I follow the school’s “Traffic Light” behaviour system by using a Smart Notebook file with green, yellow, and red rows. When children misbehave, I write their name on Yellow, and if behaviour continues, they move to Red and are sent to the parallel teacher’s classroom.

In most classes from Reception through Year 2, I haven’t had to appeal to this system. In rare instances, some of the children in Year 2 have had to move their name down, but the majority of Early Years and Key Stage 1 children don’t pose significant behaviour issues.

Key Stage 2 behaviour is much more challenging, particularly Year 6 (2014-15). I regularly have to move names to Yellow or Red, and then I feedback to the teacher and ask them to apply the appropriate sanctions (losing Golden Time, etc). In Year 5 (2014-15), lessons occur before lunch, so if any behaviour issues take place during lessons, I take part of their lunch time. This is challenging for me since it takes away my own lunch, but I use that opportunity to ask children to reflect on their behaviour, or to finish work that they didn’t finish due to poor behaviour. When behaviour has been especially poor, I have recorded incidents on Scholar Pack, in accordance with the behaviour policy.

The behaviour problems in Years 3 and 4 are primarily related to low-level disruption (talking without permission, playing instruments at inappropriate times). I generally address those issues directly, and proceed with the lesson, but in some instances I have had to apply sanctions. In order to minimize low-level disruptions, I have created assigned seating for Years 3 and 4, and I plan to assign seats for Year 5 during the Summer term (2015).

My approach to behaviour management is based upon positive reinforcement. I much prefer to acknowledge good behaviour rather than bad behaviour, however this is difficult with the current behaviour policy. There are clearer sanctions rather than rewards, which has led me to address bad behaviour more than good behaviour. I think that using Scholar Pack could provide a clearer method of rewards and sanctions, as house points and detentions can be instantly assigned to any child for behaviour in lessons, during breaks, or during lunch. This approach would provide a central record of behaviour, which could then be translated into a more consistent and coherent system of rewards and sanctions.