The Positive Behaviour for Learning lesson for Week Four is: Responsible – Praise in public, follow up in private. This is an important lesson for our school as it will help clear up a misconceptions around consequences for student behaviour.

At Calliope State School we have a policy of praising in public, then following up in private. We do not shame students publicly, nor can we legally talk about other students to you when we call about an incident. This is based on legislation which all public schools are required to adhere to. So, it’s important to understand that just because you do not get told what the outcome was for other students, or if your child does not hear what consequences were given to the other student/s, that does not mean that nothing has happened. So, to help create awareness, here is an outline of our processes:

- Every behaviour incident reported to the office is investigated and dealt with;

- Every red card sent to the office – which relate to behaviour incidents – are investigated, entered into our system and the referring teacher, classroom teacher and relevant Deputy are referred into it to make them aware of both the incident and the consequences;

- Depending on each investigations merit, parents may be contacted at this stage;

- Lastly, a slip is then placed in the referring staff member’s pigeon hole to let them know of the outcome of the investigation and that it has been dealt with.

A lot of work goes into all this, but it’s work that the community does not see due to legal reasons. What people do see though, is us praising our students for the great behaviour and work, through certificates, stamps, Cool Coins and positive emails home. So please be reassured that we are following up in private.

Fantastic Fun Friday is coming up on the 14th August and the theme is Hollywood Red Carpet! Students can come in free dress as their favourite celebrity, character from a TV show or book, or their favourite story. Alternatively, they can also just wear free dress.

Calliope News on Facebook every Tuesday at 9.00am so please check it out.

Have a good week.

Thanks.

Brian Rowe

Student Welfare Teacher