Wellbeing

Talking about school

It’s incredibly satisfying as a parent to be able to engage in a conversation about school with your child. However some children find it difficult to come up with a response, or provide a response they think their parent wants to hear, either positive or negative, no matter what their day was like. Often it’s when they get into the car, parents and carers might ask; “What did you do at school today?” and to their amazement often the answer is; “Nothing”. Or perhaps your children don’t have to be asked but will automatically launch into a full story of their day. 

Following are some alternatives parents may choose instead of the classic line already mentioned. They are designed to get conversation flowing and to get children thinking about their answer, and are probably best asked once the hustle and bustle of travelling home and winding down has settled. They also link in very well with our School Wide positive behaviour goals, by promoting discussion.

Tell me something that made you laugh today.

Where is the coolest place at the school?

Tell me the most interesting word you heard today.

How did you help somebody today?

How did somebody help you today?

Tell me one thing that you learned today.

When were you happiest today?

Who would you like to play with at recess that you’ve never played with before?

What do you think you should do/learn more of at school?

Who in your class do you think you could be nicer to?

Where do you play the most at playtime?

Who is the funniest person in your class? Why are they so funny?

What was your favourite part of lunchtime?

If you got to be the teacher tomorrow what would you do?

If you could switch seats with anyone in the class who would you swap with? Why?

Tell me about 3 different times you used your pencil today at school.

Feel free to share with your child’s teacher how you went. 

SWPBS Update

Last year, we invited families to complete a survey about SWPBS. Thank you to all those who took the time to respond! We noticed real appreciation among parents for the clear teaching of values and expectations that Newham PS provides. You can see a snapshot of some of the responses below.

Based on student, family and staff input, some of our key aims for this year include:

• Provide more frequent communication and information updates to families in newsletters and at assemblies
• Develop further ways to celebrate positive student behaviours around the school and with families
• Streamline the matrix and include Kimochis communication and self-regulation strategies
• Monitor the value cards received by individual students to ensure we’re fairly giving them out
• Implement a system for analysing inappropriate-behaviour data, develop strategies to respond and evaluate its effectiveness
• Develop a system to identify students requiring additional behaviour support, and collaborate on providing that support
• Teaching an Excellence - Upstander expectation to students, and introducing a new purple card to acknowledge this bully-stopping and community-minded behaviour

Out of bounds/ snake precautions

The boundary areas of our school are always considered out of bounds and unsuitable for playing. Neighbouring fences can be electrified, grass is often longer against a fence, the ground is rougher and if snakes are passing through, we can safely leave them to do so here.

During summer we also take further snake precautions. Our grass is kept low, and play is restricted to open areas. Consequently, the rock amphitheatre and forest area are closed for play. Sometimes this may also have to include the blue slide, or under the pines. Staff on duty check regularly to assess the risk here.