Behaviour Policy

Last updated October 2025.

Purpose and scope

Study Mind offers a quality service for parents and young people, and recognise the need to set appropriate limits to help manage the behaviour of young people.

Definition

Behaviour refers to functional and communicative acts, which are meaningful because they achieve important results for an individual. What counts as unacceptable behaviour to one person is not necessarily unacceptable behaviour to another. Study Mind enables young people to flourish by developing positive behaviours, attitudes and aspirations and is committed to the creation of teaching and learning environments where the learning, social and personal needs of young people are addressed. We aim to empower children to achieve in an atmosphere of safety and mutual respect. Everyone is expected to behave in a respectful way, to accept responsibility for their behaviour and to encourage others to do the same.

Purpose

The purpose of the policy is to provide a simple, practical code-of-conduct for staff, learners and parent/carers. It is intended for use in conjunction by staff and tutors with the Code of Conduct Agreement and for students and carers/guardians in conjunction with the Terms and Conditions and Code of Conduct for Summer Career Camp Programmes.

At Study Mind, we believe that a good behaviour policy is one of the keys to successful and effective teaching and learning. The policy applies to all students (1:1 tuition, alternative provision, studying with online and live courses and summer career camp programmes) and will encourage students to develop a feeling of self-confidence, self worth, respect for self and others, ability to negotiate, and a sense of their own and others’ equal value regardless of

race, gender, class or disability. This policy is designed to:

Enhance the development of positive relationships between student and tutor/s, as well as parents/carers.
Help raise students’ self-esteem and achievement through developing the ability to manage their behaviour and an acceptance of responsibility for their own actions
Promote positive behaviour
Manage challenging behaviour in an assertive, non-confrontational way
Ensure fairness and transparency
Encourage consistency of response to both positive and inappropriate behaviour
Promote early intervention
Enhance teaching and learning

Expectations

Of Study Mind

As a student you can expect:

To be welcomed at every tuition session
Respect from the tutors, who will listen and offer support
Respect and support from all admin and management staff at Study Mind
A safe place to learn
Help with planning your future

Learners know what they expect of a ‘good tutor’. Our experience has shown that most children and young people have a clear idea of what they want in the adults who help them learn.

Children want adults to:

Greet them each day
Smile
Ask about them and give them your attention
Help them dream of what they might be able to do
Challenge them and show them how to respond
Trust them
Take a personal interest in them as individuals and support them as individuals.

It is evident that children prefer to learn in a relaxed yet purposeful atmosphere and where the adults are safely in control; where they can progress their learning with success and be acknowledged as ‘people who matter’. We believe that where learners feel they are valued, they respect adults and accept their authority. Similarly, we recognise the implicit need for young people to develop the skills that make positive relationships with adults possible.

It is critically important that all Study Mind staff and tutors build strong relationships, develop high levels of personal resilience and have high expectations. Staff should never ignore or attempt to excuse poor behaviour. Rather, they should attempt to understand its communicative intent and teach the young person the skills associated with appropriate behaviours. Where required, Study Mind has clear procedures on escalating behaviour issues to Study Mind management.

Of Students

Arrive on time and be ready to learn for each planned lesson
Respect the tutor/s and all other Study Mind staff
Attempt to achieve the best you can in each session and engage with all your resources
Be proactive about booking lessons, ensuring you are responding to updates about services and engaging with your package.

Examples of conduct which support our expectations:

Following instructions
Appropriate and respectful language
Positive behaviour in lessons
Responding to reminders from Study Mind admin
Booking in lessons with tutors
Using your Online Courses/Dashboards as needed.
Engage in all activities with enthusiasm
Are well-motivated and not diverted from learning
Use understanding of their strengths and weaknesses when planning their learning with their Study Mind tutor
Have realistic expectations of what they want to achieve and know how to effectively stay on target and achieve in line with their ability with support from their Study Mind tutor
Can accept responsibility for their actions and move on.

Staff Strategies

Separate the behaviour from the student

Make the behaviour unacceptable; not the student
- Making the behaviour wrong allows for changing to better behaviour
Do not link poor behaviour to the student’s personality
- Linking good behaviour to a student’s identity builds self-esteem.

