Student Wellbeing Framework
As a profession, our practice is guided by the ‘Australian Student Wellbeing Framework’ and ‘Be You’, a National Mental Health in education initiative, delivered by Beyond Blue, in collaboration with Early Childhood Australia and Headspace.
All Australian teachers are mandated to deliver the ‘Keeping Children Safe’ curriculum.
Student Voice
The Australian Student Wellbeing Framework identifies student voice as an essential component of students feeling safe and supported at school. By creating a space for them to
actively participate in planning and implementing school choices, our students are motivated by a sense of collective responsibility and gain leadership skills for life.
At Burnside Primary, our Student Voice Committee (SVC) is comprised of two student representatives from each class. These students are elected in by their peers each semester and the
committee meets regularly each term to plan for school events, such as assemblies, lunch time activities and community projects. Primary representatives support Junior Primary representatives to achieve common goals. The SVC is guided by our Student Wellbeing Leader.
The Senior Student Voice Executive Committee (SVC Executives) are an important team of Year 6 student leaders, who must apply for their position at the beginning of a new school year. Successful applicants are decided by the Leadership team. The SVC Executives are responsible for leading SVC meetings, speaking at important whole-school events, writing articles for the newsletter and supporting younger students in the school.
Positive Behaviour Agreement
Our Positive Behaviour Agreement was co-created by staff and students and is centered around our school values of Respect, Cooperation and High-Quality Learning.
Students learn to build their PERMAH (Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishments and Health) and therefore, their wellbeing!
Interoception
Our staff have completed training to understand and implement interoception practice in all classrooms. Interoception is the eighth human sense, which allows us to read bodily cues. As young people strengthen this sense, they become more self-aware; beginning to understand what ‘self’ needs to attend to learning and manage social situations. For individual students who require additional support to self-regulate, we offer an interoception space.
Zones of Behaviour
The Zones of Behaviour is a curriculum geared tool, to help students gain skills in consciously regulating their actions, which in turn leads to increased control and problem-solving abilities. Using a cognitive behaviour approach, the curriculum’s learning activities are designed to help students recognize when they are in different states called ‘zones,’ with each of four zones represented by a different color. In the activities, students also learn how to use strategies or tools to stay in a zone or move from one to another. Students explore calming techniques, cognitive strategies, and sensory supports so they will have a toolbox of methods to use to move between zones.
One of the key tools is to understand that there is no ‘right’ level to be in, we all have moods and behaviours. The important lesson is to offer strategies to help children understand and identify their feelings and emotions and how their reactions impact others.
Burnside Primary has many initiatives in place to help our students to flourish. Firstly, we believe in teaching our students the foundations of what it takes to be ‘well.’ This includes positive behaviours for success in learning and in life.
Flourish Award
We recognise positive behaviour with regular ‘Flourish Awards’, which are published in our newsletter and at school assemblies. We offer tailored levels of behaviour support for individual students who require additional learning.
