Our Approach

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At Five Ways our core purpose is to create the conditions for our students to be able to thrive and flourish. We have four guiding principles which drive our work:

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• Every student should feel seen, supported and safe.

• The relationship between staff and students should always be a nurturing one, grounded in high expectations.

• Students should always demonstrate our character virtues, even when they are away from staff gaze.

• Our systems should be so robust that they create equity of experience.

We are extremely fortunate that our students are renowned for being able to self-regulate; conform to our explicit expectations; and demonstrate sound decision making. This means that our classrooms are excellent learning environments, grounded in respect and where scholarship is celebrated.

 

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Our Expectations

We have three core rules: students should be Ready to learn, Respectful to everyone and should conduct themselves in a Safe manner. The language of ‘Ready, Respectful and Safe’ is used significantly in conversations with students and within our behaviour framework. We break these three rules down into various sub parts and aim for students to develop a strong understanding of them, in order for them to make highly conscious choices.

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Class Charts

Class Charts is an online platform that we use to help us deliver our pastoral vision. It is used to create our seating plans; register attendance; create announcements; centralise local knowledge on students; and track conduct. What we particularly like about it is that we have been able to build it around our Ready, Respectful, Safe (expectations) and Five Ways Graduate (aspirations) frameworks so that teachers can reward students for demonstrating the virtues and also use the system to challenge poorer conduct. Class Charts has a parent application, allowing parents and carers to access a live feed and monitor all aspects of their child’s school life.

Please click the link below to access a simple guide on how to access the parent application. Please contact the school office if you have not received (or have misplaced) your log in credentials.

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Positive Reinforcement

When students conduct themselves in a way that matches our aspirations, we will go out of our way to spotlight, celebrate and model it. We firmly believe that catching students getting it right is the best way to promote excellent conduct. Below is a sample of the ways in which we positively reinforce excellent conduct:

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House Points- When teachers observe our Five Ways Graduate virtues in action, they will award House Points via Class Charts. We track these House Points across the year and use them as the basis for other rewards.

Praise Records- At the end of every lesson a teacher will issue a Praise Record to a single student who has gone above and beyond. We ask teachers to provide a written reason on Class Charts so that parents are able to see what led to its issue. This Praise Record is a very notable achievement and is worth 3 House Points.

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Commendation Cards- Each week Form Tutors are asked to review the performance of their tutees across the curriculum and recognise one student with a Commendation Card. This physical card is formally presented in form time.

Colours- In our regular celebration assemblies, we issue Colours for performance in the curriculum, sport and music. Students will receive a badge to proudly wear on their blazer and a certificate.

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Special Commendations- In the aforementioned celebration assemblies, we also issue Special Commendations for achievements such as receiving the highest total of House Points or Praise Records. Special Commendations take the form of a certificate and can also be awarded for significant Acts of Service.

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The 100 Club- At the start of the academic year, we challenge all students to achieve induction into this club by receiving 100 House Points on Class Charts by May Half Term. The School Council are responsible for shaping what the reward of admission into the 100 Club looks like each year.

 

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Creating Opportunities for Reflection

When students conduct themselves in a way that falls short of our expectations, we believe it is important not to take a solely punitive approach. It is vital students are made accountable for their bad decisions and that they are negatively reinforced, however we choose to do this in a way that is developmental and correctional. In the event that a student does transgress, we ask our staff to follow a specific framework, in line with our pastoral vision:

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Penalty Points- In the event that a student does not demonstrate Ready, Respectful or Safe conduct, we ask our teachers to issue a Penalty Point on Class Charts. This allows all stakeholders (parents, tutors and pastoral leaders) to intervene as necessary.

Academic Support Session- If a student does not complete a piece of homework or produces work considered below their capabilities in lesson, teachers will direct students towards an Academic Support Session. These will take place at break or lunch time and will be an opportunity for the student to complete the work under supervision.

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Head of Year Detention- When a pattern of being unready emerges or there are episodes of disrespect or unsafe conduct, teachers will assign students a Head of Year Detention. This will be served in a consistent venue and will be supervised by the Heads of Year. The detention will be 30 minutes long and students will complete a reflection task. We ask that the member of staff who issued the detention also attend for a short period, so that they can host a restorative conversation with the student.

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Senior Staff Detention- This detention is served on a Friday after school for one hour and will be issued for any transgression considered to be significantly disrespectful or unsafe. It may also be issued for failing to attend a Head of Year Detention without good reason. Again, we ask that any colleague involved in the incident leading to the detention should also attend for a restorative conversation.

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Pastoral Support Room- The decision to suspend a student from school is never taken lightly. However, we unapologetically put the safeguarding, well-being and learning of the wider community as our ultimate priority, so will issue Fixed Term Suspensions where necessary. If this can be avoided, we will instead work with that student in our Pastoral Support Room. The student will be supervised by pastoral staff throughout the day but will be isolated from the school community. They will be led through a programme of activities to promote reflection and remorse to that the same mistake is not repeated.