Deputy Principal's Message

Greetings families,

Through Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL), we explicitly teach our shared expectations for behaviour in a deliberate manner. This focus helps establish a strong foundation for a safe, respectful and resilient learning environment for all. By consistently teaching, modelling and reinforcing our core values and expected behaviours, we support students to understand what these expectations look like in action and why they matter, strengthening a sense of belonging, responsibility and care across our whole school community. 

We focus on target values and expected behaviours based on the demonstrated needs of our students, at a school-wide level. As we commence a new year, we selected two critical values and expected behaviours to help our community get set for the year ahead, as follows:

Respect - we let teachers teach, and learners learn

In the first weeks of the school year, our community has intentionally focused on the value of Respect. We specifically focused on the school-wide expected behaviour - ‘we let teachers teach, and learners learn’. This focus reminds us that learning flourishes when classrooms are calm, safe and purposeful, and when every member of our community understands their role in supporting learning. Students were explicitly taught that Respect occurs through: 

• actively listening
• following teacher instructions
• waiting for our turn to speak by putting our hand up
• allowing others to learn without interrupting them
• using resources as directed by the teacher

The expected behaviour ‘we let teachers teach, and learners learn’ creates the conditions for quality learning, allowing teachers to dedicate their time and energy to high-quality instruction. This decreases the need for the teacher to spend time addressing disruptive and disrespectful behaviour. This collective commitment strengthens relationships, supports wellbeing and ensures our school remains a place where every child is valued, supported and able to grow to be the best version of themselves.

Safety - we keep our hands, feet and objects to ourself

In Weeks 4 and 5, our community will be focusing on the value of Safety. We will be specifically focusing on the school-wide expected behaviour - ‘we keep our hands, feet and objects to ourselves’. This expectation helps all students understand how their actions impact the safety and wellbeing of others. 

Common challenges in our school which we aim to improve include:

• wrestling and playfighting (which typically ends with someone injured or upset)
• tackling and bumping during games (ie footy)
• pinching
• pushing another person
• pulling on another person’s clothing 
• kicking, hitting, punching
• hitting another person with an object
• throwing an object at another person

By maintaining safe bodies and respectful use of objects, we reduce the risk of harm and create environments where everyone can feel secure and cared for. When students feel safe, they are better able to regulate their emotions, engage positively with others and focus on learning. This shared commitment to safety supports a calm, predictable school environment where every child can learn, play and grow with confidence.

We welcome all families to discuss these important expected behaviours with their child at home. We will be making great efforts in 2026 to support students in meeting these behaviour expectations. We wish for every child at Mother Teresa to feel Safe and Respected!