Welcome back CPS Families!

We are not wasting anytime, we are hitting the ground running with PBL. This term we are introducing “Fortnight Focus”. Each fortnight we will use the data we have been collecting to target one specific undesirable behaviour around the school. 

We will introduce this focus during Yumma and refer to it daily to ensure the message is clear and consistent. We will be working with some of our Year 6 leaders to create an informative video for teachers to share with their class. All adults will pay close attention to the focus and acknowledge the desired behaviour with a STAG.

We are also eagerly awaiting our badges which are due to arrive any day now. We are very excited to award a couple of our students who have reached their first goal!

Ask your child/ren about the Fortnight Focus and if you are able to support this by either a chat about it at home or if you are able to demonstrate the focus yourself, that would be great!

Fortnight Focus: Walking through corridors and decks quietly (preferably silently) and to the left.

SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING AS PART OF OUR PBL

As you will recall, last term our Topic for SEL was Emotional Literacy. We are now up to our next topic, Personal Strengths. Children and young people need a vocabulary to help them recognise and understand strengths and positive qualities in themselves and others. This topic provides learning activities to build this vocabulary and to use it when discussing personal, social and ethical challenges. 

EVIDENCE BASE

Research in the field of positive psychology emphasises the importance of identifying and using individual strengths. Social and emotional learning programs which use strength-based approaches promote student wellbeing, positive behaviour and academic achievement.

Through the next few weeks, each activity aims to assist students to:

Kindergarten

• Identify and describe personal strengths
• Explain how these strengths help them to contribute to family and school life
• Identify ways to care for others, including ways of making and keeping friends.

Year 1 & 2

• Identify and describe personal strengths
• Explain how these strengths contribute to family and school life
• Identify ways to care for others, including ways of making and keeping friends.

Year 3 & 4

• Describe personal strengths and challenges
• Identify skills and strengths they wish to develop
• Describe factors that contribute to positive relationships with people at school, home and in the community
• Identify communication skills that enhance relationships
• Describe characteristics of cooperative behaviour and identify evidence of these in group activities.

Year 5 & 6

• Describe the range and influence of personal qualities and strengths
• Monitor their progress in consolidating their strengths
• Assess the value of working independently.

In the next Newsletter I will discuss some of the activities we have been doing in class and provide some suggestions of how you can support this at home. 

Nicole Carney