“Equipping our children with the desire for learning as a life- long learner, encouraging spiritual, intellectual, emotional and social growth in an environment where children are safe, valued and respected for their individual abilities, background and aspirations.”
Holy Spirit Vision and Mission
Vision – Mission - Values
Vision
Our vision is for an inclusive school with a
welcoming Catholic faith community embracing hope, quality teaching and
learning, tolerance and understanding of difference.
Mission
Through the ideals of Catherine McAuley of
service, dignity and compassion and by living the Gospel of Jesus, we aim to
empower learners of all ages to embrace challenge, transform and enrich our
world 'to know what is right'.
Values
Our mission is supported by the
following values built into the school community as our 'Five Keys to
Success': confidence, resilience, persistence, getting along and organisation.
Beliefs and Common Philosophy about Learning and Teaching
1. Our beliefs about teaching and learning socially at school, student behaviour supports, and responding to students to meet their needs, unify us and direct our actions. At Holy Spirit School we create conditions for each learner to progress towards the development of perseverance, resilience, respect, shared responsibility and a generous spirit. Our school aims to develop the whole person – intellectual, emotional, physical, social and spiritual. This is undertaken in an atmosphere of care and support, with a concept that learning is enjoyable and motivates students. We believe that the learning environment we establish nurtures children's gifts.
Our Spirit Shines when we are:
- Respectful
- Responsible
- Safe
- Learning
Teaching Specific Goals and Expected Behaviours
Our school behaviour matrix is a visual tool that outlines the expectations of behaviours we expect all students and staff to learn, practice and demonstrate. They allow us to teach proactively and to provide students and parents with a positive message about behaviours for learning at school.
In addition to our school
expectations, our affective curriculum is informed by the General Capabilities
in the Australian Curriculum. The General Capabilities encompass the knowledge,
skills, behaviours, and dispositions that, together with curriculum content in
each learning area and the cross-curriculum priorities, will assist students to
live and work successfully in the twenty-first century.
The Personal and Social
Capability is one of the seven General Capabilities that outlines student
developmental stages of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and
social management. The behavioural and social emotional skills in this
capability are to be taught through the learning areas of the approved
curriculum. www.acara.edu.au
2. Focus: Teaching Expected behaviour
Effective instruction requires more than providing the rule – it requires instruction, practice, feedback, re-teaching and encouragement (Sprague & Golly, 2005). Instruction takes place each day, throughout the day, all year long.
In addition, direct teaching may be done using some or a combination of the following:
- Beginning of school year orientation day
- Classes, weekly throughout the year with the focus outlined in the staff digest
- Time built into the first weeks of schools and increased later in the year
- Assemblies followed by group practice
- New student orientation when needed
- Student leaders support younger peers
- Student leaders modelling and demonstrating expected behaviours
3. Feedback: Encouraging Productive Behaviours for learning
- Tier 1 Universal Supports:
Feedback should cause thinking (Dylan Wiliam, 2011). In education, we use the term “feedback" for any information given to students about their current achievements (Wiliam, 2011 p.122). Feedback to students provides them with the way to move their learning forward and make progress in their learning.
Our school encourages and motivates students, both as they are learning the expected behaviours and then to maintain those skills and dispositions as students become more fluent with their use. Specifically, our school encouragement system utilises effective, specific positive feedback, adult attention (contingent and non-contingent) and a tangible reinforcement system.
The encouragement strategies in place for school and classroom include:
School practices that
encourage expected behaviours | Classroom practices that
encourage expected behaviours |
| Terrific in the Playground Tickets | Points and Pegs Systems |
| Class of the Fortnight Award | Various class awards |
| Awarding whole class transition from morning line up | PB4L stickers |
| Principals Happy Hour (showcasing learning from individuals) | Class dojo points |
| Program Achieve Afternoon Tea with the Principal each term | Individual recognition |
| | Student Happy Grams sent home to parents identifying great work |
- Tier 2 Targeted Supports:
Targeted evidence-based interventions play a key role in supporting students at risk of academic and social problems and may prevent the need for more intensive interventions (Sailor et.al., 2009). These students consistently have trouble with low level but disruptive behaviours that interfere with instruction and hinder student learning. Targeted inventions should be timely and responsive and use similar strategies and social curriculum across a group of students.
