by Nicholas Duck
At Garfield Primary School they're doing things just a little bit differently.
The school has recently been awarded gold accreditation by the Department of Education and Training for its implementation of the 'School-Wide Positive Behaviours Support (SWPBP)' framework.
The framework, which has been implemented in stages over the past 10 years, emphasises that good behaviour must be taught before it should be expected.
It also puts a focus on rewarding good behaviour, rather than punishing problem behaviour.
"It's underpinned by the support philosophy that the behaviour that is acknowledged will be repeated," school principal Danny Forster explained.
"There's a real emphasis on being positive and proactive in your response rather than being punitive."
SWPBS has primarily been led at the school by teacher Jan Forward. Ten years ago Jan and teaching staff were finding the school's old system, where they simply punished problem behaviours with time outs, wasn't having the desired effect.
"It got to the point where kids just didn't care anymore, because they figured there were so many time outs, who cares?" she said.
After learning about the framework through a conference in Melbourne, the school decided to adopt it into their program and have seen the benefits.
The school rewards students with gold stars for good behaviour, encouraging them to "aim for the stars" as they uphold the school's values of being safe, respectful learners.
Students are also heavily involved in the process, setting out expectations for themselves early in the school year.
Grade sixes have the opportunity to lead sessions for younger students to teach them about the school's values.
"They're very nervous but they enjoy doing it," Danny said.
Jan agreed, saying "it's very effective too because they hear it from us all the time but to hear it from the grade six kids it's a good way to teach it."
Behavioural data is collated and routinely analysed by the school, allowing them to see which areas and behaviours might need a little more focus.
"You're never going to get it down to zero because kids are kids and they'll make mistakes but they're very minimal," Danny said.
The results speak for themselves.
Behavioural issues at the school have dropped dramatically over the past decade - and members of the public have noticed. "We were on our way back from a trip to the MCG and people on the train were saying how well behaved and polite the kids were," Danny said.
With more and more schools now adopting SWPBS, Jan and Danny said they were immensely proud of how Garfield had led the way locally and hope other schools can successfully follow in their footsteps.