23. Rewards and CONDUCT

Rewards and Conduct

It is our aim at South Island School to motivate, encourage and praise our students for their effort and achievement in their learning and other aspects of their school life. We believe that effort and achievement should be valued and rewarded, and that at different ages, students appreciate recognition and celebration at different levels.

Sporting achievements are celebrated in an annual Sports Awards Ceremony. Students who take Film and Media also have an annual Film Awards Celebration. There are Family Celebrations of Learning, which take place at the end of the school year.

We have many different ways that we celebrate students' successes:

Positive Comments are focused around:

Teachers will also provide positive feedback through our reporting system as well as Student Led Consultations.

Positive Support Framework

The school's priority is to provide a safe, inclusive and supportive environment for students to thrive.

We follow a restorative practice approach to discipline at South Island and we work with students to create positive learning opportunities. In August 2023 we are introducing a Positive Support framework which provides a structure for supporting students along the road to appropriate behaviour for learning.

What is the SIS Positive Support framework?

The overarching principle is to be fair and consistent with every child in order to provide a safe and secure environment that fosters sustainable personable development and learning.

The framework provides:

The Positive Support framework seeks to provide a series of incremental supports that reflect various responses to our students’ needs. It involves collaborating and relating to others with respect, honesty and courage. At different stages this may involve students, subject teachers, tutors, heads of faculty, heads of year/house, leadership team, parents, external agencies and members of our local community.

The framework is based upon a central idea: we manage ourselves and our learning by developing self awareness, resilience and commitment. We encourage all members of our community to have a solution-focused mindset and use our initiative to make a difference through resourcefulness, ongoing participation and reflection.

Any consequences issued as part of the framework will reflect the seriousness of individual student concerns, The stages in the framework may not necessarily be linear in progression but will be depend upon the context and the individual needs of the students. The table shown below is intended as guidance, rather than being prescriptive; each incident should be considered in its context but this guidance will aid whole school consistency. Concerns which are persistent, serious or critical will be recorded on our school system. 

Consequences

Having a consistent framework helps students to understand the school's values and expectations.  Sometimes students make mistakes and we believe this is a normal part of the developmental process. We are a learning community and any consequences issued will focus on reflection and growth. Consistent implementation of this framework helps to create a predictable environment to support student well-being.  Although we have a a consistent set of expectations, when issuing a consequence staff will consider the individual needs of the student. 

Teacher/Faculty/LT Consequences

These are issued when a student needs to catch up on missed work, make up for lost time or complete personalised tasks to reflect on their behaviour. If appropriate the consequence might also involve some service contributions to the school community and a removal of privileges. Consequences are designed to be productive and support the student to make progress by completing tasks or reflecting on their behaviour. 

When do these take place?

Consequences may be issued during break/lunch or outside of the school day. (Mon-Fri). If a consequence is issued outside of the school day (after school or on a Tuesday morning (8am-10am) or Friday afternoon (12.35-3.15) parents will be informed in advance and consideration given to ensuring that students have appropriate travel arrangements. Students may be asked to stay at school for up to an hour at the end of a school day or two hours on a Friday afternoon or Tuesday morning.  If a consequence is issued during break/lunch students must be given reasonable time in the day to eat and use the bathroom. 

Suspensions

There may be cases of unacceptable behaviour where it will be in the best interests of the school community and/or the student involved, for the student to be removed from the school for a period of time or completely. Permanent exclusion is the removal of a student from a school’s roll permanently. A student permanently excluded from one ESF school may not be readmitted to any other ESF schools and only permitted to enter an ESF/ESL premises with permission from the Principal. For full details regarding external suspensions and permanent exclusions please see the ESF policy HERE.

Internal Suspensions

Students might also be issued with an internal rather than external suspension. This means that the suspension takes place on the school site. If an internal suspension is considered more appropriate students will not attend their timetabled lessons. Instead they will follow a specific schedule and complete a range of tasks including reflection activities. Parents will be informed in advance of the suspension. 

SIS Positive Support Framework (Student) (1).pdf

POSITIVE SUPPORT FRAMEWORK

Positive Comment

A Positive Comment is written by teachers and tutors to acknowledge and praise improvement in behaviour, academic progress, exceptional effort in and out of class, outstanding piece of work, as well as significant participation and contributions in House Events. When a Positive Comment is recorded on iSAMS, the student, tutor, Head of House and vice-principal will receive an Email notification to indicate that a new Positive Comment is ready to be read on the iSAMS Pupil and Parent Portal and parents can view this record on their iSAMS account.

 


iSAMS Notification via Email