Having a safe and orderly school environment ensures that all students are able to feel supported and ready to learn.
At Lysterfield Primary School we implement a consistent, evidenced based, whole-school approach to student behavioural support. The rules, expectations and consequences have been developed to ensure consistency across our school and to assist with lowering student anxiety, by helping them to know what to expect from room to room and year to year.
Our 5 values of curiosity, acceptance, resilience, respect and integrity are essential to the development of effective members of society and these values are reflected in our school rules. Each year teachers and students discuss the rules, agree what the rules look like in their class and develop positive consequences / rewards for good choices.
Lysterfield Primary implements a variety of structures and programs to promote student wellbeing such as:
A Whole School Approach to Welfare
Ongoing Professional Development for teachers
Ongoing commitment to School Policy implementation
Buddy system between Preps & Year 5 and Year 1 &Year 6 students
Cross age student lead circles program
Leadership Program for Senior School (Years 5/6)
Student Captains program
Lunch time clubs
Individual and/or group counselling with the school based social worker
Intervention Programs to support students learning
Restorative practices
A range of social skills programs to address worry, regulation and social skills.
….. And many more.
Some key programs implemented at Lysterfield Primary, that assist our students to develop into healthy and kind students are…
Friendology - URStrong
URSTRONG is all about empowering students with friendship skills, while providing the adults in their lives, both parents and teachers, a common language to support them. Kids learn what’s normal in a friendship, the difference between healthy and unhealthy friendships and how to stand up for themselves with kid-friendly concepts. As a URSTRONG School we’ll have access to a variety of resources, lesson plans, videos and URSTRONG’s Friendology 101 friendship curriculum.
Please follow the below link and register and then access the URSTRONG ‘friendology’ site and its resources. FREE Parent Membership
Peaceful Kids
‘Peaceful Kids’ Program is a Mindfulness and Positive Psychology based program to lessen anxiety and stress then increase resilience in children from Prep to Year 12. The program gives children the skills, practice and support to utilise coping strategies that lessen the symptoms of anxiety and stress. This program helps children to build their emotional resilience so they are better equipped to deal with the day to day stresses that life brings them. The program also involves parental involvement and commitment to supporting the strategies at home.
Social Stencil
Social Stencil Program supports friendships, management of conflict, and develops students understand of themselves and others. It is a social emotional neuroaffirming curriculum that teaches practical social concepts and strategies, to build peer relationship skills, and a culture of respect, understanding, care and collaboration.
Circles
The popular, multi- aged Circles Program has been running at Lysterfield for many years and has evolved with the changing needs of our school community. Year 6 students lead students working in multi-age groups from Prep to Year 6. The group works cooperatively on activities designed to increase understanding and valuing of self and others and building positive relations.
The program enables younger children to feel safe and cared for while older children feel valued and respected. In addition, it provides Year 6s with an opportunity to develop their leadership skills and qualities.
School Social Worker
At Lysterfield Primary we have an excellent program run by our school a qualified social worker, Kim Bedford. The social worker works with students, parents and teachers to assist in meeting the needs that arise in their daily lives. We provide our students, parents and staff with one on one support where required and also offers a number of valuable small group programs. Access to the program is through self, parent, or teacher referral. The social worker is available as a support to both students and parents and is at the school four days a week.
A Social Worker can:
Listen to a child when they want to talk
Provide encouragement and support
Run support groups/short courses (e.g. anger management, grief Support)
Facilitate restorative conversations when friendship fires occur
Refer a child to other professionals
Support teachers in class, helping out as needed
Listen to and help with teachers’ concerns
Be available to talk with parents when they have concerns about their children
Calm Kids
At Lysterfield Primary School we run a very successful program named “Calm Kids”. As a school we want to make sure that anxiety about camps is addressed and doesn’t become a reason for students to not attend. We support students and parents to make sure that every child has the best possible opportunity to attend camp and have a fantastic experience.
With each camp we run information sessions for parents to give families a better understanding of the specific camps, however we are aware that for some highly anxious children this session is not enough. In the lead up to our grade 4, 5 & 6 camps we offer students the opportunity to attend this program to specifically address the needs of students with anxiety concerns.
Respectful Relationships Education
Resilience, Rights & Respectful Relationships (the 4Rs), is a school-based program mandated by the Victorian Government. This initiative forms part of the Victorian Government’s response to the Royal Commission into Family Violence. It is aimed at providing a holistic approach to comprehensively address the drivers of gender-based violence and to create a future free from such violence through addressing the following areas:
⇨ Emotional literacy ⇨ Personal strengths
⇨ Positive coping ⇨ Problem solving
⇨ Stress management ⇨ Help seeking
⇨ Gender and identity ⇨ Positive gender relations