Policy For Dealing With Breaches Of Discipline
In applying this policy, the Subject Teacher, Form Teacher, Year Curriculum Co-ordinator Senior Teacher, Vice-Principal, Principal, Panel, Committee and Board of Governors shall have regard to any known family, health or other extenuating circumstances affecting the student’s behaviour.
MINOR BREACHES OF DISCIPLINE
a) Homework:-
i) The Subject Teacher will record the failure to produce work, or the production of poor quality work.
Parents/guardians may be informed via the Homework Diary.
ii) If it is a recurring problem parents should be informed by letter by the Subject Co-ordinator.
The Form Teacher and the Year Curriculum Co-ordinator shall be informed in advance and they may then interview
the student.
iii) If the problem still persists, after-College detention may be imposed. In such an event, the parents/guardians shall be
informed in advance, in writing. The parents may be asked to come to the College for an interview.
b) General Behaviour:-
i) A minor breach of discipline shall be dealt with by the member of staff witnessing or becoming aware of the breach,
who shall reprimand the student and may record the incident on an Internal Memo to the Form Teacher or Subject
Co-ordinator. An appropriate sanction can be imposed. Parents can be informed through a note in the student’s diary.
ii) If the student continues to commit minor breaches of discipline, the Principal may, if appropriate, treat the student as
having committed a major breach of discipline and apply the appropriate procedures.
NB: THE COLLEGE WILL KEEP A RECORD OF ALL MAJOR BREACHES OF DISCIPLINE.
a) If a student commits breaches of discipline which are related to poor self-organisation, classroom behaviour, etc, he/she
may be placed on report / target card by the Form Teacher or Year Curriculum Co-ordinator. A record is kept of their performance over a period of one or two weeks. It is signed daily by the Form Teacher or Year Curriculum Co-ordinator
and may be signed by parent(s)/guardian(s).
b) (i) If a student behaves in a wholly unacceptable manner during a class, either by posing a risk to themselves or others,
or by being grossly insolent, he/she may be removed from the class to a pre-arranged supervised location by the Class
Teacher. In such circumstances, an Internal Memo to the Year Curriculum Co-ordinator is completed explaining the
reasons for this sanction being imposed. The student concerned must not leave the room alone, but shall be sent to the
pre-arranged location (supervised by a Class Teacher, the Form Teacher, the Year Curriculum Co-ordinator, the
Vice-Principal or Principal) accompanied by another student or Classroom Assistant who then returns immediately to class.
The Class Teacher should telephone the member of staff to whom the pupil is being sent in advance - who, in turn should
confirm that the student concerned has arrived. Under no circumstances should a student escort another student judged
by the Teacher to be violent. In this situation the Teacher should send or another member of Staff.
Under no circumstances will students who have misbehaved be left standing unsupervised in corridors or outside classroom
doors.
This sanction may be imposed without (a) above having been imposed.
ii) If a student behaves towards a member of Staff outside of school in a totally unacceptable manner e.g. using either verbal
or physical abuse, the Principal should be informed as soon as possible. Depending on the seriousness of the offence
appropriate action should be taken e.g. after school detention or suspension. The parents/guardians should be informed
in writing.
N.B. If a member of Staff sees a student behaving in an inappropriate manner outside school hours and while they are not in
school uniform, that member of Staff is not obliged to take any action.
c) If a student commits a major breach of discipline, the Teacher becoming aware of the breach will refer the incident in
writing to the Year Curriculum Co-ordinator after which appropriate action will be taken.
This sanction may be imposed without (a) or (b) above having been imposed.
d) If a student commits a major breach of discipline, and the Principal and/or Year Curriculum Co-ordinator considers it
appropriate, the student may have privileges withdrawn. This sanction may be imposed without (a), (b) or (c) having been imposed.
e) If a student commits a major breach of discipline, and the Principal and/or Year Curriculum Co-ordinator/Vice Principal
considers it appropriate, the parents/guardians may be contacted and asked to come to the College.
A Governor or Governors may, on occasions, attend such a meeting at the invitation of the Principal.
A warning of suspension may be given.
This action may be taken without (a), (b), (c), or (d) above been imposed.
f) If a student commits a major breach of discipline, and the Principal considers it appropriate, the parents/guardians will be contacted by the Principal/Vice Principal and a warning of suspension given by telephone or in writing.
This action may be taken without (a), (b), (c), (d) or (e) above having been imposed.
g) (1) If a student commits a major breach of discipline and the Principal considers
suspension to be appropriate, the Principal may suspend the student for up to and including 5 College days.
This action may be taken without (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) or (f) above having been imposed. In no circumstances should a
student be removed from College premises during the College day except into the care of parents/guardians.
The Principal shall inform the Chairperson of the Board of Governors of his/her decision and he/she shall also notify the parents/guardians in writing of that decision. The Principal shall prepare a written report which shall then be placed in the
student’s record. The Principal will also inform in writing a representative of the Western Education and Library Board.
2) If the Principal wishes to suspend the student for a further period of time, he/she must inform the Committee who must then
meet to consider the student’s behaviour. No student shall be suspended for more than 45 days in any College Year.
The parents/guardians of the student shall be notified in writing of the date of the meeting of the Committee and informed
of their right to be represented at that meeting.
At the meeting the Committee shall review the student’s behaviour. Having considered all appropriate matters, including written/verbal reports from the student’s Form Teacher, Year Curriculum Co-ordinator and Learning Support Co-ordinator
(where appropriate), and the views of the student and parents/guardians, the Committee may:-
i) Authorise the Principal to impose a further period of suspension of up to
40 days or
ii) Issue a Formal Warning, in writing, that in the event of a further serious
breach of discipline the matter may be referred to the full Board of Governors
with a recommendation to consider the expulsion of the student.
iii) Authorise the Principal to impose a further period of suspension of up to
40 days and refer the matter to the Board of Governors with a recommendation
to consider the expulsion of the student.
In the event of i) above having been imposed the Committee shall inform the
parents/guardians of the decision and the reason/duration of the extension.
The Principal shall inform the Chairperson of the Board of Governors and a
representative from the Western Education and Library Board of the decision
of the Committee.
In the event of iii) above having been imposed the Committee shall (a) convene
a Special Meeting of the Board of Governors to consider the expulsion of the
student and (b) inform the parents/guardians in writing of the date of the Special
Meeting and of their right to be represented at that meeting (with or without a
legal representative) and (c) authorise the Principal to contact the appropriate
outside Agencies including the Western Education and Library Board to ensure
that all necessary information is available for consideration at the Special meeting
of the Board of Governors.
(iv) At the meeting of the Board of Governors the student’s behaviour shall be
reviewed. Having considered all appropriate matters including written/verbal
reports from the student’s Form Teacher, Year Curriculum Co-ordinator, and
Learning Support Co-ordinator (where appropriate) and reports of the relevant
outside Agencies, the views of the student, the representations of the
parents/guardians and the future educational provision of the student, the Board
of Governors may expel the student from the College.
(v) Parents/guardians shall be notified immediately in writing of the decision of the
Board of Governors and of their right to appeal the decision to the Western
Education and Library Board’s Suspension and Expulsion Tribunal. They will
also be informed of the time limit set by the Western Education and Library
Board for lodgement of such an appeal.
