We have a well-developed system to encourage good behaviour and help students to learn positively from their mistakes.

The system is called ‘Behaviour For Learning’. The system is easy for all students to understand and is consistently applied by all staff across the academy .

Students who make a significant helpful contribution or who show excellent effort or progress in their work and meet our daily expectations are rewarded with ‘Rushey Rewards’. These are logged through our computer system and celebrated in termly assemblies, on our plasma screens and in our newsletters.

Simple and sensible rules are in place to help us all to work harmoniously and effectively to achieve our best. Everyone is expected to show respect and concern for each other, demonstrate good manners and be smart, both in terms of appearance but also in demeanour.

When someone breaks a rule there are clear consequences:

  • Consequence one   – “C1” A verbal warning
  • Consequence two   – “C2” Final verbal warning
  • Consequence three – “C3” One hour detention after academy
  • Consequence four   – “C4” Withdrawal from the lesson, either to another class or to our reflection room
  • Consequence five – “C5” Internal Exclusion

When an after academy C3 detention is given parents/carers will be informed of this by text. Usually the detention is served later in the same week or early the following week.

Rushey 1-2-3

We want our students to broaden their interests and to develop their personal qualities, by embracing our Rushey 1-2-3 Expectations of Be Kind, Work Hard, Develop your Whole Self.  From the moment a student arrives at Rushey Mead Academy we ask them to live these expectations, so that it permeates in all that we do:

1 Be kind – We aim to develop respectful, tolerant students who are kind to everyone.

2. Work hard – We promote resilience, grit and determination as qualities to be admired and rewarded, at school, as they will be in life. We expect our students to respond to feedback, improve and not give up.  Our students will learn that success needs hard work and effort.

3. Develop your whole self – We want students to achieve more than just academic excellence.  We encourage all students to develop themselves through our extra-curricular provision, so that they leave Rushey Mead Academy as well-rounded citizens who are equipped with the skills they need for life. We want them to develop their leadership skills, sporting talent, musical and dramatic ability.  We expect them to raise money for charity and challenge themselves to try something new and unfamiliar. All of the experiences aim to develop a whole range of skills, which will help both to find rewarding jobs and to thrive more generally in later life

Rushey Mead Academy looks to develop students not only in terms of academia but also their wider self through a three strand approach of the ‘Rushey Way 1-2-3’; Be Kind, Work Hard and Develop Whole Self are the titles of the three strands and our reward system recognises student achievement in these areas.

Rewards are given to students for acts of kindness they show within the school community on a Bronze, Silver and Gold tier based on the number of points achieved. Hard work is also rewarded in this way, but is split into the individual subjects to recognise achievement in these areas and also to allow individual subjects to celebrate successes with the students.  The third strand, ‘Developing Whole Self’ is rewarded through the ‘Rushey Passport’ with wider contributions recognised at a graduation ceremony with a university feel based on points achieved throughout the year.

To encourage healthy competition and a sense of teamwork, the divisional structure offers six major trophy rewards. The main champion is the division with the most reward points over the year but the wider events that divisions are involved in, are also recognised with trophies for Sport, Charity, Reading, Attendance and Quizzes, thereby allowing all students to contribute and feel they are making a positive difference to themselves as well as the school community.

Students whose work or behaviour is showing a cause for concern may be placed onto a “Behaviour Report”.  Where there are issues within multiple faculty areas students’ will be placed on the most relevant report. This will give them the opportunity to focus on their behaviour and rectify this with the support of the school and parents/carers. In situations where students are unable to do this successfully, this will then be escalated to the next level where further intervention and sanctions will be in place to support students. In conjunction with parents , we aim to give students the intervention and support to rectify any issues at an early stage.

As we work to maintain a positive learning atmosphere throughout the academy , we appreciate close cooperation and support from all parents and carers. Sometimes a parent or carer will be invited to meet a member of the Pastoral Team to review a student’s needs. In some cases a ‘Pastoral Support Plan’ will be agreed to help coordinate support of all relevant adults and encourage the young person concerned to make best use of the support offered to them in order to meet personal targets.

In the interests of safety and welfare of our student population and the local community, the Head Teacher will respond as appropriate to incidents involving Rushey Mead students that arise outside the academy and may apply academy sanctions accordingly.