Wellbeing
Wellbeing
At Clare Primary School, we believe that all children can progressively learn and deserve the best opportunity to achieve their full potential.
Our school community actively works towards creating a nurturing culture that supports every child. Positive Education philosophies and trauma-informed practices are incorporated school-wide to create a learning-focused and positive environment, where children are supported, engaged and feel a sense of belonging.
Our school employs a full-time Student Wellbeing Leader, who supports students from Foundation to Year 6, utilising a range of proactive and reactive practices for students, families and the school community. They also assist to build links with outside organisations and community groups.
Positive Education Practices
Clare Primary School has a strong focus on wellbeing, embedding the 5 areas of PERMA – Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning and Achievement – into our daily practices.
Our goal is for every child to ‘flourish’ in their schooling at Clare Primary.
The following Positive Educational practices are incorporated into all classes at Clare Primary School.
Daily Welcome Circles
Every day begins with a morning ‘welcome circle.’ In every class, students welcome each other and the day ahead. The welcome circle sets the scene for the day ahead; important events are discussed, personal achievements and/or personal positive news are shared. The welcome circle ends with a Positive Primer, which aims to focus the mind for learning.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness incorporates interceptive activities that aim to build a student’s ability to recognise internal body cues, feelings and emotions. As they develop this awareness, they are able to understand themselves better and self-regulate.
All students are involved in mindfulness practices after recess and lunch each day. This practice helps students build awareness of what they are feeling and sensing, to become more aware of strong emotions that may impact learning and to refocus on the learning programs ahead after the active play break.
Brain Breaks
All classes incorporate brain breaks into their daily practice, supporting students to refocus on their learning, develop self-regulation strategies and lift attention levels. Brain breaks are short deliberate activities that increase or decrease energy to support student learning.
Every day finishes with a ‘What Went Well’ circle. This allows students to reflect on the day and their learning program, identify positives and build on their sense of connectedness with both their class and the school.
Trauma-informed Practice
Clare Primary School began implementing trauma-informed practice in 2019. Over the past three years, all staff have been trained in the evidence-based Berry Street Educational Model (BSEM). This blended-learning model has equipped staff with tools and strategies to help teach children how to self-regulate and increase their engagement in class with the intention of building a solid foundation for positive personal growth and academic achievement. Ongoing training and development in BSEM practice is offered for new staff ensuring a consistent approach to wellbeing across the school.
Our school-wide adoption of BSEM is unique and vital to our culture; in fact, it is evident in all we do. For example, all new staff are inducted and staff expectations are clearly outlined and modelled daily. Monday morning classroom assemblies aim to start the week on a positive note, where behaviours are a focus, expectations are set and main events of the week are outlined, informing staff and students of the week ahead supporting predictable routines..
If you would like to learn more about BSEM, we invite you to visit Berry Street’s website.
Buddy Program
The buddy program is implemented school-wide. Each senior class forms a friendship with a younger class. All classes meet fortnightly to build relationships, participate in team-building and learning activities promote student voice and connection within the school.
Student Leadership
Students at Clare Primary School are offered the opportunity to develop leadership skills through applications for the positions of School Captains and House Leaders.
School Captains are selected from the year 6 cohort, participating in a written application process and presenting this to fellow year 6 students and staff. Four House Leaders are elected to represent the houses named after founding families of the Clare region. The houses are:
- Ashton – red
- Maynard – blue
- Knappstein – yellow
- Pink – green
Student leaders impact positively on the ongoing improvement of the school through their roles. Student voice and input is actively sought as School Captains meet throughout the term with Leadership to discuss student matters.
Student representatives from each class are invited to eat lunch with the Principal where they have the opportunity to share experiences, ideas and feedback with Leadership, impacting on school decisions and improvement focuses.
Clubs
Students at Clare Primary School have the opportunity to join a variety of lunchtime clubs offered by staff members. Clubs devoted to gardening, singing, games, table tennis, coding, maths, games, sports, dance, chess clubs operate during the year.
A number of student-led clubs have been formed with senior students offering activities and events for interested and younger students to be involved and within a structured and supervised capacity. Student-led clubs have included dance and writing workshops, coordination games and activities, gymnastics and coding.
