When families tour our Laoshan campus for the first time, one question comes up more often than you might expect: How do you handle behavior? It is a thoughtful question, and we welcome it. Behind it sits a deeper concern. Parents want to know what kind of community their child will join each morning, what language teachers will use when things go wrong, and how a school’s stated values show up in real hallways.
A student code of conduct and behavior expectations are where those answers live. At Qingdao No. 1 International School of Shandong Province (QISS), we treat our student conduct policy as a living agreement between students, families, and educators, grounded in our Mindful Hearts philosophy and shaped by more than 25 years of practice since our founding in 1998.
This guide is written for parents weighing international schools in China and Qingdao specifically, and for returning families who want a clearer picture of how expectations are set and upheld. We will explain what a code of conduct is, what strong frameworks share, and how we approach the work day to day.
What a Student Code of Conduct Actually Does
A student code of conduct is a document that translates a school’s values into specific, observable student behavior expectations. It names what respect looks like in a Grade 3 classroom. It describes what honesty means on a Grade 11 lab report. It sets expectations for hallways, buses, online spaces, and off-campus events.
A good code is not a punishment list. The best frameworks today draw on evidence-based models like CASEL’s framework for social-emotional learning and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), a positive behavior support school model that focuses on building skills rather than cataloguing offences. Research from John Hattie’s Visible Learning synthesis supports this shift: classroom climate and teacher-student relationships carry some of the largest effect sizes on learning.
Looking for a school that cares for the whole child?
Our Mindful Hearts philosophy weaves social-emotional learning into every grade level.
See QISS admissions →Accreditation matters here too. Both WASC accredited schools and CIS, our dual accreditors, require member schools to document, communicate, and regularly review their school code of conduct. Our membership in EARCOS and ACAMIS adds another layer of peer review and professional standards. A school that cannot show you its framework in writing has a credibility gap worth noting.
Core Behavior Expectations Most International Schools Share
Strong international schools tend to converge on a familiar set of expectations, even when the language differs. Here is what to look for.
Respect and Dignity
Respect for self, peers, staff, and property sits at the base of every credible framework. The Dignity and Respect Framework, used widely across international education, grounds this in a simple idea: every member of the community deserves to be seen and heard. In practice, this covers how students speak to one another, how they handle shared equipment, and how they treat visitors on campus.
Responsibility and Ownership
Students take ownership of their learning, their belongings, and their choices. The IB Learner Profile uses the word principled. Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits, which anchor our Leader in Me program at QISS, use the phrase be proactive. Carol Dweck’s work on growth mindset adds another layer: children who believe their abilities can grow are more willing to own mistakes and try again. Different vocabulary, same idea.
Safety On and Off Campus
Physical, emotional, and digital safety are non-negotiable. This covers playground conduct, device use, social media behavior, and travel on school buses. Safeguarding policies, reviewed by WASC and CIS during each accreditation cycle, sit underneath this expectation.
Many schools also use the 5 R’s of behavior management as a plain-language summary:
- Respect for people, property, and ideas
- Responsibility for choices and their effects
- Relationships built on trust and repair
- Resilience through setbacks and feedback
- Reasoning before reacting
The 5 R’s work because they give children and adults the same words to use. A Grade 2 student can name them. A Grade 12 student can discuss them. A parent can reinforce them at the dinner table.
How Values-Based Schools Write Their Conduct Frameworks
A policy that begins with rules tends to grow longer every year. A policy that begins with school community values tends to grow clearer.
At QISS, our four core values, Compassion, Integrity, Inclusivity, and Creativity, come first. From those, we draw specific expectations for each division. This is character education in practice, not as a bolt-on program but as part of whole-child education across every classroom. Early Childhood expectations use pictures and short phrases. Lower School brings in classroom agreements co-created with teachers. Middle and High School students help shape their own community norms, drawing on Vygotsky’s social learning theory: students internalise what they help construct.
Developmental fit matters. Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development reminds us that a six-year-old reasons about fairness differently from a sixteen-year-old. A conduct framework that uses identical language across all ages is almost certainly skipping the harder work.
The Leader in Me program, built on Covey’s 7 Habits, gives us a shared vocabulary across the whole school. Students learn to say I am proactive, I seek first to understand, I think win-win. These phrases show up in classroom conversations, in advisory meetings, and in restorative circles when something has gone wrong.
