Support for positive behaviour

This case study explores how one school supports positive behaviour which is a critical component for building students’ wellbeing.

St Charles Borromeo Catholic Co-educational Primary School, located in Templestowe Victoria with an enrolment of approximately 250, takes a whole-school systemic approach to wellbeing and positive behaviour. 

Discover how this school has embedded evidence-informed support strategies across the curriculum to support students to gain the kind of skills they need to be happy, safe and well – at school and beyond.

In this illustration of practice you will discover how St Charles Borromeo Catholic Primary School:

  • adopts a whole-school approach to support for positive behaviour
  • explicitly teaches social and emotional skills and reinforces these across the curriculum
  • uses restorative practices to resolve conflict and restore relationships
  • fosters home-school relationships to support students’ wellbeing and learning

Whole-school support for positive behaviour

Sue Cahill explains how support for positive behaviour is central to students’ learning and wellbeing. The synergies between School-wide Positive Behaviour Support and Restorative Practices create a school culture that helps students develop lifelong skills. Everyone in the school community shares an understanding of the kinds of behaviours that promote respectful relationships and support students to restore these and learn from their experiences when mistakes are made.

Restoring relationships

A Year 4 classroom teacher talks about the importance of early intervention to support students to restore relationships that have been fractured.

Restorative practice

This video highlights how two Year 4 students use the social and emotional skills they’ve been taught to resolve an issue in a teacher-led restorative practice session. The classroom teacher brings the students together to work through the process of restoring their relationship following an incident at recess. She then leads the discussion by asking the students to relay the incident from their individual perspectives. Follow the chat to discover how students call on the skills they have learnt to work through the issue for a positive outcome.

Support Materials

Behaviour reflection sheet

Students reflect on their behaviour following an incident and plan for positive change to restore relationships.

Whole school planner Term 1

A first term planner for whole-school positive behaviour support.

Whole school planner Term 2

A second term planner for whole-school positive behaviour support.

Whole school planner Term 3

A third term planner for whole-school positive behaviour support.

Whole school planner Term 4

A fourth term planner for whole-school positive behaviour support.

Support is a key element of the Australian Student Wellbeing Framework. When families and communities collaborate as valued partners with the school they contribute to positive learning outcomes, safety and wellbeing for everyone. Effective partnerships enable students to be supported and the school to effectively respond to the diverse and changing needs of staff, students and families.

Student wellbeing framework

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