Assistant Principal's Report Katrina Spicer - Welfare and Wellbeing
School-Wide Positive Behaviours (SWPBS)
This week I have interviewed some of our students to hear their thoughts on the implementation of the SWPBS tokens . Since the beginning of term 3, teachers have been handing out coloured tokens to our students to acknowledge when students display expected behaviours. The expected behaviours are made clear and explicit and are taught in class. Students are given different coloured tokens according to which school value they have displayed.
Here are some thoughts from some of our students:
"I got a token because of respect. It was red. I was sitting down nicely." Shaan PBG
"I got a blue token for showing respect, because I put my keyring words beside me at the end of the table when I went to work with Kathryn." Elliott PBG
"I was given a blue token for telling the truth." Alinna PBG
"I got a blue token because I was sitting down nicely in the prep rotation." Lachlan PDR
"I was given a green token for catching up in Art." Zade PDR
"I was given a green token for trying hard on the dotted thirds." Emily PDR
"I like the tokens because at the end of the term we will get a reward. It might be movie day, games day or turn back time." Sarujan 1BC
"I feel like everyone is trying to be really nice and kind and respectful. I got a green token because I was smiling in music." Stefanie 1BC
"I think that when we get the tokens because people will get used to it and they will start being more kind." Alexia 1BC
"The tokens are good because we can vote for movies, games or turn back time, where you can spend a double session with your previous class from last year. I have voted for movie day." Sam 2SO
"The best thing about the tokens is that when you get them it means that you have shown one of the five school values. It’s good because you can vote. I have only voted for movie day." Gemma 2SO
"Having the tokens has changed things at school because more people are showing responsibility, respect, resilience, acceptance and honesty. It is making the school a nicer place." Catherine 2SO
"You can get the tokens from your teacher, or any teacher. I’ve been given a blue token for being responsible. I was reading a book at the right time." Prageshan 2SO
"I got a red token for helping someone do his work." Ian 4SP
"I got a token for helping and using my manners. I got a red token for showing respect." Anujan 4SP
"I got a blue token for finishing my homework." Wendy 4SP
"I got a blue token because I was being responsible, and I was ready before the rest of the class." Sahana 4SP
"I received a blue token for working efficiently and quietly in maths." Angelo 6VB
"I got a green token for resilience when I fell over and got back up." Zac 6EF
"I got a red token for showing respect in Mandarin class because I was not talking over the teacher." Natalie 6EF
"I was given a blue token for helping a kid on the floor who was hurt and bleeding". Tara 6JD
"I received a blue token for honesty when I went in the wrong corridor, and I owned up to it." Dani 6VB
"The teacher gave me a blue token for helping a kid who fell down on the oval and got really muddy." Ali 6EF
Have you seen our voting station?
Every Friday the students vote for the favourite potential Whole School Reward, to be received in the last week of term. Movie Day is clearly in the lead with almost two full buckets of tokens!
Parenting Ideas Article
Unearthing Kids’ Strengths
By Professor Lea Waters (PhD)
Personality strengths – our character – play a big role in helping us build our talents. Think about anyone who has built a talent and imagine if it could have been done without character. Imagine Einstein without curiosity, The Beatles without creativity, Mother Teresa without compassion or Neil Armstrong without bravery.
Yet for decades, scientists were blind to character strength. We focused on talent, often on physical strength and skills. In fact, when I first ask young children what they think a strength is, they almost always point to their biceps or talk about being able to lift something heavy.
Once you get familiar with the language of strengths and a framework for seeing them, you’ll see character strengths easily in your child. In fact, you may find your child calls on their character strengths more often than on talent to meet life’s challenges.
Three key elements of a strength.
You’ve probably seen a child joylessly perform at a piano recital. They may hit all the right keys, but there’s no energy or enthusiasm. It’s as if they don’t want to be there. On the flip side, we’ve seen the child on stage who’s clearly motivated and energised and who fearlessly flails through every mistake – of which there are many.
It turns out that three elements come together to form a strength. For purposes of strength-based parenting, we need to keep our eye on all three:
1. Performance (being good at something)
Watch for when your child shows above-age levels of achievement, rapid learning and a repeated pattern of success.
2. Energy (feeling good doing it)
Strengths are self-reinforcing. The more we use them, the more we get from them. They fill us with vigour. You’ll notice your child has abundant energy when using a strength.
3. High use (choosing to do it)
Finally, look for what your child chooses to do in their spare time, how often they engage in a particular activity, and how they speak about the activity.
For true strengths, these three elements form a beautiful feedback loop: great performance provides the child with a shot of high energy, so the child naturally chooses to do more. In turn, high use – also known as effort or practice – improves performance levels. So, for example, if you notice that your child is energised when they play the piano, and you provide enjoyable opportunities for them to play, if they’re mining a true strength they will likely practise more, which improves their performance, which then energises them… and so the loop continues.
Keeping this triad in mind will help you avoid pushing your child into an area that seems like a strength just because your child is good at it. It will also help you differentiate between whether your child is bingeing on an activity in an escapist way or expressing a true strength.
For example, when a parent asks me, ‘My son is great at computer games and wants to play all the time. Is that a sign of a strength?’ I reply, ‘Observe his energy levels at the end. Is he drained and cranky? Or energised and full of life? Are you seeing the full triad?’ Computer games can tap into a child’s strategic and problem-solving skills or stimulate creativity (in some games, you invent whole new worlds). Or they might just be about filling time.
So look for all three signs. When you see your child do something well, with energy, and repeatedly, you’ll know you’ve unearthed a strength.
Katrina Spicer
Assistant Principal - Welfare and Wellbeing