Behaviour Support and Management

Overview

Fort Street High School is committed to explicitly teaching and modelling positive behaviour and to supporting all students to be engaged in their learning.

Our goal is to inspire every child to participate positively in society. We focus on promoting excellence, opportunity and success for every student, every day. We value and strive to develop safe, respectful learners in a caring learning community.

The principles of positive behaviour support, trauma-informed practice, inclusive practice, and social emotional learning underpin our daily practice. High expectations for student behaviour are established and maintained through effective role modelling, explicit teaching, and planned responses.

Our processes are founded on the idea that students must learn to take responsibility for their own actions and to ensure all staff respond to these challenges consistently to support students to acknowledge and learn from their behaviour.

We work closely with parents and carers to focus on articulating the vision for student achievement via the Fort Street Exit Profile:

- achieve academic and creative excellence,

- develop skills and talents across a broad range of areas

- become reflective and independent learners responsible for their own growth

- develop emotional resilience, self-confidence and the ability to collaborate & communicate effectively

- develop a commitment to fairness and equity, a recognition of their responsibility to the wider community and a strong sense of social justice.

Partnership with parents and carers

For Street High School will partner with families in establishing expectations for parent engagement in developing and implementing student behaviour management strategies, including for bullying behaviour by:

- inviting families to attend our parent/teacher events e.g. Year 7 Welcome Night.

- providing clear information regarding student behaviour at the start of each year. This information will be disseminated via classroom expectations, whole school assemblies and Year Meetings.

- requesting parent and student feedback through the Tell Them From Me Surveys.

- consulting with the school’s P&C Association and local AECG.

- using concerns raised through complaints procedures to review school systems, data and practices.

For Street High School communicates student behaviour expectations to parents and carers through our regular school newsletters, website and parent emails.

FSHS Minimum Classroom Expectations 7-12

Behaviour Code for Students

NSW public schools are committed to providing safe, supportive and responsive learning environments for everyone. We teach and model the behaviours we value in our students.

The Behaviour Code for Students can be found at https://education.nsw.gov.au/policy-library/policyprocedures/pd-2006-0316/pd-2006-0316-01. This document translated into multiple languages is available here: Behaviour code for students.

Whole school approach across the care continuum

Fort Street High School embeds student wellbeing and positive behaviour approaches and strategies across the care continuum and responds to behaviours of concern, including bullying and cyberbullying behaviour. Behaviours that do not constitute bullying include mutual disagreements or isolated incidents.

These approaches and strategies are built on a foundation of evidence-based effective classroom practices that set the tone for engagement with learning and respectful relationships. These practices include:

• explicitly teaching classroom expectations

• establishing predictable routines and procedures that are communicated clearly to students

• encouraging expected behaviour with positive feedback and reinforcement

• discouraging inappropriate behaviour

• actively supervising students

• maximising opportunities for active engagement with learning

• providing carefully sequenced engaging lessons that provide options for student choice

• differentiating learning content and tasks to meet the needs of all learners.

Fort Street High School enacts a strategic and planned whole-school approach to wellbeing, wherein the school environment is structured so that all students are provided with opportunities to connect, succeed and thrive. Students participate in timetabled wellbeing (Fortunae lessons), attend a wide range of extracurricular activities to promote social justice and empathy and participate in small group preventative programs to support emotional and social development.

Planned responses to positive appropriate behaviour, inappropriate behaviour and behaviours of concern, including bullying and cyber-bullying

Identifying behaviour of concern, including bullying and cyberbullying

A behaviour of concern is challenging, complex or unsafe behaviour that requires more persistent and intensive interventions. A behaviour of concern does not include low-level inappropriate or developmentally appropriate behaviour. Bullying behaviour involves the intentional misuse of power in a relationship, is ongoing and repeated and involves behaviour that can cause harm.

Fort Street High School Staff will identify inappropriate behaviour and behaviours of concern, including bullying and cyber-bullying through a range of channels, for example:

- directly observing a student’s behaviours, interactions, verbal communications, or work produced (such as written materials, work on Google Classroom, performances or artworks)

- a person disclosing information that is not previously known, either because it is new information or because it has been kept a secret

- concerns raised by a parent, community member or agency.

Students or parents can report bullying to any staff member. NSW public school principals have the authority to take disciplinary action to address student behaviours that occur outside of school hours or school grounds, including cyberbullying. Students who have been bullied will be offered appropriate support, for example through their Year Adviser or the school counselling service.

Responses to all behaviours of concern apply to student behaviour that occurs:

- at school

- on the way to and from school

- on school-endorsed activities that are off-site

- outside school hours and off school premises where there is a clear and close connection between the school and students’ conduct

- when using social media, mobile devices and/or other technology involving another student or staff member, where there is a clear and close connection between the school and students’ conduct.

Preventing and responding to behaviours of concern

Planned responses to behaviour that does not meet school expectations are either teacher or executive managed. Staff use their professional judgement in deciding whether a behaviour is teacher managed or executive managed. They should consider whether the behaviour poses a risk to the safety or wellbeing of the student or others.

• Teacher managed – low level inappropriate behaviour is managed by teachers in the classroom and the playground.

• Executive managed – behaviour of concern is managed by school executive.

Corrective responses by teachers may include:

- rule reminder

- re-direct, offer choice or error correction

- prompts

- student is to catch up on missed work

- seat change/play or playground re-direction

- stay in at break to discuss/complete work/walk with teacher

- detention, reflection and restorative practices

- communication with parent/carer

Responses to serious behaviours of concern

Responses for serious behaviours of concern, including students who display bullying behaviour, are recorded on Sentral, monitored and addressed in accordance with school and departmental policies. Responses vary depending on the type, frequency and seriousness of behaviour and may include:

• review and document incident on Sentral.

• request student/s, witnesses and/or staff complete a statement about the incident and/or incident report form when an injury has occurred. Keep paperwork in student file or filed in DP folder for register of injuries.

• HT or DP interviews people involved to ensure clarity of situation and all required information is considered before responding.

• consultation with key staff members involved to determine appropriate response/s, including supports for staff or other students impacted

• refer and monitor the student through the wellbeing team (YA, SC, HTW, SSO, LST, DP).

• communication and collaboration with parents/carers (phone, email, meeting).

• consultation with parents to develop or review individual student support planning, including making learning and environmental adjustments

• detention, reflection and restorative practices (listed below).

• liaise with Team Around a School for additional support or advice

• formal caution to suspend, suspension or expulsion.

The NSW Department of Education Student Behaviour policy and Suspension and expulsion procedures apply to all NSW public schools.

Students and/or parents can report cyberbullying to the eSafety Commissioner and reporting links for most sites, games and apps can be found at the eSafety Guide.

Reporting and recording behaviours of concern

Staff will comply with reporting and responding processes outlined in the:

• Incident Notification and Response Policy

• Incident Notification and Response Procedures

• Student Behaviour policy and Suspension and Expulsion procedures.

Detention, reflection and restorative practices

Toilet and food breaks are always included when students are withdrawn from the playground as a planned response to behaviour. The maximum length of time will be appropriate to the age/developmental level of the student.

Review dates

Last review date: Term 1, Day 1, 2025

Next review date: Term 1, Day 1, 2026