School Wide Positive Behaviour Support

Be a Learner: Keeping the Focus on Learning

Toys and Fidgets at School

At Wonga Park Primary School one of our key expectations is Be a Learner. This means helping every student make choices that support their own learning and the learning of others.

Recently, we have noticed an increasing number of toys and personal items making their way into classrooms and learning spaces. While these can be great for play and connection during break times, they can also become a distraction during lessons.

This approach isn't about stopping students from bringing things they enjoy to school. It is about helping students understand that different times and spaces have different expectations.

Toys and Personal Items

Students are welcome to bring appropriate toys to school to enjoy with friends at recess and lunchtime. During learning time, however, toys and personal items need to remain safely in students' bags.

This means toys should not be on tables, laps or the floor during lessons or floor learning. Our simple whole-school message to students is: “Keep it in your bag until recess or lunch play times.”

Having the same expectation across classrooms helps students know what to expect and keeps our learning spaces calm, focused and ready for learning.

Fidgets and Sensory Tools

For some students, the use of a fidget or sensory tool may be recommended as a reasonable adjustment to support regulation, attention and engagement. The use of a fidget or sensory tool at school needs to be supported by a written recommendation from an Occupational Therapist, Psychologist or Paediatrician, or agreed upon through the Student Support Group (SSG) process.

When a fidget or sensory tool is being used as an adjustment, students are explicitly taught how and when to use it. These resources should be discreet, purposeful and support engagement in learning without distracting the student or others.

Be a Learner: Early Pick Up - Protecting Learning Time

At our school, Be a Learner means making the most of every opportunity to learn. Even a few minutes of missed classroom time can add up, so we are making a small change to how we manage students who are being collected early.

When a student needs to leave school early, they will remain in their classroom, supervised and learning, until their parent or carer arrives at the office. Once you arrive, office staff will contact the classroom and your child will pack up and make their way to the office.

We ask families not to request that children be waiting at the office in advance. 

Students waiting at the office require active supervision, which our office staff are not able to consistently provide while managing the many responsibilities of a busy school office. The office also has limited space and is not designed to be a student waiting or supervision area. The safest and most appropriate place for students is with their class and supervising teacher until their parent or carer has arrived.

Families can also understandably be delayed, and having students waiting at the office can result in unnecessary lost learning time. If you have an appointment or need to leave school by a particular time, please allow enough time for your child to be called, pack up their belongings and make their way to the office.

This consistent approach supports student safety, appropriate supervision and the protection of valuable learning time, while reinforcing an important message for our students: every minute of learning matters.

Thanks for your support, 

The Wellbeing Team