Heading into winter, our students have plenty of opportunities to show PRIDE at Amberley School

This photo shows two Year 8 students who supported a mufti day for Heart Kids. Having empathy for others is an important life skill and we are proud of our senior students that 'step up' to make a genuine difference in their time as a Year 8.

Positive Behaviour for Learning

This year the Amberley teaching team have continued a major focus on school wide behaviour. In the past I have talked about our involvement in the PB4L initiative (Positive Behaviour for Learning). http://pb4l.tki.org.nz/  This is school wide professional development that helps to: "foster positive behaviour, strengthen relationships, and increase student well-being by creating caring, inclusive learning environments."

Trina Shepherd and Nicky Lotz are leading this development at Amberley with the assistance of local RTLB facilitators. Part of this journey has been to establish clear guidelines as to what are classified as 'minor' and 'major' behaviours. Teacher consistency when dealing with behaviour is essential. We are also in the process of collecting data about time, frequency and location of behaviours. In this way we can identify trends and patterns at our school and implement changes where needed.

What is Restorative Practice?

Bullying and 'Restorative Practice' are hot topics in the media at the moment. No school can claim to be free of bullying, but having a proactive and 'zero tolerance' approach are important beliefs for our team at Amberley. There is an excellent online resource https://www.bullyingfree.nz/schools/  which is worth a look and has a great overview, including advice on cyber bullying. 

'A restorative school is one which takes a restorative approach to resolving conflict and preventing harm. Restorative approaches enable those who have been harmed to convey the impact of the harm to those responsible, and for those responsible to acknowledge this impact and take steps to put it right.

Restorative approaches refer to a range of methods and strategies which can be used both to prevent relationship-damaging incidents from happening and to resolve them if they do happen*'.

Amberley teachers use a restorative approach when dealing with behaviour, as we know this is effective for resolving the vast majority of problems we encounter on a day to day basis. We are also aware that for extreme/major behaviours, then the restorative approach may not work and more punitive measures may need to be taken. For example, a series of major behaviours may result in a stand down or suspension. There is a useful parent guide to what this all means here:

PRIDE at Amberley

We work hard to focus on the positive. Children that show PRIDE can be recognised through assembly certificates, and even through 'PRIDE' awards which are given out by teachers in class or on duty. Names are drawn each week to earn a prize from the PRIDE prize box. 

We are looking to extend our PRIDE awards into the community and include local businesses so that they can give out these awards too. When our students are out and about in our uniform, they are ambassadors to our school, therefore it is important to us that they uphold our values. We have plans to include places such as the library, blue diary, Countdown etc so that if their staff 'catch' an Amberley student showing PRIDE, then we get to hear about it.

We also have PRIDE time, on Friday afternoons, where students get a chance to experience a range of fun and interesting activities. For children that slip up, we have 'PRIDE Not Earned' which is where they miss out on this Friday afternoon activity, and must complete a reflection sheet showing that they understand where they went wrong (and how they can prevent it happening again).

Managing behaviour is a complex issue and, as parents ourselves, our team take this responsibility seriously. We must always keep in mind that 99% of the time, our students and their behaviour are exemplary. We are genuinely passionate about teaching and we strive to provide a safe and positive learning environment for your children.

Have a great week everyone.

Simon