"You can't teach children to behave better by making them feel worse.
When children feel better, they behave better." (Pam Leo).

With pastoral care at the heart of our school, Coton Church of England Primary is committed to creating a positive and inclusive environment for our children, staff, visitors and wider community by offering a therapeutic culture. Underpinned by effective relationships and staff knowledge of our children, while our Behaviour Policy is intended for the majority of our children, we recognise the rights and needs of all children and endeavour to ensure an equity of entitlement. For a small number of identified children, ‘blanket rules’ may not be appropriate and adults will need to consider expectations that are sensitive to this and do not ‘set the children up to fail’ (but at the same time are discreet enough to ensure other children do not feel they are unjustly treated in response). In some cases, identified children will need bespoke approaches and potentially individual timetables and/or Therapeutic Plans.

We acknowledge that engagement and behaviour is a communication in response to a stimulus, experience, thought or feeling. Interactions that happen outside and within school can impact on moods and behaviour.

As adults in school, we recognise that whilst we have no control over external influences, our role is to foster an inclusive, nurturing environment in school where all members of our community can feel safe, secure and accepted. We recognise that as the adults in school, we are the key influential figures in our response to moods and behaviour.

Please see our Behaviour and Therapeutic Thinking Policy (below) for more details.