Everyone thrives on encouragement and staff should praise a girl whenever appropriate, either for the standard of her work or for the effort put into it. Good pieces of work should be displayed in the subject room if possible.

The following are the means of awarding House Points for Academic achievements:

i. Headmistress’s Commendation (worth 5 House Points)
These are the ultimate reward. They should be awarded sparingly and are available to all girls in Year 7 and above. They are awarded for any achievement or effort which is outstanding for that particular individual and clearly exceeds the criteria for a section commendation. They need not be confined to academic work.

Procedure for giving a Headmistress’s Commendation: inform the girl and then complete the yellow form which should be given to the Resources Administrator who will inform the Head of Section and the Head’s Personal Assistant. The girl will be invited to show the work concerned to the Headmistress, will receive a certificate from her and will sign the Headmistress’s Commendation Book.

ii. Section Commendation (worth 3 House Points)
These may be awarded to any girl in Year 7 and above for a significant piece of work or several consecutive pieces of work deemed to be excellent relative to the girl’s usual standard of achievement (i.e. an individual’s academic ability should be taken into account when awarding commendations for academic achievement). A commendation can be awarded for any aspect of school life.

Procedure for giving a Section Commendation: inform the girl and then complete the orange form and give to the Resources Administrator, who will inform the Head of Section. The girl concerned will be invited to show the work to her Head of Section and will receive a certificate (Lower School and Sixth Form) and will sign the Commendations Book (Upper School).

iii. Merit (worth 1 House Point)
This may be awarded to all girls in Upper and Lower School. It can be awarded for good work and for good behaviour, for example for a piece of work that is very good for the individual or a series of good pieces. Generally, Merits are awarded for smaller pieces of work than are required for a commendation. A Merit may also be awarded if a pupil has been particularly helpful. To award a Merit, write this in the girl’s homework diary on the appropriate page, the girl will then be given a sticker by her Form Tutor. When she has seven Merits she should see the Head of Lower School to collect a special sticker.

iv. Grade Sheets: Effort Grades
All A grades for effort - 5 House Points (all Sections of the Senior School)
High proportion of A grades for effort - 3 House Points (Lower and Upper School - 8+A grade; Sixth Form - more than 50% A grades).

v. Presentation of Awards

Awards of various kinds are presented to the girls during morning Assembly and the Headmistress is always pleased to hear of any activity that merits special mention in Assembly.

B. Discipline

The policy of the School is to educate girls to develop a sense of responsibility and to become self-disciplined.

It is the responsibility of each teacher to maintain good order during his/her lessons so that sound learning may take place. It is the responsibility of all staff to maintain good order and adherence to the School’s Code of Conduct at all other times.

Minor lapses in behaviour or effort should be reprimanded and, if necessary, guidance given about the correct way to behave or study. If a girl is persistently or seriously in breach of the School’s Code of Conduct, firm action appropriate to the offence should be taken. Detailed guidance for staff on the appropriate action to be taken is outlined in the Code of Conduct (Section 11).

Detention

For minor infringements of the Code of Conduct, relating to pastoral and academic matters, the sanctions may be:

a reprimand
a warning, oral or written
extra work or redoing of work
a lunchtime detention

1. A lunchtime detention may be given for:

repeated lateness
persistent failure to meet deadlines or to come prepared for lessons with the right books and equipment
inadequate effort

This detention shall take place during from 12.55pm - 1.25pm in Lab S1 and shall be supervised by a member of the teaching staff. The person giving the detention should complete the appropriate form and hand this to the Resources Administrator, who will inform the girl concerned of the date of the detention and the girl’s Form Tutor within 24 hours using the appropriate pro-forma. A letter will be sent to the parent’s by the office. The Resources Administrator will keep a record of detentions which will be displayed on the school notice board each week and so that House Points can be deducted.

2. A school detention shall be given for serious lapses in behaviour, such as but not limited to:

rudeness
wilful disobedience
dishonesty

abusive language

This detention shall take place on a Friday after school. Parents shall be informed in writing by the Head of Section, and the girl’s name and details will be entered into the Detention File. A school detention may only be given to a girl by her Head of Section. Members of staff should report any such serious lapse of behaviour to the relevant Head of Section within 24 hours. Friday detention shall be supervised by senior members of staff according to the rota. A suitable task should be set for the detention period, (not school work) and recorded in the Detention File.

