Student Engagement and Wellbeing

At Aitken Creek Primary School, our students will be given every opportunity to achieve personal success in their learning and become responsible and productive citizens.

An environment that is caring, safe and supportive will be provided so that each student achieves their full potential. Parents, students and staff are strongly encouraged to work together in partnership to ensure our students succeed.

The core beliefs that we base our work on are:

● Through effort everyone can succeed and personal achievements are celebrated.

● Active engagement as well as positive work habits and attitudes are essential to learning.

● Social skills are fundamental in the way we interact with each other.

The values which underpin the actions for the whole school community are:

Respect: Showing care and concern for ourselves, other people, property and our environment. Developing a sense of pride, self-esteem and personal identity.

Teamwork: Achieving success by working cooperatively with others to achieve common and personal goals.

Achievement: Setting goals, showing persistence and taking pride in our achievements.

Responsibility: Showing commitment to our learning by being accountable for our actions.

Community Rights and responsibilities

Our school expectations, values, rights and responsibilities are prescribed so that students can enjoy a safe learning environment and actively pursue high levels of academic achievement and social and emotional development, with a view to becoming well-adjusted life-long learners. Full detail is found in the school’s Student Wellbeing and Engagement Policy.

At the start of every year every class establishes a classroom community agreement that responds to the guidelines in the policy. Throughout the year classroom community meetings are held to enhance student voice and agency and collective responsibility.

Whole-school prevention statement

Aitken Creek Primary School has adopted the School-Wide Positive Behaviour framework (SWPBS). Through this we have developed a range of strategies to promote engagement, positive behaviour and respectful relationships for all students in our school. This is documented in the ACPS Matrix of Expected Behaviours. We acknowledge that some students may need extra social, emotional or educational support at school, and that the needs of students will change over time as they grow and learn.

What is SWPBS?

SWPBS is a research based and proactive approach that focuses on explicitly teaching all students agreed expected behaviours and pro-social skills rather than just reacting to inappropriate behaviour. It is a systems approach for establishing the social culture and behavioural supports needed for a school to be an effective learning environment for all students. The ACPS expectations are clearly stated in our SWPBS Matrix and are part of the ACPS school life.

SWPBS Matrix

Our SWPBS matrix is framed around specific expectations that support out school’s overall values.

1. I am Respectful

2. I am Responsible

3. I am a team player

4. I achieve my best

The SWPBS Matrix informs the desired student behaviours that are expected in all areas of the school and in the digital environment.

Key components of SWPBS

A universally agreed and common approach
A matrix of positively stated expectations frames around the school values
A preventative focus around explicit teaching of expectations as outlined in the matrix
Regular and frequent opportunities to practise expected behaviours
Acknowledgements for meeting behavioural expectations
A continuum of behaviour support
Consistency of language and implementation across the school
Ongoing collection and use of data for decision making

Implementation Tools

The key tools we use in every classroom are:

Teach preferred behaviours as outlined in the SWPBS matrix
Model preferred behaviours as outlined in the SWPBS matrix
Acknowledge preferred behaviours when noticed
Correct undesirable behaviours when noticed by reinforcing preferred behaviours
Practice, Practice, Practice at every opportunity

The aim is to have this demonstrated by all students, all teachers, and all settings all the time.

Why Do We Explicitly Teach Our Expected Behaviours?

Introducing, modelling and reinforcing positive social behaviour is an important step of a student’s educational experience. Explicitly teaching our behavioural expectations and acknowledging students for demonstrating them is key to our success.

They are necessary skills for success in life
Many students arrive at school without these important skills
They are the basis for a positive and safe climate
Doing so increases opportunities to teach other skills

When Do We Teach Our Expected Behaviours?

At the beginning of school year
Often enough to achieve and maintain fluency
Ongoing throughout the year (refresher lessons)
At teachable moments
Pre-corrections are used at all times to reinforce the desired pro-social behaviour

School wide acknowledgement system

We acknowledge positive behaviour when noticed in the following ways:

In the classroom

verbal labelled praise, hi 5s, shake hands, pat on the back etc.
awarding of “Gotchya” tokens that equate to 5 house points

Whole school

Whole school house points shared at assembly
Student certificates of appreciation are presented each fortnight at Assembly to individual students displaying exemplarity values

In the playground and around the school

“Gotchya” tokens earning 5 house points

Emotional Literacy

At Aitken Creek PS we believe that emotional literacy is the foundation of everything we do.

Emotionally literacy is when you are able to understand, express and manage your own

emotions and to think and respond appropriately to the feelings and emotions of others

(empathy).

There are many benefits to the teaching of emotional literacy.

Recognising and managing emotions
Developing empathy for others
Making good choices
Creating and maintaining positive relationships
Managing difficult situations in an appropriate way
Think carefully about how they react in various situations
Understanding the suitability of language used with peers, parents, teachers and other adults

Restorative Conversations

When disputes among students or incidents occur we advocate the use of restorative conversations. This process is a powerful tool that teachers use to build positive relationships with students and to resolve conflict between students. Restorative conversations allow the teacher to demonstrate empathy, teach children how to resolve conflict, and most importantly, allow students to have voice. It’s an opportunity for both the teacher and student to express their feelings about what’s going on for them, while setting high expectations.

Here are the important elements teachers include in a restorative conversation.

They:

Send a strong message of care to the student.
Give the student an opportunity to say “what happened”/give the student a voice
Communicate to the student how it made you or others feel
Reiterate your high expectations
Implement logical consequences
Create a plan together that sets both the teacher and student up for success

We have comprehensive policies around student expectations and misconduct. Detailed information is found in our Student Engagement and Well being Policy and related policies that are found in our parent portal, COMPASS.

Programs and Extra curriculum activities offered:

Better Buddies

The Better Buddies program is part of the Alannah and Madeline Foundation.

The program supports schools and students to develop a friendly and caring

school community and to reduce bullying through encouraging older students to

support our younger students in the school.

The core values of this program are;

Caring for others
Friendliness
Respect
Valuing difference
Including others
Responsibility

The students at Aitken Creek have an allocated ‘buddy’ class where they take part in tasks designed to teach our core values. The tasks are fun, engaging and across all year levels.

PlayPOD

Our large and mini PlayPods provide students with an opportunity to let their imagination run wild during recess breaks. Children have access to a variety of recyclable materials and use these to socialise and play in creative ways. The PlayPods complement our clubs program and our extensive outdoor passive and active play facilities catering for varied interests.

Clubs

The staff at ACPS offer clubs activities throughout the week during break times. Our students can try out programs such as art club, meditation, board games, choir, dance, karaoke and numerous sports training sessions. Clubs are a great way for students to meet new people who have similar interests and an opportunity to try new things. To see what is on offer please contact your child’s teacher.