Most school behaviour policies are written about beliefs. They describe what the school values, what it aspires to, and what it is committed to. They are usually well-intentioned. They are almost never read.
The problem is not the beliefs. The problem is that beliefs do not tell anyone what to actually do on Tuesday morning when a child is shouting across the classroom.
A policy tells you what the school believes. A practice document tells you what to say and do.
The policy/practice document bridges that gap. It takes the behaviours you want to see in your school and specifies exactly how staff should respond to them — the language to use, the routines to follow, and the things to stop doing. It is less a statement of intent and more a working manual.
The most important feature of a strong policy/practice document is the script. For each strategy, the document specifies not just what to do but what to say — and equally importantly, what not to say.
Take noise levels. Most behaviour policies mention them. But "we expect appropriate noise levels" tells a teacher nothing useful. A script does.
Silent Voice: a voice in your head only. Partner Voice: a voice only your partner can hear. Table Voice: a voice only your table can hear. Classroom Voice: a voice that everyone in the class can hear. — "Thanks for using a partner voice."
"It's getting really noisy." "QUIET!" "I can't hear myself think."
The anti-script is just as valuable as the script. It names the language that staff have defaulted to — language that is reactive, imprecise, and often counterproductive — and makes it visible. Once you can see it, you can stop using it.
Or take getting students' attention. The script below is simple and works. The anti-scripts beneath it are things most teachers have said this week.
"Year 4, stop and look at me. Thanks for looking at me; you're looking at me."
"Shouting." "Why aren't you looking at me?" "I'm waiting!" "Everyone's waiting for..."
When a school agrees on a shared script, something significant shifts. Students hear the same language from every adult. Expectations become predictable. The system stops feeling like something that varies from classroom to classroom and starts feeling like something that belongs to the school.
A common mistake when writing this kind of document is trying to implement everything at once. Schools that attempt to embed twenty new strategies simultaneously embed none of them properly.
The policy/practice document identifies a small number of "Big 6" strategies — the six that will have the greatest impact if embedded well. These are marked as the priority. Everything else in the document is either already in place or to be phased in later.
Typical Big 6 strategies include getting the class's attention, managing noise levels, walking in school, giving warnings consistently, using "thanks for…" language, and numbered heads for discussion. What matters is not the exact list but the discipline of choosing — and then actually embedding those six things before adding more.
A strategy that is used by 40% of staff is not a school strategy. It is the personal preference of four teachers in ten.
The policy/practice document includes a fidelity column. For each strategy, it records whether the approach is embedded (used by 85% or more of staff), embedding, or yet to be embedded. The method of monitoring is also specified — often simply asking two or three children per class whether they know the routine.
This column turns the document from a list of good intentions into a live audit tool. It makes the gap between policy and practice visible — and therefore closable.
The example document below is a completed version produced for a real primary school. It includes the full table of strategies, scripts, anti-scripts, monitoring methods, and fidelity ratings. The school name has been retained deliberately — it is useful to see what a completed document looks like in practice.
The blank template is the same document with the school-specific content removed. Fill in your school name, work through the strategies with your staff, and record what you are currently doing and what you want to embed next. It is designed to be a working document — something that sits in a folder and gets updated, not something that gets filed away.