Wellbeing at BEPS   

Wellbeing at BEPS   

One of the school values at BEPS is ‘respect’. Respect can be defined as due regard for someone else’s feelings, rights or wishes. Showing respect means acting in a way that takes into consideration other people’s feelings and wellbeing. This can include being courteous, showing empathy and acting with dignity. It also means listening to others and understanding that people may have different opinions, cultural needs and ways of doing things. 

This term, the Year 6's have been exploring the concept of 'Respect' in great depth, as part of their inquiry learning. The Year 6 students have been focussing on what respect is, identifying how to be respectful and identifying when someone is showing respect, as well as unpacking why we need to show respect to others. Through role plays, deep discussions, noting down our thoughts and wonderings and looking at people’s opinions from their perspective, the students are learning to appreciate each other, be mindful of respectful behaviours, as well as practising to use respectful behaviour both in and out of the classroom. The Year 6 cohort came up with their own definition of respect:

Respect is being polite to others, showing them care and listening to their ideas, thoughts and feelings. It involves being nice, showing gratitude, and not judging them on their ideas or appearance. Respect is also taking responsibility for our actions and looking after property.

This week, the cohort of BEPS student leaders (whether you wear a badge or not, all Year 6's at BEPS are leaders and role models to their younger counterparts) shared their expert level knowledge in what respect is by giving examples of what respectful behaviour looks like for students on a continuum ranging from below expected level (disrespectful behaviour), through expected level (BEPS expectations for respectful behaviour from all) to above expected level behaviour - exemplary, leadership, role model respectful behaviour. Katie had the privilege of being part of their rich discussions about how behaviours go from expected level to exemplary, and it was impressive to hear students share their own experiences and pull out examples of things we see in the yard, the classroom, online and on the sporting field. Some of the students also went above and beyond to offer their design expertise in how we could create engaging visuals about Respect to support the student community to “bump up” their respectful behaviour. Well done Year 6!