After three school detentions, or for serious breaches of the Code of Conduct, a Saturday detention shall be given. These detentions shall be supervised by Heads of Section. The Resources Administrator must again be notified so she can deduct the correct House Points.

NOTES

1. A record of the number of school detentions a pupil receives throughout her school career shall be kept and a record made in reports to parents.

2. Girls who repeatedly breach the uniform code, or the Sixth Form dress code, shall have a letter sent home by the Head of Section. Subsequent offences shall be regarded as disciplinary matters and a school detention may be given.

3. If any pupil fails to complete the work required in a subject in a particular term, she shall be required to complete the work during the holiday period.

4. For any infringement of the examination code in school examinations, disciplinary procedures shall apply as in Public Examinations. Any infringements of these regulations may lead to disqualification of the candidate.

5. Bullying, stealing or vandalism in school are very serious offences, which may lead to suspension. Persistent bullying, persistent stealing and persistent vandalism will result in the expulsion of the perpetrator(s).

6. For smoking tobacco on school premises, a first offence shall lead to a fine, a letter to parents and a Saturday detention. The pupil shall be suspended after a second offence and may be expelled after a third. The offence of smoking applies not only to smoking in school but also to any pupil seen smoking out of school whilst wearing school uniform.

7. For bringing alcohol onto the school premises, or for consuming alcohol on the school premises without the permission of the Headmistress, a first offence shall lead to a fine, a letter to parents and a Saturday detention. The pupil shall be suspended after a second offence and may be expelled after a third. The offence of consuming alcohol applies not only in school, but also in the case of any pupil seen consuming alcohol out of school whilst wearing school uniform.

8. For possessing, using or distributing illegal drugs on school premises, a first offence will normally result in immediate expulsion. Where the school has no direct evidence, but reasonable grounds to believe that a girl may be using illegal drugs, then she and her parents will be required to sign an agreement that, in the event of any further concern, the school may carry out a drug test. If a drug test proves positive, the girl concerned will be expelled. Any pupil found to have been cautioned or prosecuted by the police for distributing illegal drugs outside school will be expelled. The improper use of solvents will be treated with the same degree of seriousness as the use of illegal drugs.

9. The above clauses apply during all school activities.

10. For serious or repeated breaches of the Code of Conduct the Headmistress will decide on the sanction to be given.

11. The Headmistress’s decision shall be final.

Detention Supervision

Lunchtime detention is supervised by members of staff according to a rota

Friday detention is supervised by the senior member of staff on duty that evening.

Saturday detention is supervised by the Head of Section

Girls should report to the member of staff on duty.

Colleagues taking detention should collect the Detention Box File from the Resources Administrator and register girls as present in the Detention File. Please make a note in the book of any absentees and report any girl who is absent to the Head of Section concerned. A suitable task should have been set.

Girls should sit separately and work in complete silence throughout the session. During the detention, please note any observations about pupils’ behaviour/attitude – positive as well as negative – in the space provided in the book. Any failure to behave appropriately should be reported to the Head of Section.

Please ensure that the work set has been completed and indicate in the file that this has been done.

At the end of the session please:

return the Detention Box File to the Resources Administrator
hand notes regarding any absentees or misbehaviour to Heads of Section

pass completed task to the relevant member of staff

Record-keeping

A copy of the letter written to the parents by the Head of Section should be placed in the girl’s file. Friday detentions should also be recorded in the Detention Register in the Staffroom. Heads of Section should inform the Deputy Headmistress (Pastoral) of any Saturday detentions to be given. For serious breaches of the code of conduct the Headmistress may suspend a girl from school for one or more days. The parent(s) will be informed in writing and a copy of this letter should be placed in the girl’s file.

The Deputy Headmistress (Pastoral) will inform the Resources Administrator of any detentions or suspensions and the appropriate House Points will be deducted from the total(s) for that term.

Departmental detention - 1 House Point
Friday detention - 3 House Points
Saturday detention - 5 House Points
Suspension - 10 House Points