Respect at School

As we settle into the latter half of the school year, School Council thought it would take the opportunity to share some expectations around how we treat each other at Gisborne SC. 

We all share responsibility for making our school a positive, respectful, and safe environment for our students to learn and thrive. As adults, it’s particularly important that we model positive behaviour for our students. School Council encourages everyone to take a moment to reflect on this and consider ways to model kindness and respect.

Seeing, hearing, and dealing with angry people can be extremely upsetting for both children and adults. Please take the time to consider our Statement of Values and School Philosophy, which is available on the school’s website and supports our key values of Respect, Achievement, Innovation and Diversity.

The Department of Education’s Respectful Behaviours within the School Community Policy and the GSC Respect for School Staff Policy promote the importance of respectful and collaborative relationships between parents, carers and school staff in order to build strong, healthy and thriving school communities. When a small number of parents and carers behave unacceptably towards a staff member, or another member of the school community, this can affect their health, safety, and wellbeing. The impact can also be felt by the wider school community. 

Discrimination, harassment, bullying, violence, threatening or aggressive behaviour, whether in person, in writing, online or over the phone, are never acceptable at our school. Thankfully these behaviours are rare at our school and school council is proud that our school community is mostly kind and respectful.

We know, however, there may be times when you have a concern, disagree with a decision, or feel that a particular issue should’ve been handled differently. This should never be a reason to mistreat members of school staff or other community members. Our staff are always open to respectful feedback as well as constructive criticism about how we can improve. This is reflected in our Complaints Policy which sets out our commitment to continuous improvement. This policy is also available on our website.

Thank you all for partnering with us to support your children in their learning and in creating a positive and caring school community.

Yours truly,

Gisborne Secondary College School Council