At Balnarring Primary School, we strive to promote positive wellbeing in all of our students.
We have a comprehensive approach to providing opportunities for students to develop and learn, and to empower them to take care of themselves; academically, socially, emotionally and physically.
Our classrooms are safe inclusive environments, where we have created a culture of celebrating efforts and learning from mistakes.
Our Wellbeing Program involves students, parents, school staff and outside support agencies in developing support systems and adjustments that are necessary for individual learning.
Parents are kept informed of student progress and work in collaboration with the school to ensure student learning is maximised.
The Balnarring Way
At Balnarring Primary School, we aim to develop competent, curious learners who strive to do their best and respect and care for themselves, others and the environment.
Hence the ‘Balnarring Way’ is to….
Respect and care for self
Respect and care for others
Respect and care for the environment
Always do our best
The ‘Balnarring Way’ underpins the ethos of the school and is intertwined in all teaching and learning programs delivered across the school.
The ‘Balnarring Way’ is evident when watching our students at work and play!
Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships
The Respectful Relationships program supports schools and early childhood settings to promote and model respect, positive attitudes and behaviours. It teaches our children how to build healthy relationships, resilience and confidence.
Each week, we have a dedicated hour devoted to the 4 Rs program.
Children participate in activities that focus on:
- Emotional literacy
- Personal strengths
- Positive coping
- Problem solving
- Stress management
- Help-seeking
- Gender and identity
- Positive gender relations
Lunchtime Activities
The students at Balnarring Primary School have plenty of choice when it comes to lunchtime activities.
The expansive grounds provide space for those interested in physical pursuits. The oval hosts cricket, football and soccer matches; the hard courts are available for netball, basketball or 4 square and the courts marked on the turf provide for many bat tennis competitions!
Some children choose to spend time on the playground equipment or play imaginative games in the sandpits and grassed areas.
The central courtyard invites quieter activities including the sharing of picture story books or discussing the latest card collections.
Lunchtime is also a chance to just sit and chat with friends after a busy morning!
Or it might be time for …
Lunchtime Clubs!
Lunchtime Clubs are a great opportunity for everyone to have some fun and interact with others, from all year levels, who have similar interests and passions! And that’s not just the students! The Staff provide a variety of indoor club activities, with their own interests and talents coming to the fore! The Junior Council also make recommendations about the Clubs they would like to see run for the students.
The activities provide plenty of scope for acquiring new skills, often from like-minded fellow club members. Very importantly, they provide the opportunity for friendships to be made outside the usual circle!
The School Captains remind all students of the Clubs available and the days they are on offer. Signs in the library window also serve as reminders. Children do not need to sign up but simply come along on any one day!
The Club Activities include:
- The Lego Club
- B.E.A.T (Balnarring Environment Action Team)
- First Nations
- Speed Stackers Club
- Gardening Club
- Choir
- Chess Club
- Library Club
- Fitness Club
- Cosmic Kids Yoga
- Board games
- Mindful Colouring
- Just Dance
“I love going to Lego Club. I have built lots of things with my friends, even a spaceship! I go nearly every day!”
“I didn’t know the rules of Chess but my friend is teaching me. It’s a great game.”
The Quiet Area
The quiet area has recently been introduced to provide a calm quiet space for those children who find yard play a bit too much at times.
Each lunchtime, our wonderful Education Support Staff set up an area outside the library with a variety of activities to promote social interaction and collaboration. They stay and chat with the students and assist them in working through any difficulties that may arise.
This area is also used when students are having difficulties in the yard as a way of getting them to work collaboratively on a task. Learning about other people and developing empathy in this manner is a great way of teaching them important social skills.
Buddies
All children at Balnarring Primary School are paired with a ‘buddy’ from one of the other classes. Buddies meet officially a couple of times a term when they take part in a number of activities designed to help them get to know each other better. This is a very worthwhile program as it enables the older children to take on a caring leadership role and the younger ones to connect with one of the ‘big kids’. Buddies also meet for picnic lunches, visit one another’s classes when an ‘audience’ is required and support each other in sporting events.
It is lovely to hear those cheerful calls in the playground, “Hello Buddy!”
Camps
Our camping program is a very important part of the Balnarring Primary School curriculum. It provides students with the opportunity to significantly broaden their learning experiences by participating in activities related to a variety of non-school settings.
The program is planned sequentially, building on the opportunities and challenges offered in the previous year…
- Year 3: Adventure-based camp at The Briars, Mt Martha – three days, two nights.
- Year 4: Sovereign Hill, Ballarat – three days, two nights.
- Year 5: Under canvas – three days, two nights at Point Leo.
- Year 6: Urban camp – four days, three nights in the Melbourne CBD.
Our camping program fosters a greater appreciation of natural, cultural and social environments whilst providing shared class experiences and a sense of group cohesiveness. It is also designed to deliver skills and knowledge that hopefully will lead to a lifelong involvement in worthwhile leisure pursuits.
‘Going on camp’ is certainly a highlight of each student’s Balnarring Primary School years.
Bullying Prevention
Balnarring Primary School has a number of programs and strategies in place to build a positive and inclusive school culture and relationships to promote wellbeing. We strive to foster a school culture that prevents bullying behaviour by modelling, encouraging and teaching behaviour that demonstrates acceptance, kindness and respect.
Bullying prevention at Balnarring Primary School is proactive and is supported by research that indicates that a whole school, multifaceted approach is the most effect way to prevent and address bullying. At our school:
- We strive to build strong partnerships between the school, families and the broader community that means all members work together to ensure the safety of students.
- We participate in the Respectful Relationships initiative, which aims to embed a culture of respect and equality across our school.
- We celebrate the diverse backgrounds of members of our school community and teach multicultural education, including Aboriginal History, to promote mutual respect and social cohesion.
- Teachers are encouraged to incorporate classroom management strategies that discourage bullying and promote positive behaviour.
- A range of year level incursions and programs are planned for each year to raise awareness about bullying and its impacts.
- In the classroom, our social and emotional learning curriculum teaches students what constitutes bullying and how to respond to bullying behaviour assertively. This promotes resilience, assertiveness, conflict resolution and problem solving.
- We promote upstander behaviour as a way of empowering our students to positively and safely take appropriate action when they see or hear of a peer being bullied.
- Students are encouraged to look out for each other and to talk to teachers and older peers about any bullying they have experienced or witnessed.
- We participate in the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence.
Behaviour Support
We have a behaviour support program that is consistent across the whole school. Each classroom and specialist area develops, with the students, their expectations through classroom agreements. We provide students with the opportunity to make better choices and ensure they are equipped with the skills for lifelong learning.
Restorative practices
Our school has made a very important decision last year and that was to become a Restorative School. Using Restorative Practices isn’t something we take lightly. We’ve been watching what’s been happening in the world of education when it comes to creating a strong school culture, to building effective relationships, to resolving conflict and to improving student behaviour and bullying. The bottom line is that we think there’s a better way.
Restorative Practices is that way. Working restoratively is really all about asking the right questions to students when things go wrong. You see, most approaches have us putting our detective hats on and focusing everything in the past. It really doesn’t get us very far because we never get to the present or the future.
Put simply, we’ll be asking your children questions like:
- What happened?
- How has that made people feel?
- And what action needs to be taken to make that better?
It’s all about teaching responsibility for your actions and knowing that nobody is going to do it for you. Our job is to help them do just that … better and better and better.