Warrane Primary School 2000

School Profile: 

Warrane Primary School serves the Hobart suburb of Warrane.  It is situated in a lower socio-economic area and has an enrolment of just over 200 students.  The school once catered for over 700 students, therefore maintaining the extensive grounds and buildings has been a challenge for the school community. 

Getting Started: 

There was a concern among the staff that some of our students were displaying behaviours in and out of the classroom that was having a negative affect on theirs and others learning.  We decided that students needed to become more aware of how their actions/reactions affected others.  So we formed a committee of teachers and support staff to map our current situation in relation to this issue. 

Planning: 

Through the ‘mapping process’ we were able to highlight our strengths and identified areas, which we needed to focus on.  We presented these findings to the whole staff in an informative, innovative way so that we were able to collaboratively plan for future action.  We prioritised our goals, brainstormed strategies, set time frames and allocated responsibilities. 

Major Focus: 

Our goals were;

• To improve the ‘social skills’ of students at Warrane Primary (including self-esteem and empathy).
• To improve and maintain staff health and wellbeing.

Some of our strategies to improve students’ social skills include:

• Grade picnic lunches
• Mediators program
• Aussie sport leader lunch activities
• ‘Birthday’ pencils
• Monthly activity afternoon
• Explicitly teaching social skills across the school
• Implementing ‘Program Achieve’

Strategies to improve staff health and wellbeing include;

• Remodelling of rooms and facilities
• Discussion about time on site arrangements
• Planning for team sharing and planning
• More comfortable seating in staffroom

 Results: 

We have: 

• Implemented a whole school approach to teaching social skills through Program Achieve.

• Implemented a Mediators program, Aussie Sports Leaders program and organised lunch-time activities.

• Revised our ‘Behaviour Management Policy’ and guidelines for withdrawal and relocation.

• Developed our ‘Anti-Bullying Policy’.

• Continued to work to maintain and improve the physical environment at Warrane Primary School.

§          Re-structured staff meetings to allow for sector meetings and planning.