BERRY STREET HANDBOOK

Berry Street Education Model Staff Handbook

A trauma-informed positive education approach

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Our Philosophy

At St. Joseph’s Payneham, we believe that every child has the right to a safe learning environment where they are encouraged and nurtured to reach their full potential. We believe that children need to be explicitly taught skills in self-regulation and how to build and maintain respectful relationships. Our focus is on the importance of learning at school and supporting children in body and mind regulation so that they feel ‘ready to learn’ every day at school.

BSEM Basics

The Berry Street Education Model (BSEM) provides strategies that enables teachers to increase engagement of students with complex, unmet learning needs and to successfully improve all students’ self-regulation, relationships, wellbeing, growth and academic achievement. It uses relationship-based strategies that promote restorative practices which is modelled by our staff members. There are 5 domains in BSEM and these are: 1. Body 2. Relationship 3. Stamina 4. Engagement 5. Character

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Within each of the five domains, the focus areas include:

BODY De-escalation Present, Centered and Grounded Mindfulness Self-Regulation

RELATIONSHIP

Attachment

Unconditional Positive Regard Redefining Power Empathy & Zen Mind Golden Statements Process vs Person Praise Active Constructive Responding Whole School Relationships Teacher Self-Care

STAMINA

Growth Mindset Emotional Intelligence Resilience Stamina for Independent Learning

ENGAGEMENT Flow Willingness Positive Emotions Positive Movement & Rhythm Play, Humour, Fun Physical Theatre & Clowning Around Cultivating Wonder

CHARACTER

Values

Character Strengths Community Strengths Hope Gratitude

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Daily BSEM Practices

Morning Routine

1. Greeting - Classes gather in a circle at the beginning of the day. One person begins by greeting the person next to them by using their name and respectful touch (handshake, high-five, elbow tap). The greeting works its way around the circle so every person is greeted by name. The students track the greeting by ‘tracking the speaker’. When someone is speaking, we teach students that it is respectful to give them eye contact and listen. There is only one speaker at a time.

2. Values - Classes are reminded of the school motto, ‘Love in Everything’ which is imbedded in our culture, as well as our school values, ‘Community, Creativity, Curiosity, Excellence’. Students are asked to discuss ways they can show this motto and values each day at school.

3. Expectations - This is a time where students are asked ‘What are our class expectations?’ The expectations can be linked to your class agreement, the school motto and school values.

4. Announcements - This is where the teacher or students can share the ‘Student News’ or make any announcements for the day (birthdays, celebrations, achievements).

Prayer

As a Catholic school, it is important to include daily prayer in our class routine. Prayer can be integrated into the morning circle/greeting time or at a separate time.

Positive Primer

A positive primer at the beginning of a day, or lesson to encourage the flow of positive emotions, helps students to feel energised, happy and in a positive frame of mind so they are ready to learn. Positive primers might include saying the roll in a funny voice, using a funny YouTube clip, or using images of nature or everyday objects.

WWW (What Went Well)

This is a reflection strategy that classes can use to recognise the positive aspects of a lesson/time frame/day. Simply ask “What Went Well?” This can be done at the end of a lesson or day.

Ready to Learn Plan

Every student in the school has a personalised ‘Ready to Learn’ plan (created at the beginning of the year) that outlines their de-escalation strategies and how they can be ready to learn if they are feeling escalated. Ready to Learn plans need to be easily accessible to the student, teacher and leadership team. Some students may have a Ready to Learn plan on their desks.

Brain Breaks

Brain breaks are small activities throughout the day to improve student engagement in learning. It is up to the teacher’s discretion to decide when escalating and deescalating brain breaks are needed to ensure students are ready to learn.

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Escalation and De-escalation

Escalation and De-escalation strategies are used in brain breaks. Escalation strategies are used to re-engage children after periods of intense rigour. De-escalation strategies are used to help children re-focus on their learning when their mind is over stimulated.

Ready to Learn Scales

Ready to Learn Scales are used by students in classrooms to identify their emotions so teachers can support students to be ready to learn. Students may be involved in the design process of these scales.

Calming Corner/Space

A Calming Corner/Space is a designated space in a classroom with the intent of being a safe space for a student to go to when they feel their emotions are becoming overwhelming and they need to regain their emotional and physical control.

Triage Conversation

When our students make mistakes and challenge relationships, then it is our goal to guide them with towards making positive choices. The Triage Conversation (created by Berry Street) is a way to speak with students to help them make things right

*Further work on Triage Conversations will occur once our staff have participated in the professional develop on ‘Restorative Practices’ in 2023.

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