Parent Code of Conduct

At St George’s Primary School we are very fortunate to have such supportive and friendly parents who work in very close partnership with the school. Our parents recognise that educating children is best achieved through working together in a partnership between parents, class teachers, other school staff and the wider school community. As a partnership, our parents understand the importance of having a good relationship to equip children with the necessary skills for adulthood. For these reasons we continue to welcome and encourage parents/carers to fully participate in the life of our school.

Purpose and Scope

In our school, we believe it's important to:

Work in partnership with parents to support their child's learning
Create a safe, respectful and inclusive environment for pupils, staff and parents
Model appropriate behaviour for our pupils at all times

To help us to do this, we set clear expectations and guidelines on behaviour for all members of our community. This includes staff (through the staff code of conduct) and pupils (through our Mental Health, Wellbeing and Behaviour policy and the Children's Charter).

This code of conduct aims to help the school work together with parents and carers by setting guidelines on appropriate behaviour. We use the term 'parents' and 'carers' to refer to:

Anyone with parental responsibility for a pupil (See Appendix 1 for information and the school's response to Parental Responsibility and Family Court matters)
Anyone caring for a child (such as grandparents or child-minders)

Our expectations of parents and carers

We expect parents, carers and other visitors to:

Respect the ethos, vision and Core Purpose of our school.
Work together with staff in the best interests of our pupils.
Treat all members of the school community with respect - setting a good example with speech and behaviour.
Seek to clarify a child's version of events with the school's view in order to bring about a peaceful solution to all issues.
Correct their own child's behaviour (of those in their care), particularly in public, where it could lead to conflict, aggression or unsafe conduct.
Approach the right member of school staff to help resolve any issues of concern.
Avoid using staff as threats to admonish children's behaviour.

Behaviour that will not be tolerated

Disruptive, or threatening to disrupt, school operations (including events on the school grounds, in the community such as school trips or sports team matches)
Using loud or offensive language, swearing, cursing, spitting, using profane language or displaying temper at a member of staff or other parents.
Threatening to do actual bodily harm to a member of school staff, Governor, visitor, fellow parent/carer or pupil regardless of whether or not the behaviour constitutes a criminal offence.
Sending abusive messages to another member of the school community, including via Class Dojo, email or social media, phone messages or written communication.
Posting defamatory, offensive or derogatory comments about the school or any of the pupils, its staff or any member of its community, on social media platforms. Any concerns you have about the school must be made through the appropriate channels, which includes the School Complaints Procedure. You can speak to the class teacher in the first instance, the Headteacher or the Chair of Governors so they can be dealt with fairly, appropriately and effectively for all concerned. If you are not happy with the outcome, you can also ask for a copy of the Complaints procedure and follow the steps for a formal complaint.
Damaging or destroying school property or the environment.
Use of physical punishment against your child while on school premises.
Any aggressive behaviour (including verbally or in writing) towards any child or adult including physical punishment against your own child.
Disciplining another person's child - please bring any behaviour incidents to a member of staff's attention.
Possessing or taking drugs (including legal highs).
Bringing dogs onto the school premises (other than guide dogs)

Incidents in the Community

We expect that all parents and carers promote positive relationships within the community and that children have the ability to access good examples of conflict resolution with others from the adults who care for them. In the event of aggressive or threatening behaviour from adults outside of the school premises, we stress the importance of contacting community agencies with a specialism to support and maintain safety for all involved. This includes local police, community police or the local council for advice and assistance.

Breaching the code of conduct

If the school suspects, or becomes aware, that a parent has breached the code of conduct the school will gather information from those involved and speak with the parent about the incident. Depending on the nature of the incident, the school may then follow the Harassment, Staff Abuse and Persistent Complaints Policy, including:

Sending a warning letter to the parent
Inviting the parent into school to meet with a senior member of staff or the Headteacher
Contact the appropriate authorities (in cases of criminal behaviour or Child Protection concerns)
Seek advice from a legal team regarding further action (in cases of conduct that may be libellous or slanderous)
Ban the parent from the school site

Should any of the above behaviour occur on school premises the school may feel it is necessary to contact the appropriate authorities and if necessary, even ban the offending adult from entering the school grounds.

We trust that parents and carers will assist our school with the implementation of this policy and we thank you for your continuing support of the school.

Other related policies:

Harassment, Staff Abuse and Persistent Complaints Policy

We expect our families to work in partnership in an atmosphere of mutual respect and understanding.

Appendix 1:

Our practice has been developed in accordance with the DfE guidance, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dealing-with-issues-relating-to-parental-responsibility/understanding-and-dealing-with-issues-relating-to-parental-responsibility

Everyone who is a parent or has legal parental responsibility (whether they are a resident or non-resident parent) has a right to participate in decisions about their child's education and receive information about the child (even though for day-to-day purposes the school's main contact is likely to be a parent with whom the child lives on school days). As a school we must treat all parents equally unless there is a court order limiting an individual's exercise of parental responsibility.

Individuals who have parental responsibility whether they are the resident parent or not have the right to:

information, e.g. pupil reports/attendance
to participate in activities, e.g. vote in elections for parent governors
to be asked to give consent, e.g. to the child taking part in school trips
to be informed about meetings involving the child, e.g. Parent Consultations. Where a parent's actions, or proposed actions, conflict with our ability to act in the child's best interests, we will try to resolve the problem with that parent but avoid becoming involved in conflict or offer biased support in favour of either parent.

However, there may be occasions when a school needs to decline requests for action from one or more parents. In cases where we cannot resolve the conflict between separated parents, we will advise the parent to pursue the matter through the Family Court. We urge parents to engage in appropriate systems to resolve their conflicts and avoid making impulsive decisions that may affect the child's wellbeing. While we will honour the terms of a court order, issues around residency and contact arrangements remain a civil matter to be agreed between the parents and will not be facilitated by members of our staff. Court orders under section 8 of the Children Act 1989 (often called section 8 orders) settle areas of dispute in relation to the exercise of parental responsibility or a child's care or upbringing, and can limit how an individual exercises their parental responsibility. It must be noted that a court order limiting a parent's exercise of their parental responsibility does not necessarily prevent or restrict us from continuing to carry out our duties under education law including safeguarding.

Appendix 2

Inappropriate use of Social Network Sites

Social media websites are used increasingly to fuel campaigns and complaints against schools, Headteachers, school staff and in some cases other parents/children. The Governors of St. George's Primary School consider the use of social media websites being used in this way as unacceptable and not in the best interest of the children or the whole school community. Any concerns you may have must be made through the appropriate channels by speaking to the class teacher, Headteacher or the Chair of Governors, so they can be dealt with fairly, appropriately and effectively for all concerned.

In the event that any pupil or parent/carer of a child/ren at St. George's Primary School is found to be posting libellous or defamatory comments on Facebook or other sites, they will be reported to the appropriate 'report abuse' section of the network site. All social network sites have clear rules about the content which can be posted on their site and they provide robust mechanisms to report contact or activity which breaches this. The school will also expect that any parent/carer or pupil remove such comments immediately.

In serious cases the school will also consider its legal options to deal with any misuse of social networking and/or other sites. Additionally, and perhaps more importantly is the issue of cyber bullying and the use by one child or a parent to publicly humiliate another by inappropriate social network entry. We will take and deal with this as a serious incident of school bullying. Thankfully incidents like this are extremely rare.

We would expect that parents would make all persons responsible for collecting children aware of this policy.