Principal's Report

Hello everyone,

Thank you for your support as we pass the halfway mark of Term 2.

I have been working on staff learning resources for the Diocesan Living Well, Learning Well framework and include here some of the shifts in language and practice recommended by experts in child and adolescent psychology, inclusion and behaviour support, and subsequently included in the framework.

Living Well, Learning Well is a rationale document justifying a model of student support that considers learning, wellbeing, school connection, behaviour, family-school partnerships and similar domains as inseparable and interrelated elements in the lives of children and young people and in the complex community that is the contemporary school. In the last newsletter I mentioned the protective factors provided by a school with effective student support:

Sense of safety and security (I am safe).
Self-worth (I am respected and valued).
Social connection (I am part of a community, I am wanted and needed, I can listen and be heard).
Self-efficacy (I can do things to look after myself and others).
Sense of purpose, hope and meaning (going to school is worthwhile, I can live a good life in a world worth living in).

Behaviours that compromise these protective factors are described as ‘unproductive’ or ‘unsafe’. The severity of behaviour is assessed in relation to its impact on the ecology of the classroom or other school setting and/or an assessment of risk. Some unproductive or unsafe behaviours are externalised and are easily seen. Others are internalised and not so easily seen. It is important that adults in schools can recognise these behaviours (unproductive and unsafe, externalised and internalised) as examples of a ‘behaviour that causes concern’ and initiate appropriate support. A behaviour that causes a supportive adult concern is acted on without the need for overthinking, analysing, diagnosing or explaining, increasing the chances of timely and effective support.

Staff and parents are encouraged to avoid emotive terms and legalistic language. Behaviours typically described as bullying behaviours are named unsafe behaviours and are subject to a risk assessment. Terms such as allegation, perpetrator and victim are avoided in favour of clear language outlining unsafe actions, associated risk and risk-mitigation strategies. Read this document from NSW Catholic Schools Responding to violent behaviour in children and young people for confirmation that the risk assessment and management plan pathway is more rigorous than typical anti-bullying strategies. Note as well that violent behaviours include physical, psychological, and other categories of violence, including inappropriate use of technologies.

You will sometimes hear calls for more ‘old school’ discipline. These approaches are easily identified. They align with the phrase: ‘These kids need more discipline’. They associate increased punishment (or more recently ‘consequences’), control and management with improved student behaviour. They are the basis of common media messages about declining behaviour standards in schools and associated calls for ‘more discipline’. Unfortunately they can also compromise protective factors of the school setting and make for a more controlling and less welcoming environment.

I hope you can support a more informed approach where all staff are supported in their practice to:

Assist students take next steps to replace both internalised and externalised unproductive behaviours.
Be receptive to help-seeking actions from students.
Communicate their adult concern about students (learning, wellbeing, safety, behaviour) to the appropriate people in the school setting.
Recognise unsafe behaviours and follow NSW Catholic Schools protocols to eliminate or reduce risk of unsafe behaviours.
Contribute to a building of the protective factor capacity of the school setting and contribute to the mitigation of risk-factors in the school setting.

Parents can assist by being equally informed, by quickly telling school staff about unsafe behaviours and by supporting processes when risk-mitigation measures are required. Phone calls are always best, as conversations are required to plan next steps.

Rod Whelan - Principal