Shaped by 140 years of experience, decades of research and thoughts and dedicated teachers, the Berry Street Education Model helps educators gain new perspectives, strategies, and skills to build safer, healthier, and more engaging classrooms for all students.
CLPS staff undertook the four-day Berry Street Education Model training over 2021 and 2022. The approach underpins all health and wellbeing programs and initiatives used at our school.
There are five Berry Street Education Model domains:
Body – How to help students to regulate their stress response, de-escalate in school and classroom contexts and provide strategies for increased focus.
Relationship – Positive relational classroom management strategies that promote on-task learning.
Stamina – How to create a culture of academic persistence in classrooms by nurturing student resilience, emotional intelligence and a growth mindset.
Engagement – How to motivate students with strategies that increase their willingness to learn.
Character – How to harness values and character strengths approach for effective learning and for future pathways.
The five domains correspond with child-development capacities that each student must grow in order to be ‘ready to learn’. When considering how to best meet the needs of students, the Berry Street Education Model focuses on building self-regulatory ability and relational capacity, then nurturing wellbeing and willingness to engage in learning.
The Berry Street approach is based on a Tiered model, where The Berry Street approach is based on a Tiered model, where approach to health and wellbeing.
Our school uses the Respectful Relationships learning materials developed for students Foundation to Year 6 to develop social, emotional, and positive relationship skills. Efforts to promote social and emotional skills and positive gender norms in children and young people has been shown to improve health related outcomes and subjective wellbeing. It also reduces antisocial behaviors including engagement in gender-related violence. The learning materials help to develop students’ Emotional Literacy, Personal Strengths, Positive Coping, Problem Solving, Stress Management, Help Seeking, Gender and Identity and Positive Gender Relationships.
Teachers establish clear and consistent classroom expectations and routines so that learning environments are safe, predictable, and calm. This includes entry and exit routines and seating plans. Routines are clearly communicated to students and align with our school-wide approach. They are developed through a shared, ongoing process with students. Teachers model, expect and reinforce respectful behaviour. Consistently reinforcing expectations does not mean that teachers need to treat every student in exactly the same way. Consistent classroom expectations can be implemented in a way that is complementary to reasonable adjustments and that is sensitive to student needs, abilities, and strengths.
The CLPS Express sets out our school’s behaviour management process which includes a warning, graduated responses and logical consequences. The aim of our behaviour management process is to establish calm and orderly learning environments and to ensure, as far as possible, consistent responses to student behaviour that takes into consideration student capacity.
CLPS is currently revisiting SWPBS with an implementation team undergoing training over 2024. This approach involves clearly defining a set of expected behaviours, procedures for teaching and practising expected behaviours, developing a continuum of procedures to encourage expected behaviours and a continuum of procedures to discourage inappropriate behaviour. The SWPBS team will communicate and consult with staff, students, and our parent/carer community over 2024 as they re-establish the SWPBS approach at CLPS.
CLPS uses the Bully Stoppers resources, developed by the Department of Education, to reduce the likelihood that children will engage in bullying behaviors. We also use external presenters such as those from Bully Stoppers to support our anti-bullying message. Bullying behaviors are to be reported to school staff. It is not recommended that parents approach other parents of children involved. We encourage students to report immediately to an adult, any sign of cyber bullying or inappropriate talk online. Cybersafety education is a part of our curriculum. The school’s Child Safety Policy and Bullying Policy further explains the school’s practices and procedures.
Classroom meetings are held each week. These meetings are a chance to reflect on positives and challenges and to address any issues or suggestions from students via the classroom communication box. At times bullying surveys are undertaken and information shared with school leadership and the wellbeing team to ensure issues and concerns are addressed.
Breakfast Club is run in the gym every morning from 8.20am. The area is set up with tables and chairs, and board and card games for social interactions between students. Foodbank supplies breakfast foods and the program is run by school staff. Breakfast Club provides a smooth transition for students into a welcoming school environment each morning. Year 6 students are able to leave Breakfast Club at 8.30am and all other students transition outside for a play or to their classrooms at 8.40am. Additional toast is supplied to classrooms for students who are not able to arrive by 8.50am.
Foundation students are matched with a Year 6 Buddy for their first year of school. This program helps to give Year 6 students leadership experience, the opportunity to be a role model, and to demonstrate responsibility. It also gives our Foundation students a student to look up to, and another friend to support them during the beginning of their school journey. Activities are scheduled on a regular basis where the Buddies work together, promoting friendship, fostering a sense of belonging, and an inclusive school community.
Student Leadership provides opportunities for student voice, the development of leadership skills, and encourages active participation in decision-making processes. We aim to encourage and prepare our students to be future leaders in secondary school and within the wider community. Student leaders must:
Students in Year 6 apply for leadership positions including School Captains, House Captains, Sports Captains and Chinese Captains.
The JSC is a committee elected by students. Year 1 – 6 classes in the school have at least one representative on the committee to voice that particular classes opinions and ideas. JSC meets once a fortnight, either during recess or lunchtime, to discuss issues and ideas such as how to improve the school, fundraising ideas, feedback from their class, or whole school events. Two teachers are given the role each year to oversee and help facilitate our JSC.
Every Monday each classroom teacher announces who will be Student of the Week for the coming week. Across the week the student and their peers take the opportunity to reflect on things the student is good at and their positive character traits (based on the Berry Street Education Model character traits). The Student of the Week certificate is presented on Friday at our weekly assembly.
Our school offers a variety of extra-curricular activities both during school and after hours. These activities are designed to build on skills students already have, to allow students to spend additional time doing something they enjoy, to make new friends, to try new things, and to develop positive social skills. Lunchtime and afterschool activities currently include Bulldogs Read, Chinese Academy, Art Club, and Futsal.
