At Co-op Academy Florence MacWilliams mutual respect lies at the heart of our culture. Staff are polite to students and students are polite to staff. Students will use the ‘Florence Finish’ at the end of all of their sentences which is to say ‘Sir, Miss, Mr Smith, Mrs Jones’ during interactions with adults.

For example:
Teacher: “Explain one factor that may influence the net profit of a business?”
Student: “One factor that may influence the net profit of a business would be the expenses incurred by the business sir.”
Teacher: “Why would that be a factor?”
Student: “It would be a factor because expenses are deducted from the gross profit to arrive at the net profit figure sir. If the expenses rise this may result in a lower net profit figure sir.”

Teacher: “Good morning Alice.”
Student: “Good morning Miss.”

All students are explicitly taught, and deliberately practice, our silence, entrance, exit, transitions, toilet routines and rules during their time at the Academy. All teachers pre-empt any off-task behaviour in lessons, so that 100% of students are on task for every task in every lesson. Teachers insist on one voice in the classroom for instructions, explanations and discussions, and silence for reading, writing and practice. As soon as behaviours such as any slouching, daydreaming, non-tracking or distracting occurs, teachers swiftly use these pre-emptive reminders.
Examples could include:

• Silent non-verbal: hand signal, eye contact, facial expression, shake head, sharp pause or clicking.
• Unnamed: ‘We’re tracking. Just waiting for 100%. We need one person … and 100%.’
• Named: ‘David, we should be SLANTing. Thank you.’

Co-op Academy Florence MacWilliams understands that school-based education is a proving ground for life and that children make mistakes. It is essential to the character development process required to be successful in life that children take responsibility for their mistakes and are supported pastorally to do so. The academy seeks to communicate regularly the standards of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour to students, families, parents and carers through social media, individual letters, assemblies and the curriculum.

In light of this, all students are expected to:

• Behave in an orderly and self-controlled manner.
• Show respect to members of staff and each other.
• Behave in a way that make it possible for teachers to teach and all students to learn in their lessons, at residentials and online at home.
• Move quietly around the academy in a quiet professional manner, including silent transitions between lessons.
• Treat the academy buildings and property with respect.
• Wear with pride, the correct uniform at all times.
• Accept sanctions by taking responsibility for action and not blaming others.
• Refrain from behaving in a way that brings the academy into disrepute, including when outside in the community or online.

At the start of each day students line up in their home groups when they arrive at school from 8.10am for an 8.20am start. This allows key messages to be delivered to all students at the start of the day and to regulate the staggered and calm entry to the school building. Each transition will be orderly and we believe that silent corridors are the most effective way to ensure our students are happy and safe when in school. They are an important part of our ambition for our students to get the best possible outcomes as they ensure a minimum amount of learning time is lost through students travelling between lessons and around the school. We therefore expect our students to be silent when travelling around our school building and students who fail to meet this expectation will be sanctioned
with a correction.  This prevents conflict, lost learning and maintains a calm, focused approach to learning. Students can always demonstrate PACE during transitions and will be expected to positively interact with staff such as saying “Good morning sir.”

Each year group has daily standing assemblies and an assembly once per week which focuses on a whole school theme. Senior and pastoral leaders, coupled with guest speakers, will deliver these over the course of an academic year. At the start of each half term, time will be dedicated to refresh assemblies in which senior staff will reiterate and explain the rationale and expectations of students at Co-op Academy Florence MacWilliams.