It is central to the philosophy of the Afterschool that all staff should be very positive at all times towards the children, towards each other and towards the Afterschool. Any issues or problems arising with children, other members of staff or parents/carers should be discussed in private with the Manager of the Afterschool. The passing of negative comments about parents, other staff or children is not acceptable in any form.
We recognise that children will pick up speech habits from their parents/carers, and may use speech, which is inappropriate (for example racial comments) without realising this to be the case. If this happens the parent/care must be contacted immediately and the difficulty pointed out. The parent must be requested to work with the child to show the child that the comments the child has made are not acceptable within the Afterschool.
Where the parent refuses to accept that the child has made these comments, or seeks to justify the comments on the grounds that they are valid, or just “child talk”, and the child “doesn’t really mean it” the staff must insist that action is taken to stop the child behaving in this way, and that justifications or excuses are not acceptable. The incident must be written down in the child’s behaviour incident book.
If the child shows no improvement in behaviour the child’s parent/carer must be sent a written warning, stating explicitly what the child is saying that is unacceptable, and warning the parent/carer that they will be asked to remove their child from the Afterschool if the behaviour does not stop within a specific timescale 2 weeks from the incident.
If the behaviour is not resolved the child will be excluded from Afterschool. Unacceptable verbal behaviour within this context includes any form of racist comments, verbal bullying and swearing.
Unacceptable physical behaviour will be dealt with in the same way.
Many incidents of violence go unreported. One of the reasons is that many employees in certain service areas accept that it is part and parcel of their job to handle aggressive behaviour.
It is vital that managers understand their responsibility to protect their staff from foreseeable risks of assault by those with whom they interact in the course of their work.
A risk assessment will be carried out to identify where employees are at risk from violence and steps will be taken to minimise the risk.
All staff that work at the Afterschool are entitled to work in a safe, secure environment.
Any person(s) who verbally threatens any member of staff will be dealt with accordingly.
They will be asked to leave the premises voluntarily or will be escorted off the premises.
Depending on the severity of the behaviour, the offender will not be permitted into the Afterschool again and this may result in your child Afterschool place being terminated. In the case of physical violence or the threat of it the Police will be called.
This can be done using Skoolz Out’s complaints procedures or by writing to
CARE INSPECTORATE.
Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland
Compass House
11 Riverside Drive
DUNDEE
DD1 4NY
Tele: 03456009527