“Too often we forget that discipline really means to teach, not to punish.

A disciple is a student, not a recipient of behavioural consequences”

Dr. Dan J. Siegel,

We are on a journey to embed Therapeutic Thinking and approaches to behaviour in school. This initiative mirrors many of the school’s existing behaviour strategies and ethos and fits with our three rules, being Be Loving, Open and Thoughtful, (LOT). Having completed a training programme, reviewed our behaviour policy which is now referred to as, “Therapeutic approaches to behaviour and learning policy,” we are now implementing therapeutic approaches to behaviours across the school.

What is Therapeutic Thinking?

Therapeutic Thinking is a philosophy. It focuses on how all children and young people are to be supported, particularly in terms of their emotional wellbeing and mental health.

How do we support this?

This approach complements our school ethos and supports the approach the school takes, giving a theoretical backing to what staff have known instinctively is the right way to support children. Therapeutic thinking is about creating a culture in which each child is given the help he or she needs to overcome those barriers to learning and achieve success.

Our staff and children deserve to work in a school where they are treated with courtesy and respect; therefore a cornerstone of therapeutic thinking is that every school’s behaviour policy must explain how to create a calm and safe learning environment for all members of the school community. Part of this includes having consistent (but not rigid) ways of dealing with pro and anti-social behaviours. The consequences given for bad behaviour are either developmental, for example helping the child to understand the impact of their behaviour, or protective, preventing them from behaving in anti-social ways until they receive the support they need that helps them to make better decisions.

 “An approach to behaviour that prioritises the pro-social feelings of everyone within the dynamic.”

Click here to read our Therapeutic Thinking Approach to Behaviour Policy and click here for the appendice