CIS accreditation standards for student welfare and WASC accreditation criteria both require that conduct policies are reviewed on a cycle, communicated to families, and applied consistently. We take that seriously.
A Week in QISS Middle School: What Behavior Expectations Look Like in Practice
Policy only matters if children feel it in their day. Here is how a typical week looks on the Middle School corridor of our 48, 000 m² Laoshan campus.
Monday morning begins with advisory. Students gather in small groups with their teacher, often around a question from the Leader in Me curriculum. What does seeking first to understand look like this week? Short conversation. Specific examples. No lecture.
Classroom norms, co-created by students and teachers at the start of the year, are posted on the wall and referenced in lessons. When a group discussion gets heated during a humanities lab, the teacher points at the wall. The students know what to do.
Our 3:1 student-teacher ratio makes a visible difference. Teachers notice the quiet student who is not quite themselves today. They notice the pair who are working through a disagreement. Small class sizes mean behavior support happens before incidents escalate. Behavior management in an international school setting also means attending to language, culture, and family background, and small groups make that possible.
Want to see our pastoral care in practice?
Schedule a campus visit and meet the counselors, advisors, and homeroom teachers who support our students every day.
Talk to admissions →Peer accountability sits alongside adult oversight. Student Council members and class representatives help organise restorative circles when a conflict needs repair. The Mindful Hearts language shows up in these moments: What happened? Who was affected? What needs to happen now?
Everyone can be a leader is not a poster slogan for us. It is how we expect twelve-year-olds to speak to one another.
When Expectations Are Not Met: Restorative vs Punitive Approaches
Every school has moments when a student falls short. What separates frameworks is the response.
Punitive discipline relies on detention, suspension, and exclusion. Restorative practices focus on repairing harm and rebuilding relationships. The two are not opposites, but the emphasis matters. CASEL-aligned SEL programs, including the work we do through social-emotional learning at QISS, reduce conduct incidents by building self-awareness and empathy before problems arise. This is where student accountability becomes a skill rather than a punishment.
Restorative Conversations
A restorative conversation is structured, not casual. A trained adult asks a small set of questions. The student who caused harm reflects on impact. The student who was harmed names what they need. An agreement is written down. Follow-up is scheduled.
This takes more time than a detention slip. It also tends to work.
When Parents Are Contacted
Our graduated response moves from verbal reminder, to reflection conversation, to parent contact, to formal consequence. When we contact parents, we are specific about what happened, what we have done, and what we are asking of the family. We treat parents as partners, not as audiences.
Safeguarding is the floor beneath all of this. WASC and CIS require documented child protection and anti-bullying policies, and we review ours annually. Any report of bullying, harassment, or safeguarding concern is logged, investigated, and communicated transparently to the families involved.
The Parent's Role in Reinforcing Behavior Expectations at Home
Schools can set expectations. Families make them stick.
Hattie’s research places parental involvement among the stronger influences on student outcomes, with an effect size well above the hinge point for meaningful impact. The work is not about homework supervision alone. It is about shared vocabulary.
A few practical habits make a difference:
- Read the student handbook together at the start of each year. Make it a conversation, not a signature.
- Use the same words at home that the school uses. If your child’s class is working on being proactive, name moments at home when you see it.
- When your child reports a conduct issue involving another student, encourage them to speak with their teacher or advisor first. We teach students to use the reporting pathway before the rumour pathway.
- Attend our PEP Talks and community workshops. These are built for exactly this kind of alignment between home and school.
Community life at QISS is designed so that families are not spectators. You are part of the agreement.
Common Questions Parents Ask About Student Conduct Policies
What is the student code of conduct? It is a written student conduct policy that defines expected behavior and the school’s response when expectations are not met. At QISS, our code is anchored in our four core values and reviewed as part of our WASC and CIS accreditation cycles.
What are some behavior expectations for students? Respect for people and property, responsibility for choices, honesty in academic work, physical and emotional safety, and appropriate digital conduct. Expectations are adjusted by age so that a Grade 1 student and a Grade 11 student each understand what is being asked.
What are the 5 R’s of behavior management? Respect, Responsibility, Relationships, Resilience, and Reasoning. The framework gives students, teachers, and parents a shared vocabulary. It works across age groups because the words are simple and the examples adapt.
