School Wide Positive Behaviour Support at Echuca Primary School
Echuca Primary School has adopted the School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) approach. This is a whole school approach to creating an environment, which encourages effective learning through the development of a positive, calm and welcoming atmosphere. We encourage positive feedback to students and endeavour to teach students how to behave appropriately. We recognise that learning social skills and socially acceptable behaviours is a process, which everybody moves through at different stages. Learning appropriate social skills is seen in the same light as learning how to read, write or complete a mathematical task. Some people need more assistance in some areas and less in others.
What is SWPBS?
School Wide Positive Behaviour Support is a system of tools and strategies for defining, teaching and acknowledging appropriate behaviour, and correcting inappropriate behaviour. It is a framework for creating customised school systems that support student outcomes and academic success. SWPBS is for the whole school, it is preventative, and switches focus from negative behaviours and exchanges to positive expectations and interactions – leading to the promotion of social proficiency and academic success.
Core elements of SWPBS
As a SWPBS school our objective is to provide a consistent, predictable and fair use of consequences for all students.
Staff will respond in a way that is:
- Calm: Using professional and composed voice tone and volume.
- Consistent: Respond the same way to all students who display minor behaviour errors.
- Brief: Short and concise response to get back to learning.
- Immediate: Respond within a short time after the behaviour error takes place.
- Respectful: A private, polite response.
- Specific: Tell the student exactly what they are doing incorrectly and state specifically what they should be doing.
How we teach Positive Behaviours at Echuca Primary School
Introducing, modelling and reinforcing positive social behaviour is an important step in a child’s educational experience. Explicitly teaching our behavioural expectations and acknowledging students for demonstrating them is a key to our success.
The teaching of expected behaviours is ongoing so as to achieve and maintain fluency.
Instructional Practices to support SWPBS:
- Tell – introduce the expected behaviours and discuss why it is important
- Show – demonstrate and model expected behaviours
- Practice – role play expected behaviours in relevant contexts
- Monitor – pre-correct, supervise and provide positive feedback
- Reteach – practice throughout the day