Parent Payment Arrangements 2023

Newham Primary School is looking forward to another great year of teaching and learning

and would like to advise you of Newham Primary School’s voluntary financial contributions for 2023.

Schools provide students with free instruction to fulfil the standard Victorian curriculum and we want to assure you that all contributions are voluntary. Nevertheless, the ongoing support of our families ensures that our school can offer the best possible education and support for our students. We want to thank you for all your support, whether that is through fundraising or volunteering your time. This has made a huge difference to our school and the programs we can offer.

Within our school this support has allowed us to offer: 1:1 computers for 5/6 students, Kitchen Garden Program, Apps and programs, incursions and excursions, French cultural day, sustainability/ResourceSmart/Science, School Wide Positive Behaviours activities and musical instruments to name a few.

For further information on the Department’s Parent Payments Policy please see a one-page overview included in the attached parent payment arrangements notice.

Parent Payment Arrangement information has been sent to families via uEducateUs and in hard copy form via students. If making a voluntary payment, please ensure that the parent payment arrangement form is completed and returned to the school so that the payment can be receipted according to your wishes.

Thankyou

School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support

As you know, our school has a School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support approach to behaviour management. This semester staff have focussed on feature 6 – responding to inappropriate behaviour. We wanted to share with you our updated system so that you could understand what we’re doing at school and because you might like to use some of the strategies at home.

For an overview of the SWPBS approach, please refer to our SWPBS Quick Guide for Families.

Feature 6 – Responding to Inappropriate Behaviour

Behavioural change requires explicit teaching of expected behaviours and lots of encouragement. The research tells us that the traditional response of scolding, berating or punishing someone for inappropriate behaviour is very ineffective.

Thinking about the difference between shame and guilt can help us. “Shame is ‘I am bad’ while guilt is ‘I did something bad.’ … Guilt: ‘I’m sorry. I made a mistake.’ Shame: ‘I’m sorry. I am a mistake.’” (Brené Brown). Scolding and punishing is shaming. It makes a child feel that they are bad, they are a problem, and nothing can be done about it. Feeling that way, a child wants to lay blame elsewhere, deny anything ever happened and avoid doing anything about the issue. By contrast, when a child feels guilty about something, they understand that they have made a mistake but also have the capacity to fix it. They can own the behaviour then work towards fixing it.

Having a system in place to respond to inappropriate behaviour reinforces for children that it’s about their behaviour, not them. Educational researchers explain: “When everyone handles infractions with instructional correction procedures, students learn that what happens when they misbehave is procedure, not personal.” This helps students to maintain positive relationships with each other and with teachers, and to really change their behaviour, in line with the values we and they care about.

Our system for responding to inappropriate behaviour is underpinned by these understandings. You can see an overview in this flowchart.

To briefly summarise…

With feedback from students, family and staff, we have defined minor and major inappropriate behaviours. These are responded to differently. Minor behaviours are quickly dealt with in the moment by a staff member through prompting, redirecting and reteaching, and offering a logical consequence alternative if inappropriate behaviour continues. Major behaviours are serious or chronic and are managed beyond the context where they occur, by the classroom teacher and principal. The student is required to step out of the situation, interrupting the behaviour and giving them and their classmates a break to reset. We later conference with the student to help them understand the impact of their behaviour, how they can fix it and what they should do differently next time. We also select a logical consequence. Parents are contacted to back up the message at home. Our aim is to empower students to understand, fix and change inappropriate behaviours so that we can all learn and get along productively.

The tool we use to help students understand their behaviour is a social autopsy. The student is first asked to have a go at filling it out themselves as they reset. For junior students, we first use a simpler reflection. Then during a conference, the classroom teacher and the student work through each part of the social autopsy together. We strongly focus on how they will fix things and on naming the expected behaviour for a future situation. The teacher supports the student to organise fixing things. The teacher determines a logical consequence as well, in consultation with the principal, and potentially in discussion with the student.

Logical Consequences

They are:

Not Punitive: best involve learning tasks or opportunities directly related to the inappropriate behaviour.
Require effort: leave little incentive for repeating the inappropriate behaviour.
Consistent over time: increasingly harsh consequences focuses attention on the looming consequence and not the impact the behaviour has on others or self
Selected Individually: Fairness and consistency are achieved through clear expectations and standards that are upheld for all. Consequences in upholding those standards may be different as appropriate for the student. Fairness doesn’t mean that everyone gets the same thing. Fairness means that everyone gets what they need in order to be successful and meet the standard.

Home Support

Your support at home is essential. If we contact you about a major inappropriate behaviour, it really helps your child if you can reinforce the conferencing work we do. That means, talk with your child about what happened, the impact of their behaviour on others, how they are going to fix it and how you would expect them to behave in a future situation. Let your child know you believe in their ability to fix things and to do better next time.

You might also like to try out the social autopsy for situations that arise at home. Another thing you might find helpful is how to respond to minor inappropriate behaviour: prompt, redirect, reteach then offer a choice of the appropriate behaviour or a logical consequence.

We are very grateful for the support families do provide us and their children as we manage and develop behaviour. We are always happy to discuss issues or concerns about behaviour with families. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with your child’s classroom teacher for support and clarification.

Parents & Friends News

The Trivia night is going ahead this weekend and there are still plenty of tickets available so please put the word out to family, friends, neighbours and any trivia buffs you know. This is a great opportunity to raise money for our school. We are also pleased to be donating a portion of funds raised on the night to help Sally Ramshaw and her family as they continue to recover and build back from their house fire earlier in the year.

https://www.trybooking.com/CAMVV

Some important updates

The silent auction : There is an amazing list of auction items and prizes up for grab on the weekend including fabulous local wines, a weekend escape to Daylesford, dinner vouchers, pilates and fitness vouchers, a golf buggy, discounted indoor skydiving and a day worth of hard labour around your house. Attached is a full list of donations received so far and our very big thanks to all the businesses and individuals who have donated. All items will be sold on the night with individuals asked to pay and collect items through the school office on the following Monday.

Cheese platters: Cheese platters will also still be available. These are also available through pre-order only and can be purchased with your tickets on the trybooking account.

Drinks, raffles, and other items: please bring cash for your drinks and raffle items. We hope to also have the ability for drinks to be paid for by eftpos but the best laid plans can always come unstuck so get those gold coins out of the back of the couch, top up at an ATM and make sure your wallets are full.

Finally – thanks to everyone who has helped get us ready for Saturday. It’s been a huge team effort across the P&F group, so thank you!

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