Wellbeing

Welcome back everyone,

I hope you all had a restful and enjoyable break with your families. It has been wonderful to see students returning to school settled, happy, and ready to learn.

As we begin the term, I wanted to share a little about our approach to student wellbeing and how we support all children to feel safe, confident, and ready to learn.

At the heart of our work is the concept of unconditional positive regard, developed by Carl Rogers. This means we consistently value, respect, and support each child for who they are, regardless of the behaviours they may display at any given time.

A key part of this approach is taking a non-judgemental stance and separating a child’s worth from their actions. We hold high expectations for behaviour, but we do not define children by their mistakes. Instead, we focus on understanding what skills they may be developing and how we can support them. As Ross Greene reminds us, “kids do well when they can.” When they can’t, it signals that they need support, not judgement.

In practice, this means we take time to understand what may be driving behaviour, explicitly teach and model the skills students need, provide support in the moment, and help students repair relationships and re-engage in learning. This creates a safe and predictable environment where students feel secure enough to learn, take risks, and grow socially and emotionally.

You may notice this approach reflected at school, and it can be helpful at home too. This might look like responding to behaviour with curiosity rather than judgement (e.g. “What’s going on here?”), acknowledging your child’s feelings, and then supporting them to build the skills they need—while still holding clear and consistent expectations. This shared approach helps children feel safe while also learning how to manage challenges more independently over time.

SWPBS Update

This term, our School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) focus is on explicitly teaching expected behaviours.

This connects directly to our approach above—if behaviour reflects the skills students have, then it is essential that we teach those skills clearly and consistently, rather than assuming students already know what is expected.

Across the school, students will be learning what our values look like in different contexts (classrooms, playground, transitions, specialist areas) and practising the routines that support a calm, safe, and focused learning environment. 

When expectations are clearly taught and reinforced, students feel more confident, and our classrooms are more predictable and supportive for everyone.

We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with you this term. If you have any questions about our wellbeing approach, please feel free to reach out.

Joanne Weston

Wellbeing and Inclusion Leader