Tamariki School

Welcome to Tamariki School

For visitors,prospective parents, and people who come into our school to teach eg bike safety, art, music  etc

Please note that we do not have interval or lunch time.

We have a request, and meeting system which are essential to the culture and practice within the school.

Protocols for Adults in the School

These are designed to help you in relating to the children. The most important guideline is that you remember you are an adult and you will be interacting with vulnerable and inexperienced children. Model mature adult behaviour and set good limits.

Request and Meeting System

Use the request and meeting systems, or get a teacher to call a meeting for you. If you are not sure about a rule say “I wonder what the rule is about ….”. If the rule you are told seems unlikely, say in a wondering tone “I think I’ll just check that out to be sure.” The Playground Supervisor is a good person to ask.

Do not speak for your child unless the chairperson asks you to and give any relevant evidence in a very noncommittal, non – judgemental way, sticking closely to what you have seen today. Don’t say what you saw yesterday as it may not be relevant. Don’t give opinions or make deductions. It is remarkably easy to make assumptions, and some children can be easily made a scapegoat. We have found that adults do this more than the children do. Please come and tell a staff member if you have any concerns that the meeting has not met.

Please ask a staff member for guidance in any situation in which you might find yourself in conflict with a child, and are not sure whether to use requests or meetings, or feel too angry to deal with it according to the guidelines, if your child is involved.

Interaction Guidelines

Please do not shout at or scold any child, either your own child or another’s. Onlooking children can get really frightened and think they may be treated in a similar manner. It is not always easy to predict who will be sensitive to such things.

Do not make any jokes or comments about children, your own or others, where any child could even remotely possibly hear you.

Do not make sexual jokes or comments or discuss sexuality with children at all.

Remember that all teasing must be playful, with the consent of the child, and that the child must not be put at risk of humiliation or frustration.

Please do not offer the children rewards. Check with the Principal before you offer any activity that you are going to be operating within school programme guidelines.

Health Issues

Do not administer any kind of medication to a child but get the First Aid officer or a staff member to do this. In emergencies, check the child’s enrolment form. It will tell you what medications the child may have. Please do not discuss drugs and drug taking with children, unless you have their parents’ consent.

Touching Children

Parents rely on us to see that their children are not exposed to any sort of physical or psychological abuse or exploitation. We work to provide a safe environment in which the children can still get their own need for touching met. We recommend that except where a child has been hurt and needs carrying into the school, visitors avoid touching other people’s children.

Remember that children:

·         are inexperienced;

·         can be rendered both hostile and vulnerable by their need for approval;

·         can get themselves and you into compromising situations.

If you are not a staff member, it is better to have another adult present always, even with a group of children. If you are organising any activity, please discuss it with the Principal first.

Should a child say or do anything inappropriate to you, say “I request you not to” in a calm voice and mention it to the Principal. Staff have a training and a reporting system to deal with these interactions. Avoid being alone with that child until you are sure they have outgrown the behaviour. It is generally preferable to avoid being alone with any child you do not know well.

The occasional older child can be confrontational and verbally aggressive to adults, and this also is best dealt with by requests and if necessary by a meeting. “I have not given you permission to speak to me like that” is a good response.

When you are angry

Very occasionally an adult has found some child particularly confrontational and testing, and it can be very hard to restrain oneself in this situation. However, it is never OK to threaten, either verbally or by posture, any child. Get help immediately from a teacher. Hitting is illegal of course, and would render you liable to assault charges.

Often parents find themselves responding strongly to some child whose behaviour triggers feelings of real dislike in them and they usually feel the need to talk this over with other parents. The staff also can have these feelings when a child’s difficulties press a sore spot for us, and we too need to unburden ourselves. Our invariable practice is to support the stressed teacher but to have at least two teachers who talk about the child’s strengths and likeable qualities and usually offer to be at meetings or any other potentially difficult situation until the other teacher feels better about the child. That teacher with this support usually feels better almost immediately. We recommend that you do the same, recognising that the people who defend the child are keeping you safe from making a scapegoat him or her, and you do not need to persuade them that they are wrong.

If you have any queries about any of the above, please feel free to discuss them with staff and members of the Board of Trustees. There are also relevant policies in the policy folder in the office.

 

This page was last modified on: 17 Jun 2017 01:46:47