Assistant Principal's 

Report

How to exit Mr Lockhart's office .......quickly!

Under our value of Responsibility, one of the expected behaviours on our SWPBS Matrix is ‘be honest and own my actions’. Students who misbehave and don’t exhibit our expected behaviours sometimes find themselves being referred and sent to my office.  Before this happens, students have had several reminders or warnings that involve non-verbal communication, redirection, reteach and are provided with a choice to adhere to our expected behaviours.

When a student arrives at my office after being referred, I always give the student his/her voice first, I ask them what has happened? I often remind them of our expected behaviour of ‘be honest and own my actions’ and use short phrases before the student begins; such as, ‘you have one chance at being honest’, ‘honesty is everything’, ‘honesty will set you free’ and ‘honesty is best practice in this situation’.

Once that student has had their voice, I ask them ‘if I ask the teacher for their version of events will they match up?’  The teacher chronicles their version of events under a major behaviour and the parents, guardians and carers should receive a text message that their child has been referred.  This is a cue or prompt to follow up your child at home as part of the education process. I read the chronicle or catch the teacher for their version of events.

It is at this point, where I can determine whether a student 'exits my office quickly'.  If the student has been honest and owned his /her actions, it will match the major chronicle that has been entered by the teacher.  

My job is almost done, the educative process is almost complete!! I discuss several things with the student, mainly what they would do better next time. Then the process on how to restore the respectful relationship with the teacher begins. This usually results in seeking the teacher out in their own time to make an apology. The student then exits after the next bell, which is the quickest way to 'exit my office'.

The difficult part is when the student’s version doesn’t match the chronicle, this leads to further investigation by myself. I have found the majority of time the student has been dishonest and not told the truth or has left out significant parts of the event.  Therefore, I not only have to deal with the referral but also the fact the student has not been completely honest and has not owned their actions.  Further education of the student is then required about being honest and often results in additional consequences, which extends the student’s time in my office.

At Wedderburn College we fully understand that students can misbehave and make mistakes, all we ask of our students is to be honest and own their actions. This is the quickest way to 'exit Mr Lockhart’s office'.