Teaching & Learning Page

Spotlight on Teaching and Learning

Consistent Predictable Routines to Support Wellbeing and Learning

We have been so impressed to see Surfside Students settled into the first three weeks of school. Just like it’s important to have regular routines at home, such as a sequence of actions before bedtime, teachers at Surfside understand the importance of explictly teaching consistent predictable routines to support both wellbeing and learning at school. Routines, rhythm and repitition soothe the nervous system and reduce anxiety by providing a feeling of securtiy and safety at school. They also decrease our cognitive load to reduce decision fatigue so that students can have a greater focus on their learning.

Teachers explicilty teach many routines at the beginning of the year including yarning circles, break times and transitions. Class visual displays help show the sequence of acitvities that make up the events of the day. Expectations of fidget tools and brain breaks support students to develop autonomy when getting ‘ready to learn’ through self regulation strategies. 

We have entry and exit transition routines and for transitions between classes.  For example Mr Murphy, one of our Music teachers, transitions students to and from class while playing his Ukulale.

At the beginning of the day classes consistently begin with a ‘Yarning Circle’. The Yarning Circle routine involves a greeting, discussion of values and expectations, announcements and postive primer to encourage the flow of positive emotions. Positive primers include games photos or pictures, song or a mindful activity using one of the five senses. The class might discuss a value such as RESPECT, HONESTY, TEAMWORK and ACHIEVEMENT and might discuss or reflect how this value could be actioned in classs for the day. Our school also has consistent predictable routines in other learning areas including our Literacy and Numeracy sessions. 

Stay tuned to future newsletters where we go into greater detail about these exciting consistent and predictable routines being implemented at Surfside Primary School.