Positive Behaviour Support

Hello Everyone!

As we approach the middle of term two, we notice the days becoming colder and shorter. We tend to feel a bit run-down and the holidays still seem a long way off. Sometimes, all the ‘things’ we have to do and effort we put in, don’t appear to have immediate reward. However, just like a seed planted at the end of Summer, there is a lot happening below the surface that we can not see, yet. This is a time for consistency and persistence; placing one foot after the other and getting back up again after a challenge or obstacle.

This week, we focus on Interacting Appropriately when we Play. Students will often describe their thoughts about school based upon how their experiences are in the playground. When we ask our children what they like or don’t like about school, it’s playtime that ranks highly in importance. The yard is often an overwhelming or confusing environment for some children. There are always going to be times when relationships become complicated and problems arise. The yard is sometimes where these issues occur. It is important to remember that there is always, at least two sides to every story and students are not as experienced at seeing more than one way to resolve a problem when they are in the middle of the situation. Some of the problematic behaviours we see at school, include students who don’t realise how forceful or domineering they are towards others, students who have difficulty taking turns, winning or losing, students who display aggression towards others and students who resort to ‘fight or flight’ behaviour.

At St Catherine’s, we have proactive expectations, referred to as our Student Shine Matrix. We explicitly teach strategies and use resources to support student growth and development in managing their emotions and relationships effectively. Students learn about: problem-solving, conflict resolution, looking at a situation from another perspective, identifying and regulating emotions, collaboration and teamwork, acceptance, tolerance and forgiveness. Research shows children who are provided opportunities and are supported to talk at home and at school about the problems they encounter with their peers, will have a more positive attitude to life. They will find it easier to manage playground ups and downs and restore and develop positive relationships, compared to those children who rely on other people to solve their problems for them. 

Children need people around them who they can trust, who accept them for the unique individuals they are, who encourage them in their efforts and who teach them to notice and own their actions in an empathetic way.

Yveie Tonks
Leader for Positive Behaviour Support Implementation

From our SHINE Leaders

Parent Fortnightly Overviews

Please refer to the following learning overviews for the coming fortnight:

On Friday 7 May, we celebrated National Story Dog’s Day. The whole school community joined in wearing crazy socks to show their support and to have some fun.

We were visited by both of our Story Dogs, Meika and Daisy who had a wonderful afternoon visiting “Bright Lights” in the Library at lunchtime for a special performance.

They also visited classrooms to share the importance of the Story Dogs Program and to show students how to safely approach a dog. Classroom activities and information were available for students to participate in to celebrate the day.

Thank you for the wonderful school donation to support the Story Dogs Program. Any money donated goes directly to the training/accreditation of future Story Dogs to support other children throughout Australia.

For more information regarding Story Dogs, please explore the website storydogs.org.au

If you would like to donate to Story Dogs the details are:

• Westpac Bank
• BSB 032 584
• Account No. 286132
• Account Name. Story Dogs Ltd

YEAR 5'S SOVEREIGN HILL CAMP

Inspire Casey Primary School Leadership Forum

Last week the school and vice captains attended the Inspire Casey Primary School Leadership Forum at Selandra Rise Community Hub. We attended this forum so that we could grow our leadership skills, we got to collaborate with other school leaders and participate in 4 leadership workshops.

Firstly, we participated in a workshop where we learnt what we as humans think about others. Each person was given a different coloured shape to make groups. Some groups were the same shape or colour, and some were mixed. We were asked what we liked about each group, and if any were better than the other, or if you felt like you belonged in the group. We talked about how we humans can sometimes judge others at our first instinct, but how it is best to know that everyone is different and unique in every way.

At the second workshop we did some martial arts! We started off doing some exercises such as burpees and then the instructor Rodrigo taught us his four rules: Be strong, Be calm,Be kind,Try hard! We did an activity where we had to run through a towel attached to a rope while it was swinging fast. The purpose of this activity was to teach us that even as leaders we don’t always have control over everything. We had no control over the speed of the rope so we had to watch our timing and really trust our instincts.

We also did an activity where we partnered up with someone and had to control our emotions before they took over us. This taught us how to control our emotions depending on the situation. In the first round we had to look up at our partner and try not to laugh. If we laughed we had to sit down. In the second round we were allowed to take a step back,close our eyes,block our ears and take deep breaths to try and take control of our emotions and stay calm. Overall this workshop taught us how to be resilient and not to always think that we should be in control.

During our lunch break the Casey 360 bus was parked outside and we had the opportunity to try it out. On the outside of the bus was Just Dance and that wasn’t all! When you stepped inside the bus you could see PC’S and iPads galore! Along with all of the video games was a room with comfortable seats and 2 TVS. The great thing is the bus goes all around the City of Casey and is a free service recommended for 10-25 year olds to enjoy. It even goes around to all different schools and youth events! Not only is there a youth bus but there are also 3 different youth services located in Cranbourne, Hampton Park and Narre Warren. At these locations you can get support, have fun, get help with school work or a job application and so much more.

The third workshop was about expressing ourselves using words. We started off by finding words that rhyme with the word “inspiration”. After that we did some creative writing and expressed ourselves. We could write poems, anything we wanted! It was just a chance to be free and learn to be ourselves.

Lastly, we participated in an exercise where we transformed white, dusty rocks to bright colourful touchstones. This represented transforming a negative situation into a positive one. The first thing we had to do was think of a problem that we went through over the past 12 months and then we had to look at a pile of rocks and pick the one that ‘spoke to us’. After choosing our rock we had to think of a way to resolve our problem and then think of a colour that represented that. We then had to dust off the white dust just like we were wiping off our problems and then we coloured and decorated our rock. 

Overall this experience was really one of a kind and an amazing way to learn how to improve as leaders and about the City of Casey! We as leaders will apply these skills and use them to be even better leaders towards our peers and the St Catherine’s Community.

Written by 

Tahlia Shu, Sam Milton, Ali Kuster and Rajveer Chandra

School Captains and School Vice Captains 2021