Wellbeing & Inclusion News
It’s goodbye Tribes…but we’re taking a piece of you with us into the future.
Dear FWPS families,
Tribes
For over a generation, Tribes has been a part of the FWPS community. The process moved along the Tribes trail of inclusion, influence and community and fostered a positive way of being together. The Tribes Agreements of Attentive Listening, Mutual Respect, Appreciations, No Put Downs, Personal Best and Participation/ Right to Pass along with schoolwide practices such as energisers, community circles and conflict resolution ensured that our students were able to participate in a collaborative classroom environment that fostered a sense of belonging. Year after year, as new teachers joined our school, an unwavering commitment to the extensive Tribes training process was undertaken until just before the Covid 19 pandemic began.
Why is it time to say goodbye?
The Tribes process, created by Jeanne Gibbs, first began to evolve in the 1970’s. It involved extensive training of staff by certified trainers. Our previous school leaders Caren Taylor and Lyn Wilkinson, engaged in this certification process and ensured that all teachers received this training upon joining FWPS. As the time drew near to consider succession planning, the Tribes process and all rights were sold to another organisation in the United States, Peace Learning Communities. They began the task of rebranding and rebuilding. Training and trainer certification was no longer available.
We also recognised that the world was a much more complex place and thus began the task of researching alternatives as we kept one eye on what was on offer in the rebranded Tribes space. In recent years, as more and more new staff joined our school they worked with staff to craft ‘Create the Environment’ planners to welcome students at the start of the year, and were exposed to processes that encompassed all things Tribes, however formal training remained unavailable.
As we furthered our research during this time we have extended our wellbeing, inclusion, personal safety and social-emotional curriculum to ensure that our students are engaged in the best research based educational practices. Newer additions include Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships, Consent Education and a more detailed Cyber Safety program. We have also begun building the capacity of our educators to look after their wellbeing and that of their students through the Be You suite of tools along with the implementation of the Zones of Regulation. Be You is the national mental health in education initiative delivered by Beyond Blue, in collaboration with Early Childhood Australia and Headspace. Be You supports educators to develop a positive, inclusive and resilient learning community where students can achieve their best possible mental health.
Last week's newsletter featured the Be You families survey. By participating in this, you will help us to better understand the needs of our families and provide suitable support and information programs as required. You can participate in the survey here: https://beyou.syd1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8BrqyFHxHoJ4DXv?survey_id=11778271393
Our Future
We have already started on the journey to ensure our wellbeing and social-emotional education programs are all encompassing to develop students match fit for the complexities they will face in today’s world. We know that no one process and program can deliver this. As we progress we will look to the past by taking the best of Tribes on the journey with us into the future, including our Agreements. Moving forward, the Berry Street Educational Model has been chosen as the future classroom and curriculum program. This rollout will feature in our next four year Strategic Plan and requires a major time and financial commitment.
https://www.berrystreet.org.au/learning-and-resources/berry-street-education-model
Are you the creative people we are looking for?
We are looking to rebadge our Social Emotional Program at FWPS and in the near future we will be asking for input from our school community! Stay tuned.
The FWPS Team