Actively build trust and rapport

Positive relationships are the heart of all we do
Building rapport with students requires effort, commitment and skill. It happens in many simple ways: learning names, greeting students at the start of messages, showing interest in what they do – both in the sessions and out of it, showing interest in them as human beings. In order to influence and guide students it is necessary to enter their world and be aware of their perspective.
People achieve more when they are confident and trusting
Having confidence and trust encourages risk-taking which leads to learning.

Model the good behaviour you want to see

Calmly resolve conflict using the planned approach to bad behaviour
Calmness, predictability and certainty are the key behaviours to model
Listen to problems and respond

Always follow up on issues that count

Always follow up student’s choices with a consequence
- Following up shows you care and what you say is important
Involve Study Mind management any time you need support
Be positive about future behaviour when following up
Keep the focus on the behaviour not the personality

Work to repair and restore relationships

Catching them being good afterwards allows them a way back
Remember that students may still be stressed or resentful
Allow time and repeat the attempts to be positive

Inappropriate behaviour

Behaviour is considered inappropriate if it does not follow the expectations within the tutoring environment policies/agreements. Inappropriate behaviour will be subject to one or more consequences. Consequences will be determined by the severity and persistence of the

inappropriate behaviour, and the circumstances. They are applied consistently and rigorously with the expectation that the student’s behaviour will improve/change. Behaviour is recorded in each lesson report for Alternative Provision students and will be logged for other students if inappropriate.

Inappropriate Behaviour: Categories

Minor

Talking out of turn/not listening
Disrupting others in group events
Not focusing on the task
Not having completed a task as requested by the tutor
Not paying attention
Not taking notes
Not completing homework
Not engaging in the lesson

Moderate

Rude language/backchat towards the tutor
Taking phone calls/playing on phone during the lesson
No video/muted during the lesson

Severe

Anything that constitutes a safeguarding issue eg. sharing inappropriate material
Aggressive behaviour towards the tutor or anyone at Study Mind

These are by no means exhaustive, but give tutors and staff an idea of what behaviours to escalate. Anything in Moderate to Severe categories must be relayed to Study Mind management straight away to be investigated.

Consequences: Inappropriate behaviour in lesson

Study Mind Behaviour Management Guidance

Study Mind wants all tutors and staff to feel empowered to create effective, safe and beneficial learning environments for all students. As such, there is a suggested procedure for dealing with any inappropriate behaviour.

Stage 1: Minor behaviour issues

In this instance, tutors should seek to speak directly to the student.

Be understanding and kind. Ensure that you describe the behaviour as unhelpful, rather than the student, explain why the behaviour is/is not helpful and be solution focused. For example, “I have noticed in our last few lessons that you haven’t been taking notes consistently. Notes are a great way to help you really process what we are doing in class and help you revise. Shall we look at some note taking strategies together?”
If things don’t improve, or the student refuses to improve, please discuss with Study Mind admin in your tutor group. You should ideally refer to lesson recordings for online lessons or reports for face to face lessons so the team can check for evidence to bring up with the student.
Study Mind can then discuss with students/guardians directly. Tutors can bring things up directly to guardians, but always after consultation with Study Mind for support.
If this persists, Study Mind may assign a different tutor. This does not mean that they necessarily believe that the tutor is at fault, it may be that the student requires a different tutoring technique.
If it continues, Study Mind may exclude the student from tutoring with Study Mind, either temporarily or permanently.

Stage 2: Moderate or Severe behaviour issues

These issues are naturally more complex, and may involve in person tutoring events.

Exclusions

The following are examples of inappropriate behaviour that will lead to immediate exclusions being implemented:

Verbal abuse
Inappropriate use of language
Defiance
Physical abuse
Walking off site in physical events
Damaging property in physical events
Theft of resources online or in person
Bringing inappropriate / dangerous / illegal materials to the tutoring session

In the first instance of the above, behaviours may include the suspension of attendance or tuition for safety reasons, informing the guardians and potentially the LADO.

Prior to tuition, students and their guardians are required to sign and acknowledge the Student Code of Conduct.

