Beautiful sunshine this week which followed the wonderful rain, we have much to be thankful for!

The students over the last two weeks have been coming together as a whole school to look at our school rules and devise a new set of ‘ways of being’.  The children were given some examples of what this might look like and in groups they came up with some ideas of what they thought the ways of being should include.  These ideas were collated and we now have 5 ways of being at St Joseph’s.  Our year fives and Sixes did a fantastic job at leading all of the students and getting their ideas down on paper.  This week our year 6’s did some role plays and demonstrated what behaviour looks like if we do not follow our ways of being.  In groups the students brainstormed what it means at St Joseph’s to live out our ways of being:

• Be responsible
• Be kind
• Be safe
• Be respectful
• Be the best you can be

These ways of being encompass the expectations that are in place for students behaviour, their learning, their relationships with others and how they have a big role to play in maintaining a positive school environment.  

The children are now illustrating what it means to ‘be’ these things so every student has an understanding of the expectations at St Joseph’s.  I have been really impressed with how everyone has contributed to this process and especially how sensibly our school leaders have led the students.  

Next week we will go through the clear consequences that will be in place on the playground or in the classroom if students are having trouble following our ways of being.

Restorative justice practices and philosophy form the basis of these consequences and the processes that will be followed:

• Taking responsibility for the wrong things that we do
• Thinking about why we do the wrong things when we do them
• Understanding how other people are affected by our wrongs
• Fixing things up after we have done wrong

All of these steps are being taken as we update our student welfare policy.  This will be shared in next week’s newsletter with all families, and ensures that everyone in our school community is aware of the positive expectations of all students.

Have a great week.