Dear McAuley Families

Mr Moore is away this week, Wednesday to Friday at a Catholic Education Principal’s Conference and Retreat. This is an annual meeting of the 56 principals across our Archdiocese. I have been asked to write to you in his absence. 

A large part of the Role of the Assistant Principal is Pastoral Care. That means caring for the social and emotional wellbeing of your sons and daughters. You will know that our programs and procedures had not been evaluated for some time prior to last year.

During Semester Two of 2O20, staff evaluated the student welfare procedures in place at McAuley. Collectively, we were able to develop a new Student Welfare Policy (SWP) that was adopted at the end of the year and we have continued to implement this in 2021. Our Student Welfare Policy aims to focus on the positive behaviour of students, with the ultimate outcome of building and maintaining a  positive culture at McAuley.  Restorative Practices also play a vital role in dealing with student welfare, helping ensure that we treat all students as individuals and work to solve issues with a positive outcome for all. We want to avoid punishment that is punitive and be reasonable in our actions and re-actions.

Our Student Welfare Policy is a levelled system that recognises student behaviour. These levels start with an expected level of behaviour (Blue Level) and then move to either Red Level (negative behaviour) to Gold Level (positive behaviour). The new Policy is backed by current research. As a team of researchers from Monash University have found, Positive Behaviour Support is “highly effective in preventing and addressing challenging behaviours in the classroom. It reduces stress, clears up much-needed time for teaching, improves overall student behaviours and creates better classroom and school cultures”.

Some aspects of our Student Welfare Policy that reinforce what we are aiming to achieve at McAuley include:

1. Setting clear expectations (Blue Level Expected Behaviour).
2. Modelling positive behaviour (Classroom Rules, Assemblies, descriptive praise, mental health activities, fruit at PC time, diaries, posters, more playground movement, equipment, counsellor 2 days a week)
3. Consistency – levels of growth/reward – Bronze, Silver, Gold and Consequence levels – Yellow, Orange, Red.
4. Acknowledge positive efforts -  (Merits/Mercy Awards, MJR Awards, Spirit of Mercy Awards, House Days each term, wellbeing week, Friday activities, camps/Pass trip)
5. Evaluate our progress.
   

More information on current research regarding Positive Behaviour Support can be found at the Monash University Website. 

We aim to review and refine our policy during this year and welcome input and suggestions from our students and families.  By working together and supporting the school we know that positive change will help build our excellent school culture.

Positive Behaviour References. Subban, Dr Pearl, et al. “Five Ways to Use Positive Behaviour Support Strategies in Your Classroom.” Monash Education, 3 Nov. 2020, www.monash.edu/education/teachspace/articles/five-ways-to-use-positive-behaviour-support-strategies-in-your-classroom

It’s been another busy and productive week at McAuley. Please take the time to read our newsletter articles. We make every effort to provide a varied and interesting read  - please let us know if you have any ideas for future information you would like covered. 

Kind regards to you all.

David Turnbull, Assistant Principal.