Documenting Behavioural Issues

All behavioural issues are documented. Stage 1 behaviour will continue to be monitored and if behaviour persists, the DSL will be notified and a meeting with the guardian (and student where appropriate) may be called to avoid an escalation of the behaviour to the detriment of learning and well-being of the student and member of staff.

Stage 2 behaviour will be immediately documented using a behavioural incident report form (see Appendix) and the DSL notified. The DSL will inform the local authority case worker (and other relevant authorities where necessary) and will collaborate to reach an agreement as to whether to temporarily suspend or permanently exclude the student from tuition.

Behavioural Issues are given codes for severity:

Green – Expected behaviour
Grey – Low-level concern
Orange – Behaviour Incident Stage 1 (disruption requiring intervention)
Red – Behaviour Incident Stage 2 (risk to safety or session termination)

Suspension or Termination of Tuition

If repeated stage 1 behaviour continues or a student displays stage 2 behaviour, the DSL will talk to the relevant local authority (or senior management in the case of summer career programmes) about next steps. It may be deemed that a temporary suspension of tuition/programme or a permanent suspension is necessary. If this is the case, parents/guardians will be notified via phone call and in writing before the next session of the temporary suspension and the length.

If tuition is being terminated, a full plan will be given to the guardians of the student with next steps to allow for continued support for the student via other pathways and/or agencies.

Physical Intervention

The use of restrictive physical intervention and search is very rare, and is wherever possible avoided. Where physical intervention is required, the accompanying guardian will be asked to intervene. Study Mind staff should only intervene if they have undergone the appropriate positive handling training. Study Mind follows the guidance as set out by the Department for Education. On an occasion where the use of restrictive physical intervention is appropriate, for example if a student is hurting themselves / others or likely to do so, any intervention used will always be reasonable, minimal in proportion to the circumstances of the incident and absolutely necessary, and will seek to avoid injury to the student. Where situations requiring physical intervention occur in a school setting, the school must be responsible for this and Study Mind tutors must not be held responsible in this setting.

Study Mind recognises that it is their legal duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled students and students with special educational needs. Any statutory or government policy change may apply, with immediate effect, to this policy. Similarly, the policy may, with immediate effect, be interpreted with respect to emerging technologies or other trends. For more information, please refer to the Department for Education “Use of reasonable force” document here.

Pupil Categories

For avoidance of doubt, Study Mind uses three numbers to categorise pupils – 3 being the most extreme.

If possible, schools and guardians will need to advise the category the young person falls into – a few examples are listed below (we appreciate this is not always possible). Study Mind must inform any tutor where a student falls into an A2/A3 category so they can implement this into their tutoring.

Examples of Categories

A1 Student

• Have established effective relationships with staff most of the time

• Can resolve problems using negotiation, discussion and compromise

• Can accept responsibility for their actions and move on

• Are involved in few disruptive incidents in tuition, rarely high-level

• Can resolve problems using negotiation, discussion and compromise

• Can accept responsibility for their actions and move on more often than not

A2 Student

• Rarely accept the authority of adults in the learning environment

• Are involved in frequent high-level disruption and a lot of low-level

• Deal with problems inappropriately (with confrontation, aggression or violence)

• Have shown some self-control

• Can discuss their behaviour, on occasion confrontational, aggressive or violent

• Do not accept responsibility for their behaviour nor acknowledge the effect it has on others.

• Have made progress to reduce the number of disruptive incidents they are involved in, but are still disruptive on occasion

A3 Student

• Cannot accept the authority of adults in the learning environment

• Are involved in frequent high-level disruption

• Have made no attempt to reduce number of incidents in tuition (or previous lessons)

• Deal with problems by being confrontational, aggressive or violent

• Do not accept responsibility for their behaviour nor acknowledge the effect it has on others

Any students that fall into A2 or A3 must be monitored by the Study Mind team and they are not automatically entitled to in person tutoring where Study Mind feels that this may be detrimental to learning or our staff and tutors. Study Mind may reserve the right to require that tutoring is undertaken on a 2:1 staff to student ratio if the behaviour has the potential to cause harm to staff and/or the student. That said, all students are treated as a blank slate, with previous behavioural issues not being held over students and they are all given the opportunity to take part in learning with the assumption that issues may not occur so they have the chance to perform well.