviours are normal in young children e.g. biting
• Encourage self-discipline, consideration for each other, our surroundings and property
• Encourage children to participate in a wide range of group experiences to enable them to develop their social skills
• Ensure that all staff act as positive role models for children
• Encourage parents and other visitors to be positive role models.
• Work in partnership with parents by communicating openly
• Praise children and acknowledge their positive actions and attitudes, therefore ensuring that children see that we value and respect them
• Encourage all staff working with children to accept their responsibility for implementing the goals in this policy and to be consistent
• Promote non-violence and encourage children to deal with conflict peacefully
• Provide a key person system enabling staff to build a strong and positive relationship with children and their families acknowledging that relationships are at the heart of positive outcomes for children.
• Provide experiences and stories to help children learn about accepted behaviours, including opportunities for children to contribute to decisions about accepted behaviour where age/stage appropriate
• Supporting and developing self-regulation and empathy as appropriate to stage of development including the implementation and promotion of the emotionworks programme.

 

 

Implementation

• Positive relationships between adults and children are key to ensuring that children feel safe, secure and happy.
• Children will be supported to understand emotion words to help them to articulate their feelings, before moving on to exploration of triggers, body sensations, behaviours and regulation strategies in a child friendly way.
• Children will be supported by staff through observations and/or discussions to identify triggers for behaviour and this will be used to find de-escalation and regulation strategies.
• All adults are aware that behaviours can be caused by influences which not be present in the nursery environment. Adults will consult with families at the earliest opportunity to discuss children’s behaviour and will update children’s personal plans to reflect any discussion and strategies identified to support the child.
• Adults will provide a nurturing environment for children at all times and will not use raised voices.
• Adults will be positive role models to children at all times.
• Should the nursery and family feel that children’s behaviour is impacting on their own and others wellbeing, outside agencies may be consulted to help support the child. Eg educational psychologist, educational visitor/ health visitor.
• An individual educational plan may be created for children who are unable to regulate their emotions and additional adult support may be required to support the child effectively. This may be done through support from the local authority where appropriate.
• Any incidents occurring in nursery will be documented and discussed with the family on the same day. The incident report will be kept in nursery and the family may have a copy if requested. The Incident form should be signed by the family when the incident is being discussed.
• It is only by working together that the best outcome for the child will be achieved. Early discussions with the child’s family is very important.
• If a child does display a behaviour which has an effect on another person, the child will be supported to understand how they may have made the other person feel and find ways to make things right,
• All adults will understand that having a child say “sorry” for their behaviour is not the most effective way to help the child understand why their behaviour has upset/hurt another person. Instead, children will be supported to find a way to make things right. Eg help the adult to provide a cold compress for the hurt child to help them feel better.
• If a child’s behaviour is becoming dangerous to others, the other children may be re-directed to ensure they are kept safe.
• A time in approach will be used where an adult will remain close with the child to help support them to feel calm.
• All adults will remain calm when children are displaying behaviours, understanding that the child will need time to regulate before they can comprehend any way in which to resolve the behaviour.
• Families may be contacted should their child’s behaviour become dangerous to help aid the situation.

Policy created June 2024 - S.Sneddon

Policy Reviewed July 2025 - S.Sneddon