At Calwell Primary students, parents/carers and staff work in partnership to build a positive and supportive environment where everyone feels safe, accepted and valued.
Elements which underpin Student Welfare & Classroom Management
- Sound teaching and learning strategies
- A challenging, relevant learning program that engages students
- Consistency in application of the student management processes
- Clear understanding of consequences
- Clear understanding of expectations and responsibilities
- A team approach
- Open communication
- Positive parent, staff and student relationships
At Calwell Primary School students, staff, parent/carers and the community work in partnership to build a positive and supportive environment where everyone feels safe, accepted and valued. We have a commitment to prevention and intervention through a range of programs and activities including:
- KidsMatter
- Leadership Programs eg School Parliament, Aussie Sports Leaders
- Peer Tutoring / Buddies
- Class meetings / Circle Time
- Bounce Back resiliency program
- Bully Busters program
Restorative Practices
Schools that practice restoratively focus on relationships, understanding that when something happens it has the potential to harm and damage relationships. When relationships are damaged, we need to look at what happened, acknowledge the impact, repair any harm and rebuild and strengthen the relationship. As a restorative school, we are concerned with answering the following questions
- What happened?
- Who has been harmed or affected?
- What needs to happen to repair the harm?
Class Meetings / Circle Time
Class meetings are an essential part of the school program. A wide range of topics are discussed such as the CARES Culture, school values, friendships, conflict resolution and school improvement. The benefits of class discussions include;
- providing children with the opportunity to be involved in the formulation and reinforcement of the CARES Culture and school values
- promoting collaborative planning and development of solutions to problems faced within the class, playground or personal life.
- providing children with the opportunity to voice concerns and raise issues in a non-judgemental and supportive environment.
Class meetings are held regularly and teachers utilise Circle Time practices to run these meetings. Circle Time provides all students with the opportunity to speak.
Golden Rules of Circle Time:
- One person speaks at a time
- You may say "pass"
- No 'Put-downs'
Bounce Back
The 'Bounce Back' program was adopted in the school to help students develop resilience and assist in the teaching of values such as integrity, support, cooperation, acceptance of differences, respect and friendship. The program offers practical strategies to help all students learn to bounce back when they experience difficulties. Units in the Bounce Back program include:
- Developing positive values
- Developing courage
- Looking on the bright side
- Managing emotions
- Relationship skills
- Humour as a coping tool
- Dealing with bullying
- Being successful
Behaviour
Behaviour that disrupts teaching and learning and the harmony in our school will always be addressed. This includes but is not limited to:
- Physical Violence
- Verbal Abuse
- Bullying and/or harassment
- Non-compliance
- Unsafe behaviour
Unacceptable behaviour results in teacher intervention. This can take the form of counselling, time out, in-school suspension or external suspension. Management practices in the school are clearly articulated and implemented by staff. Restorative processes are used to restore harmony and rebuild relationships following an incident.
Link: Classroom Management
Link: Playground Management
Student Support Team
The Student Support Team consists of the school psychologist, principal, deputy principal and executive teachers. The team meets weekly to monitor all students' academic progress and social emotional welfare. Class teachers liaise with the team regularly, ensuring that the needs of all students are met. The team seeks assistance from other departmental support teams or community agencies when necessary. The Student Support Team guides Learning Assistance and Enrichment and Extension Programs in the school and oversees the development of Individual Learning Plans (ILP) for students with identified needs.
School Psychologist Service
A part-time school psychologist is appointed to the school. The work of the psychologist involves educational, personal and emotional support, and assessment of individual children. Children are usually referred by teachers and /or parents if an issue presents itself in one or all of these areas. The Student Support Team works in close partnership with the psychologist to prioritise the case load of the psychologist.