Students are identified proactively, using academic, behaviour and attendance data accompanied by teacher nomination or through a screening process. Our targeted supports have systems in place to monitor student progress, make modifications, and gradually decrease support as student behaviour and engagement improves.
The evidence-based targeted supports currently available for students in the school include:
- The Behaviour Education Program (Check in- Check out) – (Crone, Horner & Hawken, 2004). This evidence-based Tier 2 support builds on the school-wide expectations by providing students with frequent feedback and reinforcement from their teacher/s, a respected facilitator, and the student's parents for demonstrating appropriate behaviour and academic engagement. The goal is to move the student to self-management.
- Social Skills Clubs/Groups. This type of intervention involves directly teaching social skills to enhance a student's ability to interact with peers and adults. Whilst social skill instruction may be part of the work done in universal supports this type of targeted support occurs in smaller groups with students who require additional practice and feedback on their behaviour. This group is held on Monday and Tuesday in the library with the school guidance counsellor. Additional lunch time clubs also include: Lego Club, Science Club, and Tinker Club.
- Tier 3 Personalised Supports:
Successful outcomes for students whose behaviour has not responded to Universal or Targeted supports are dependent on our ability to intervene as early as possible with appropriate evidence–based interventions. A function-based approach is an essential feature of PB4L.
Personalised supports currently on offer at the school include:
Functional Behavioural Assessment and designing an Individual Behaviour Support Plan
Pro-active, Collaborative Problem-Solving process (Dr Ross Greene)
Guidance Counsellor support services
Student Support Team case management - planning and implementation of individualised support plans and monitoring data
Partnerships with outside support agencies and specialists
4. Feedforward: Responding to Unproductive Behaviours
Even with our positive approach to teaching and supporting expected behaviours for learning, unproductive student behaviour will still occur. For some students, they do not know how to perform the expected behaviour, or don't know it well enough to routinely use it at the appropriate times. For some students, the maladaptive behaviours they are using appear to meet their needs. When responding to unproductive behaviours, all staff take a positive, supportive approach that builds, maintains, and sustains relationships with students.
To feedforward when responding to unproductive student behaviours, we have a system in place that enables staff to respond to minor unproductive behaviours efficiently and effectively, to chronic persistent minor behaviours and to major unproductive behaviours that hinder learning. In this continuum, thinking begins with clarity between minor behaviours (that can and should be managed by teachers, within the context of the classroom and non-classroom settings) and major behaviours (that are best managed in a more private setting with the class teacher and leadership in partnership). The definitions of teacher managed behaviours (Minor) and teacher plus leadership managed behaviours (Major) have been included in Appendix A.
Although the teacher is the key problem solver when responding to minor behaviours, they collaborate, and share creative strategies, with colleagues. Teachers respond to minor behaviours using best practices that include reminders of expectations, re-directing to learning and re-teaching behaviours. Appendix B includes a summary of practices that may be utilised.
The positive, support strategies currently in place for responding to unproductive behaviours at our school can be classified under the three evidence-based approaches recommended in BCE SBS policy and procedures, and include:
| De-escalation | Problem-solving | Restorative |
Supervised calm time in a safe space in the classroom
Supervised calm time in a safe space outside of the classroom
Set limits
Individual crisis support and management plan | Teacher – student conversation
Work it out together plan – teacher and student
Teacher – student – parent meeting
Teacher – student – leadership conversation | Student apology
Student contributes back to the class or school community
Restorative conversation
Restorative conference |
In addition, de-escalation crisis prevention and support strategies may include teachers using the following chart to respond as appropriate.
5. BCE Formal Sanctions
- Detention
- Suspension
- Negotiated Change of School
- Exclusion
For appeals, the school aligns to BCE processes.
May 2019
