Plan for Compassion

Mindset

Be trauma informed in your practice

Many members of our community have experienced or are experiencing significant trauma and this impacts significantly on their behaviour. Trauma can take many forms (family violence, significant racial discrimination, historic sexual assault, embarrassment, shame, anxiety, and so on) and often teachers will not be aware of the traumatic status of their students and families. A focus on school and classroom belonging, on helping students to identify and manage their emotional responses to the world, developing predictable routines and responses and focusing on individual strengths as a starting point for future development (rather than deficits) supports all students and families, including those effected by trauma.

Models of trauma-informed practice show the importance of educators, family members/carers and health professionals collaborating to support children and adolescents who have experienced trauma.

Collaboration between educators and family members/carers can increase consistency and routines across home and educational settings. This improves a child's sense of safety and security, and limits triggers associated with the fight-or-flight stress response.

Conduct

Consistent Expectations

When our environment is consistent and predictable, everyone can learn and work at their best and achieve their best outcomes. It provides a sense of safety and security and reduces anxiety.

At Heathmont College, all members of our community are expected to:

·         Act in accordance with our school values, always, both in and out of the classroom and when communicating with others.

·         When we step outside our value behaviours, we will work within the principles of restorative practice, adopting approaches towards working with others that are strongly focused on identifying a shared understanding of what is needed for all members of the community to flourish and achieve and working together to meet those needs. A key part of this is to assume positive intent when communicating. Another is being open to admitting where harm has been caused and showing a desire to repair that harm.

·         Work collaboratively to develop a shared sense of belonging and connectedness to the community, the work, our classrooms, our peers, and all of the programs that we engage in across our time at this school. Each of us is responsible for actively identifying what our role is and how we support this community.

The above expectations are broad enough that they can be adapted to all facets of school life and provide flexibility with this adaptation to consider individual needs and differences of the people, subjects and learning spaces of the school environment.

What this looks like for:

Staff

·         Assume positive intent

·         Work WITH each of their classes to identify key expectations for behaviour and the possible consequences when these expectations are not met

·         Explicitly cover the use of ICT expectations for the relevant faculty and enforce these expectations

·         Communicate the expectations to families and students in a positive, clear and consistent way

·         Monitor student progress towards meeting the expectations and apply interventions as necessary

·         Use affective language and priming to signal what the expectations are and when they are being met

·         Explicitly consider ways to foster a sense of belonging and connectedness in their classes and regularly seek feedback on this and develop a plan that can be applied across the year.

Students

·         Assume positive intent

·         Work WITH their teacher and the other students to identify key behavioural expectations for the classroom

·         Communicate with their teacher in a clear and respectful way when their needs are not being met.

·         Know, understand and follow the SWPBS matrix in every classroom all of the time.

·         Work with peers and teachers to resolve conflicts and achieve success in learning.

·         Commit to the work required in each classroom and seek help when needed and appropriate.

Parents

·         Assume positive intent

·         Support their young people to articulate and understand the behavioural expectations

·         Reinforce the need for these to be maintained at all times

·         Work with the young person and school to support their capacity to do maintain the expectations

·         Respectfully communicate with the classroom teacher when needs are not being met using established communication channels. 

Consistent classroom routines

When classrooms are predictable and orderly across the school, students are better able to settle into learning and do their best work. Consistent classroom routines support a collaborative classroom culture and increases instructional time. It also helps to reduce anxiety and uncertainty.

Clarity, consistency and predictability provide a strong foundation for productive and positive relationships in the classroom.

As parents and family members are not regular attendees of the classroom, they do not have any direct responsibility under this element of the framework however, they are expected to support this element in principle.

What this principle looks like for:

Staff

·         Implement the agreed whole school routines (see below)

·         Develop a routine involving the use of circles and check ins in line with the Real Schools work in yarning circles

·         Model and explicitly teach expected routines and self-regulation strategies and support students to follow them

·         Reinforce student engagement in these routines using praise and recognition more frequently than redirection and reprimands

·         Provide parents and families with high level unit outlines at the beginning of each term or semester to signpost to families what will be learnt in that teaching period.

Students

·         Learn the routines and follow them for all classes

·         Recognise that the routines help with emotional regulation and to settle into the learning

·         Consciously use self-regulation strategies to ensure a positive learning culture.

Leaders

·         Provide guidance, templates, opportunities to practice and refine routines and procedures

·         Provide scripts or ideas for how to bring circle work into the classroom

·         Develop a toolbox of ideas for procedures in the classroom

Whole school routines

Entering the classroom:

Years 7 – 9

·         All students to line up quietly outside the classroom and wait for teacher instructions for entry.

·         Before allowing students to enter, the teacher needs to check the classroom and potentially set up equipment / task ready for student entry

·         When students and teacher are ready, teacher to invite students to enter, making sure to welcome each student as they enter the classroom

·         Students to stand behind their chairs and wait for instruction to take their seats. This allows the teacher time to scan the room and check that all is in order. It is also a good opportunity to encourage students to report any damage or graffiti that they notice in their workspace.

·         Students to be provided with a ‘Do Now’, check in (circle) or warm up activity or task to complete while the roll is marked and other preparations are made.

·         Teacher to articulate the learning intentions of the lesson clearly and visually display these in some format in the classroom for students to refer to.

Years 10 – 12

Entry routines can be negotiated with each class however, the teacher does need to specify a routine that might include arrangements for seating (for example, no moving of furniture without first requesting permission) and enforcement of the subject specific ICT user agreement process developed in 2024.

We will pilot this as a different process for senior students but if this does not seem to be working, or students are not entering the classroom in an orderly way, then the default is to defer back to the process outlined above.

Exiting the classroom

For all classes:

Prior to the leaving the classroom, students pack up their books and equipment and stand behind their chairs, waiting for the teacher to dismiss them. This provides time for the teacher to scan the room for rubbish, damage, graffiti or belongings to make sure that the classroom is left in an orderly way for the next group of students. It is encouraged that teachers engage their students actively in this process to instil a sense of responsibility for the learning environment. It also means that any damage caused during the lesson (such as graffiti) can be immediately followed up.

Language

Communicate expectations and routines with all members of the community consistently and regularly, this includes parents and carers. Use and teach affective language to students to support them to develop emotional regulation strategies and be explicit when doing so.

Use the word ‘belonging’ or ‘connectedness’ as frequently as you can. Point out to students the importance of belonging and help them to recognise what they need to be able to feel as though they belong in your classroom. Act on what they tell you.