Wellbeing news

Behavioural Strategies at CJ

Our school takes the wellbeing and safety of our students extremely seriously. Throughout the school, each class has a weekly 50-minute lesson around social and emotional learning. We also link our wellbeing and expectations to our school values (HEROs).

I have received some feedback that some parents are not fully clear on how we manage behaviours within our school. We take a Schoolwide Positive Behaviour Approach, where we catch students being good and praise them for their positive choices.

However, all students will make mistakes while growing up and when this does occur, we do have a process. Please see the attached image to view the process, this is displayed in every classroom.

When mistakes or misbehaviour occurs, we have a zero-tolerance approach, and every incident is logged on an internal system so accurate records are kept. After investigating the issue with all parties, appropriate and proportionate action is taken to ensure that these behaviours don’t occur again. 

We encourage parents to speak with their classroom teacher if they are made aware of any incident and we will follow up. As a family, please go through the process with your child/ren and remind them that communication is essential.

With your continued support, we will continue to provide a safe and welcoming environment for your child.

Safety and wellbeing of our students

Schools are positive places of learning where everyone has a right to a safe and healthy learning environment. 

Playtimes for children are an important part of their schooling. Many lifelong skills are learnt during playtime. Conflict resolution, social skills, resilience and relationship building are some of these skills. 

All children learn skills at different stages in their development. We have children who need extension or intervention in Literacy and Maths and some children who need some extra help with the skills at playtime in school. 

At Caulfield Junior College we have a variety of activity choices for children, which gives them agency on how they wish to spend their break times. 

We have indoor play in the SLC, the library, the outside library space, Art Club (Tuesday lunchtime) and The Wellbeing Space (for self-regulation). 

There are staff always outside on active supervision duty to assist children in any way they can. 

The peer mediators also do a great job helping children outside. 

The safety and happiness of the students at Caulfield Junior College is always our number one priority and we have many systems and processes in place to ensure this. 

As always, please contact your child’s classroom teacher, Tilly or myself if you have any concerns over your child’s wellbeing. 

Kind regards, 

Shauna and Tilly 

Wellbeing 

Bullying vs one-off incidents 

Bullying can happen at school, at home or online. It is never okay and it is not a normal part of growing up. Bullying is not tolerated at Caulfield Junior College.

There is a big difference between bullying and a one-off incident. Below further clarifies the two. 

We need to be aware not to use the term bullying for a one-off incident, and teach children the clear difference between the two. It is important for consistency that parents use the correct vocabulary at home as well.  We greatly appreciate your support with this.

There is a nationally agreed definition of bullying which all Australian schools now use:

Bullying is an ongoing and deliberate misuse of power in relationships through repeated verbal, physical and/or social behaviour that intends to cause physical, social and/or psychological harm. It can involve an individual or a group misusing their power, or perceived power, over one or more persons who feel unable to stop it from happening.

Bullying can happen in person or online, via various digital platforms and devices and it can be obvious (overt) or hidden (covert). Bullying behaviour is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time (for example, through sharing of digital records).

Single incidents and conflict or fights between equals, whether in person or online, are not defined as bullying.

Caulfield Junior Colleges Bullying Policy is available to view on the school’s website. 

Any further conversations needed regarding this topic can be directed to Shauna Sanderson or Tilly Bedendo. 

The wellbeing team