Climate and Culture- Social Emotional Wellbeing
Communicating with the SWPBL Climate and Culture Team
If you have any questions relating to our SWPBL framework, please email:
Stacey Bowles: stacey.bowles@education.vic.gov.au
Llewela Humphries: llewela.humphries@education.vic.gov.au
Damien Kitch: damien.kitch@education.vic.gov.au
Green Gotchas
In School Wide Positive Behaviours for Learning (SWPBL), a major focus is recognising and acknowledging positive behaviours in the classroom and in the school yard. At Upwey South Primary School, our whole school recognition system is a "Gotcha".
Who gets a Gotcha?
A Gotcha can be awarded by any teacher at any time. Most often, a Gotcha will be awarded by a classroom or specialist teacher during class for showing positive learning behaviours.
How does my child get a Gotcha?
Gotcha's are awarded for a variety of positive learning behaviours in the classroom including displaying the school values, working hard on a task, helping another student or teacher, using the school diary or achieving a personal goal.
Across the school, Gotcha's may be awarded for:
- Assisting someone in need
- Picking up rubbish in the classroom
- Showing kindness to classmates
- Demonstrating the school values
What happens when a 'Gotcha' is awarded?
When a teacher gives a student a 'Gotcha', they enter this on our school communication system 'Compass'. Compass will then send a notification to you (the parent) and Mr Kitch. When you open the notification, you will be able to see what your child has been awarded for. The purpose of notifying you (the parent) is to spark a conversation with your child about their day, and give recognition to the fantastic thing your child did.
We encourage you to purposely recognise and praise your child.
Harmony Day 2023
On Tuesday 21st March 2023, Upwey South Primary School will be celebrating Harmony Week. All students are encouraged to come to school in the colours/attire of a country in which they have a personal interest or cultural link.
Students may come dressed in country colours, flag colours or traditional cultural attire.
Students may also choose to come to school wearing a splash of orange, which is the official colour of Harmony Week.
Students are also encouraged to bring to school an artefact/flag/interesting fact/photos/etc from their country of interest.
To celebrate this event, we are asking students for a gold coin donation that will support the planting of multicultural shrubs and plants within our school grounds.
Inspire Health and Medical is partnering with our school!
We are pleased to share with you that our school has secured a partnership with Inspire Health and Medical (formerly Yarra Valley Psychology), to provide in-school counselling services to students.
(https://www.inspirehm.com.au/the-story-behind-inspire/),
Throughout schools across Victoria, student counselling is a much needed (and under resourced) service. Many of our families are currently experiencing first-hand the difficulties associated with trying to gain access to support services for their children. Therefore, we must be grateful that we have been presented with the opportunity to enter a partnership with Inspire, as the resources do not exist for this partnership to occur across schools within our region.
Our allocated and fully qualified School Counsellor is Carvin Winans. Check out the images below to find out a little more about Carvin.
Please be aware of the information below:
Is there a cost involved to access the service, and does my child require a Mental Health Plan?
There is no cost involved for the family.
Your child does not require a Mental Health Plan to access the service. This is due to the fact that the counselling sessions are delivered by a fully qualified School Counsellor, as opposed to a medical practitioner.
There is also no limit on the number of sessions a child may access. Access to sessions, and duration (in weeks) will be determined between the Counsellor, the school, and the parent/carer.
How are sessions structured?
Our School Counsellor, Carvin, is in the school two days per week, with one day dedicated to individual therapy sessions and the second day dedicated to proactive group sessions as directed by the school. Student-needs are prioritized in partnership with the school and the parent/carer. Prior to any child commencing, a confidential discussion will take place between the Counsellor and the parent/carer.
Will each child who is referred be able to access the service?
Unfortunately, this is not achievable within the current mental health environment. Referrals will be prioritized on a needs basis from within our own school cohort.
If I wish for my child to access the service, what do I need to do?
Please complete the referral form below and return it via the instructions on the form.