Brighton Secondary School
Newsletter ISSUE 4 I May 2016
From the Principal Toby Ward, Kane Hillman, Jeremy LeCornu, Olivia O’Neill and Barbara Richards at the “What’s Next. Transforming Learning” professional development on 12th May
The Staff Professional Development Day provided opportunity to continue our learning about Positive Education approaches to support students to be resilient, responsible and accountable. Our work as educators is designed to support students to have every opportunity to achieve the best they can be.
On the student leadership day, 180 student leaders were fairly positive about the proposed model which focusses on positive character qualities. The staff are in discussion about this model providing advice and feedback to refine it and clarify what we actually mean by each character quality. You may be interested to take the www.viacharacter.org quiz and share your top 5 character qualities with your child.
For some years now, we’ve discussed some students’ apparent lack of accountability, perseverance, grit, and determination. We are concerned about those students who seem not to care, not to attend and when they do, it’s for the socialisation, not the academic scene. It seems our traditional approach to developing responsible behaviour is lacking; more and more students are presenting with anxiety and depression; hence what can Positive Education practices do to build personal responsibility in the students? We are not alone. Around 160,000 young Australians aged 16 to 24 live with depression. Suicide continues to be one of the leading causes of death in this age group of Australians. Significant research is showing that Positive Education programs decrease stress and anxiety as well as increase self-efficacy, selfesteem and optimism. Evidence-based Positive Education programs are playing a crucial role in teaching the skills of wellbeing and promoting positive health for students. Together our aim is to develop Growth Mindsets, not Fixed Mindsets, in the students and the staff. The Growth Mindset promotes a resilient response. After a set back with a Growth Mindset we say, “You know what, everyone fails at first. But fail just stands for first attempt in learning. If you keep trying, I know you’ll get better at it.” We are using the Martin Seligman model called PERMA. Department for Education and Child Development T/A South Australian Government Schools CRICOS Provider Number: 00018A
305 Brighton Road North Brighton, SA 5048 P 618 8375 8200 F 618 8296 0949 E admin@brighton.sa.edu.au www.brightonss.sa.edu.au
Positive Education is an approach: it affects how we speak with each other and about each other. In a world where Facebook rants and ‘unloads’ seem to take no prisoners, it’s timely to explore how all of us can communicate more respectfully. You may like to comment on the Survey Monkey which I am readvertising for your feedback. Last term we received only three responses so I am assuming it was bad timing at the end of the term. There are only 2 parts to the survey: 1. What has worked well for your child in Term 1, 2016? 2. Where can the school learn from issues that have concerned you? I trust you will use as much space as required. Your feedback can be given at the following site. The survey will be open until Friday 24th June 2016. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YSNPTT9 Olivia O’Neill Principal
BRIGHTON SECONDARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER I ISSUE 4 I May 2016
Responsibility | Integrity | Fairness | Co-operation | Respect | Excellence
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