How does QISS handle bullying or harassment? Reports are logged, investigated, and addressed through our safeguarding protocol. Both WASC and CIS require documented anti-bullying policies, and ours includes clear communication with the families of all students involved.
Can parents request a copy of the conduct policy? Yes. The policy is included in our student handbook, shared at enrolment, and available at any time through our admissions team.
How does the conduct framework change from Lower to High School? The values stay the same. The language, expectations, and student voice grow with the child. Early Childhood uses pictures and short phrases. High School students help shape their own community agreements and lead peer restorative work.
Choosing a School Whose Conduct Framework Matches Your Family's Values
If you are visiting international schools in Qingdao this year, five questions will tell you a great deal:
- How are your core values reflected in daily student behavior expectations?
- What is your restorative practices policy, and who is trained to lead those conversations?
- How do you communicate with parents when conduct issues arise?
- Is your school discipline framework reviewed annually, and by whom?
- What SEL program do you use, and how is it integrated into the week?
Watch for red flags: vague or punitive-only policies, no clear parent communication protocol, and no mention of accreditation review. Watch for green flags: a values-based framework, SEL integration, WASC or CIS accreditation, and a culture of transparent parent partnership.
At QISS, our Mindful Hearts philosophy, Leader in Me program, and dual WASC and CIS accreditation sit behind every conversation we have about our student code of conduct and behavior expectations. We are glad to walk you through our handbook, introduce you to our divisional principals, and show you what the framework looks like on a Tuesday morning in a real classroom.
To see it for yourself, schedule a campus visit or speak with our admissions team led by Ms. Paula O’Connell at admissions@qiss.org.cn. Bring the hard questions. We will answer them with the handbook open.
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Begin your application in about 10 minutes. We will discuss how our pastoral team supports each child individually.
Start your application →Frequently Asked Questions
What is a student code of conduct and why does every school need one?
A student code of conduct translates a school’s values into specific, observable behavior expectations, naming what respect looks like in a Grade 3 classroom and what honesty means on a Grade 11 lab report. We treat ours as a living agreement between students, families, and educators, grounded in evidence-based models like CASEL’s social-emotional learning framework and PBIS, because research shows classroom climate and teacher-student relationships carry some of the largest effect sizes on learning.
What are some behavior expectations for students?
We expect respect for people and property, responsibility for choices, honesty in academic work, physical and emotional safety, and appropriate digital conduct, with expectations adjusted by age so that a Grade 1 student and a Grade 11 student each understand what is being asked.
What is the student code of conduct?
Our code is a written conduct policy that defines expected behavior and our response when expectations are not met, anchored in our four core values (Compassion, Integrity, Inclusivity, and Creativity) and reviewed as part of our WASC and CIS accreditation cycles.
What are the 5 R's of behaviour management?
The 5 R’s are Respect for people, property, and ideas; Responsibility for choices and their effects; Relationships built on trust and repair; Resilience through setbacks and feedback; and Reasoning before reacting, giving children and adults the same words to use across all ages.
How does a school's code of conduct connect to its core values?
A policy that begins with school community values tends to grow clearer over time, so we draw our specific expectations for each division from our four core values, making character education part of whole-child education across every classroom rather than a bolt-on program.
What happens when a student does not meet behavior expectations?
We use a graduated response moving from verbal reminder to reflection conversation to parent contact to formal consequence, emphasizing restorative practices that focus on repairing harm and rebuilding relationships rather than punitive discipline alone, with safeguarding as the floor beneath all of this.
How are parents involved in upholding behavior expectations?
We treat parents as partners by using the same vocabulary at home that the school uses, reading the student handbook together at the start of each year, and attending community workshops like PEP Talks, since research places parental involvement among the stronger influences on student outcomes.
How does QISS's Mindful Hearts philosophy shape its approach to student conduct?
Our Mindful Hearts philosophy weaves social-emotional learning into every grade level and anchors our conduct framework in restorative questions like ‘What happened? Who was affected? What needs to happen now?’, while our Leader in Me program gives us shared vocabulary (like ‘I am proactive’ and ‘I seek first to understand’) that shows up in classroom conversations, advisory meetings, and restorative circles.
