I hope everyone has enjoyed the cooler weekend. Last Monday was my first Banksmeadow P&C meeting. It was lovely to meet everyone and I am looking forward to working together to help grow our school and community partnership.

Last week was a wonderful opportunity for many families to connect with their class teacher during parent/teacher interviews. It is a very important time to set goals for the year ahead and share critical information about your child. Thank you for attending and establishing that important link between school and home. If you were unable to make an interview last week, perhaps a time in coming weeks would be a good idea.

A reminder that before school supervision begins at 8.30am. If you ned to have your child at school earlier than this - we have a before and after school care program on site.

Positive Behaviour for Learning, known as PBL is an evidence-based whole school systems approach that:

• addresses the diverse academic and social needs of every student to support them to be successful
• supports students in early childhood settings through to senior years of schooling
• enables schools to establish a continuum of supports that are intensified to meet the needs of every student
• is team driven, using a problem solving approach that engages students, parents and all school staff
• establishes positive social expectations for all in the school community
• provides a framework for the school and its community to collectively support the wellbeing of every student.

When implemented well:

• students respond positively as they have been taught what is expected of them
• staff deliver consistent responses to student learning and behaviour
• students feel safe and cared for at school. Their parents, family and community are more involved in their school
• unproductive and challenging behaviour can be significantly reduced for most students.

This evidence based program is a very important one at Banksmeadow. Each fortnight we will introduce two expected behaviours we are looking for in students. Over the course of the two weeks we all explicitly teach and reinforce these behaviours. Every PBL school has a PBL mascot. Our mascot is the stingray and we will be running a competition soon to name our mascot.

Our expected behaviours this week are -

Teaching students about road safety contributes significantly to improving their own safety. Reminding parents and carers about safe behaviours outside the school also contributes significantly to the safety of our students.

Safety Town is a great resource for parents with up to date information, advice and activities.The program is funded by the Centre for Road Safety, Transport for NSW and is definitely worth looking at.

Have a wonderful week!

Fiona Dixon

Principal