At the end of term 2 I attended the National Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) Conference in Cairns. The event was a 3 day conference with over 700 school delegates and an array of National and International speakers whose focus was sharing the message of PBL in our schools.
MSS has been on the PBL journey for many years and in 2024 we are all about rebooting our ways of working to make sure our PBL work is relevant and current with our community, clients and curriculum.
Happy to say, MSS is on track. Here are a couple of snippets from some of the presenters that caught my eye when trying to explain to new families to our school, what PBL is. I will be sending out an update with the newsletter for you read, discuss and share with your families and others. If you find something interesting, please send it along to me.
This year we have re-established our MSS PBL team which consists of our Principal, DP, Guidance Officer, classroom teachers from every year level, Teacher Aide and First Nations Reps. We meet fortnightly to discuss data and what is happening in our school, and are currently 'action planning' for semester 2 and 2025.
MSS is committed to having our school expectations shared each fortnight so we as a collective group of staff and families can teach the behaviours we want to see. Our current expectation is:
I respect safety – right place, right time
Please take time to discuss this with your child/ren so they understand what it means. We are in the process of making a suite of resources for us all to use in 2025 so we have a common language to use and share.
The framework of PBL is below and that is the structure we use. Our whole school reward system is 500 Pay Ways for classes. Once the class reach the 500 PW they get to celebrate with a preferred activity, party, celebration etc.
PBL is the plate on which we add everything else we do here in a school day. I know you know the Attendance catch cry of 'EVERYDAY COUNTS', well now we have 'EVERY MOMENT COUNTS' so the fact that PBL, Attendance, Student engagement and learning are all interrelated is even more important in our busy schedules. Below is a snap shot of Dr Brandi Simonsen who is a lecturer at University of Connecticut, who integrates positive behaviours with academic instruction.
If our kids are coming to school, they have the opportunity to learn, and we have every opportunity to teach and make every moment AND everyday count.
Nyree Burton
Deputy Principal