Principal's Message

Positive Classroom Management Strategies

In a previous highlights article (June), I referred to the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model 2.0 (VTLM 2.0), which the Department of Education is rolling out across all schools to be fully implemented by 2028. A significant focus of VTLM 2.0 is Positive Classroom Management Strategies.

This week, our Student Engagement Team ran an excellent session for staff on Routines and Procedures, building on earlier work around Active Supervision. Both have been extremely valuable.

Procedures are defined as “the design a teacher establishes for the way they and their students will efficiently and productively execute a recurring task or action in the classroom” (Lemov, 2021).

Routines are “a procedure that has become automatic, which students do without much oversight, without intentional cognition (as a habit) and/or of their own volition and without teacher prompting” (Lemov, 2021).

The purpose of routines and procedures is to maximise learning time and motivation, while creating safety, structure and consistency. They reduce behavioural issues, build positive classroom culture, and sustain teacher effectiveness.

While our first session was well received, we know that practice change is complex. Real impact comes from moving carefully through the change process — auditing current practices, consulting and collaborating, and ensuring the right training, support and monitoring are in place so that implementation is successful.

Throughout the remainder of 2025, our staff will work together to shape our expected routines and procedures, with a formal rollout in classrooms beginning in 2026. Leading into that rollout, we will also inform our students and families so that you can support the changes with your children.

Once these school-wide routines and procedures are embedded, all students will benefit. Teachers and students alike will be able to focus more on learning, and less on “what to do now” or managing off-task behaviour.

Our classrooms already provide rich learning experiences for all students, as reflected in our strong NAPLAN results this year, where we consistently outperformed the State and our Similar Schools group. Even so, we see opportunities to further maximise both learning and safety in ways that benefit every student.

The future is truly bright for our students.

Peter Langham,

Principal