Responsible Behaviour Curriculum

What is it?

The Responsible Behaviour Curriculum teaches essential skills for children to become life long learners and for them to lead productive and happy lives.
Children learn better when they know the boundaries and what is expected from them.
They also learn better when they are happy and feel safe.
The DfE have produced guidance asking schools to have a ‘behaviour curriculum.’
It is not enough to just specify how the children will walk around schools and when they will put their hands up.
We need to spend time improving children’s sense of responsibility and community, so they feel their education has purpose and they can express themselves and ask for what they need.

This has led to the development of the Responsible Behaviour Curriculum

What does it include?

This ‘Responsible Behaviour Curriculum’ approach allows you to teach four key elements:

FUNCTIONS – Self Regulation – developing each of the eight executive functions leads to better self-regulation

FENCES – Safety – Maslow recognises the importance of boundaries and expectations to ensure children feel happy and safe and, therefore, able to learn

FRAMEWORK – Communication – teaching children how to communicate lessens frustration and allows children to consider theirs, and others, feelings

FEATURES – Adult role – the emotional environment is key – enabling children to learn from key adults by providing the most positive and secure emotional environment possible.

What are executive functions?

Executive functions are the essential skills every human needs to function in life. For example, emotion and impulse control, organisation, memory and the ability to prioritise. The RBC explicitly teaches these aspects from the age of 3 to the age of 15/16. Good executive functioning leads to a self-regulated human. All of this is covered in the training.

Ofsted has recognised the importance of executive functions and makes reference to them in at least two of their recent publications.

Best start in life part 3: the 4 specific areas of learning – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Strong foundations in the first years of school – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Other agencies like the Education Endowment Foundation also refer to the importance of metacognition and self-regulation.

Metacognition and Self-regulated Learning | EEF (educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)

How metacognitive talk can support learning in in the early… | EEF (educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)

For reference, the eight executive function are as follows:

A table showing the eight executive functions addressed in the Responsible Behaviour Curriculum

My timetable is already tight. How will I fit it in?

The sessions for children are approximately 10 minutes long and will run as a thread through each phase in school. For example, you may start teaching rules and boundaries in September. This theme will run through the whole school and will include a whole school assembly, parent information, and important vocabulary. It is more like a continuous thread than a discrete and lengthy lesson.

What is the impact?

The schools that have used the programme so far report better behaviour in general, more positive staff, a shared understanding of the behaviour policy and approach, and better parental engagement. This is within six weeks of using the programme.

What does the full programme include?

You will have access to 10 training sessions and the book explaining the whole programme. This includes the progression documents for all aspects of executive functioning looking at what is needed for children from 3 to 15/16. You can also gain access to the website materials. These materials include lessons for each week for each phase in school (Early Years, KS1, LKS2, UKS2, and KS3). There are also prewritten assemblies and parental leaflets. Each week includes audio training and further research and information. The materials are constantly being updated to meet the needs of our schools and to meet the changing demands of the children are young people.

The programme is a subscription based model meaning we offer continuous updates and improvement, with new resources available to you whenever you need them.

We can be flexible with schools in difficult circumstances – you just need to get in touch!

We also have a blog written by Sarah Quinn – click through to read on…

FUNCTIONS

Functions will focus on the development of the pre-frontal cortex and how this dictates the ability of the children to demonstrate the functions above.

The programme looks specifically at what children can cognitively manage at the ages of 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15.

What are FUNCTIONS?

The things that push us to act and react.
The things that pull us back from acting and reacting.
The things that support us to think around our impulses.
The things that challenge us to stretch our thinking.

Functions develop in the pre-frontal cortex and are not developed until late teens (at the earliest). Good functioning leads to good regulation.

This part also looks at the importance of healthy living and how children sometimes need specific motivators to activate the executive functions that enable them to perform in school.

There are many challenges for the children in relation to executive functioning. Executive functioning leads to self-regulation. But, children need healthy living and regulated role models to learn from. This can cause barriers for some children.

Research is clear – good regulation leads to better socio-economic outcomes and better academic outcomes. Where schools focus on the development of self-regulation, behaviour improves, attendance improves, engagement improves and, ultimately, outcomes improve.

FENCES

Fences will focus on the importance of clear, age appropriate boundaries, and high expectations. These expectations help children know right from wrong. This leads to feelings of safety.

Maslow’s hierarchy of need puts this into a very relatable context. The children must have their basic, physiological needs met. They are then more likely to feel safe – boundaries and expectations contribute to this feeling of safety. When children feel safe, they are more likely to trust. This leads to stronger relationships and better self-esteem and means that children are more likely to see and reach their potential.

This session looks at appropriate boundaries for children from the age of 3 to 15/16 in the classroom, outside, when playing with each other and when talking to adults. Issues of respect are explored and the importance of looking after each other and the environment.

FRAMEWORK

Framework gives children a structure for communication. This lessens frustration when children can’t communicate how they feel and what they think.

The programme looks at removing barriers to communication and gives suggestions for sentences, sentence stems, and appropriate vocabulary from the age of 3 to the age of 15/16.

There are suggestions and tips to support adults in developing children’s ability to communicate, overcoming barriers, and this is looked at in a systematic way.

Children have an innate predisposition to communicate. We can harness this in a very positive way by having knowledge of language acquisition stages and what might prevent children from being able to communicate. We will consider who adults speak to children and the best way to get children talking.

FEATURES

Features enable adults to consider the emotional environment we provide for children. How do the adults enable children to become responsible citizens?

We know the importance of a good, adult role model to support the development of children’s knowledge and understanding. We also know that the emotional environment in school has a big impact on children’s motivation and engagement. Children as young as two years old can tell whether an adult is genuine just by looking at their face and observing their body language. In fostering responsible human beings, the features of the environment are key, and this starts with the culture you foster through the development and agreement of your shared values. Your values drive every decision you make. From the development of a policy to the colour you paint the wall in the hall.

Your values are the thread that runs through everything and determine the emotional ‘weather map’ throughout your school.

This part enables you to consider the values in school and how you exemplify the values on a daily basis. The culture you foster plays a huge role in the development of responsible and respectful relationships.

We will look at a number of models to foster relationships and to support the development of the right environment.

WHAT NOW?

This part will enable you to develop an understanding of how to implement the right environment, explicitly teach executive functioning and language, and to foster feelings of safety and responsibility.

To do this, we will action plan taking your school, class, group, from their starting points, looking carefully at their context – strengths, barriers, gaps – and what needs to happen next. You will leave with a comprehensive plan for the short and long term with desirable outcomes and essential actions.

The Responsible Behaviour Curriculum book is available now online (this book comes as part of a subscription package or can be purchased as a stand alone product)

Below are some explample slides from our whole school training. This is just a tiny sample of our comprehensive training!

To find out about our pricing and subscription options please fill in the contact form below and we will be in contact! Be sure to add your preferred method of contact whether email or phone!

We are excited to hear from you!