Over the past weeks students in Years 3 – 6 have participated in a Bullying Survey and the information was collated throughout the holidays. Historically we have done this survey annually, to keep our finger “on the pulse” in terms of the culture in the Primary School.
The feedback from students was consistent and fair and there were very few surprises for us as staff. Over the next couple of week Mrs Mitchell and I will be speaking to students (individually) who:
- have indicated that they would like to meet with us to discuss something which has happened to them personally
- have been named more than once or twice in their own class or throughout Years 3 – 6.
The focus on assembly for Primary since February has been RESPECT and each week we have concentrated on an action or spoken aspect of RESPECT. As a staff we have been delighted with some of the significant changes in students and this week their peers have actually been nominating students who have helped them and demonstrated “THE GOLDEN RULE”.
RESPECT slips have been completed and collected for these students and every couple of weeks names will be chosen from the bucket to honour children whose names have been given.
At the end of the term, all Respect Slips are gathered and a small group of students (about five or six) are chosen to have “LUNCH WITH MRS BRYERS”. Last week I enjoyed lunch with Prep – Year 2 and Year 3 – 6 students to honour them. I love these lunches and we have such a great time together. How they can talk! But it is a very special time FOR ME and I hope it is for them also.
To support our Culture of Reporting (when something happens to a student or someone else which troubles them), we have placed a locked letter box in every classroom (except Prep) and students are being encouraged to write letters and post them to make teachers aware of anything which may be happening away from our watchful eyes.
Strategies are also being given to address minor incidents where children can simply be assertive and speak to another student, but there are times when even adults report something which is wrong and children can do the same in a safe way by placing a letter in the box.
We received the following email and photos from Mrs West in Year 1 on Friday, which says it all!
“Just wanted to let you know that the kids LOVE their letterbox! We had a go at writing letters yesterday with great success.
Because the children are so young and it’s hard for them to just write a letter when they feel they need to say something so we are going to make it into a weekly thing where everyone writes a letter. If they don’t have something they are sad about they can write about something happy or tell me about something they have enjoyed doing that week.
The kids wanted to say thank you for their letterbox by sending you some pictures of us using it.
Thanks, Rachel West”
