A student’s level of wellbeing at school is indicated through their satisfaction with life at school, their engagement with learning and their social-emotional behaviour. I am sure throughout this year you have heard the Pharrell Williams song ‘Happy’ being sung by many of our Newington boys. This song has been the launch pad to the HAPPY acronym (Hope to, Appreciation of, Positive point today, Pleased with and You are…) that is being used in classes to look at their lives with a positive mindset and to reflect regularly on all the good things that do happen around us regularly. The basis behind this has come about due to our desire to build the positive core here at Lindfield.

At the start of the year the staff were a part of some inspiring Professional Development from an educator by the name of Toni Noble. This professional development catapulted the development of our revised PALS (Positive Attitudes and Life Skills) program that Year 6 and our classroom teachers lead. This PALS program has one main priority; encourage the attitudes and skills in our boys as they become the men we want them to be.

Through the PYP (Primary Years Programme) philosophy that is adopted throughout the school and our PALS program, we encourage Attitudes in students, which become a vital component of developing an internationally minded person. Attitudes should be developed toward the environment, people, learning and well being.

The Attitudes that the Primary Years Programme encourages in students are:

Appreciation – Appreciating the wonder and beauty of the world and its people.

Commitment – Being committed to their own learning, persevering and showing self-discipline and responsibility.

Confidence – Feeling confident in their ability as learners, having the courage to take risks, applying what they have learned or following as the situation demands.

Cooperation – Cooperating, collaborating, and leading or following as the situation demands.

Creativity – Being creative and imaginative in their thinking and in their approach to problems and dilemmas.

Curiosity – Being curious about the nature of learning, about the world, its people and cultures.

Empathy – Imagining themselves in another’s situation in order to understand his or her reasoning and emotions, so as to be open-minded and reflective about the perspective of others.

Enthusiasm – Enjoying learning and willingly putting the effort into the process.

Independence – Thinking and acting independently, making their own judgments based on reasoned argument, and being able to defend their judgments.

Integrity – Being honest and demonstrating a considered sense of fairness.

Respect – Respecting themselves, others and the world around them.

Tolerance – Being sensitive about differences and diversity in the world and being responsive to the needs of others.

Taken from “Making the PYP Happen”, 2009.

Demonstrating desirable attitudes happens in all facets of our lives and can build or break relationships. Attitudes can also enhance our understanding of knowledge and how this applies not only to ourselves but to others in the world.

Modeling these attitudes as adults is integral to students developing an appreciation for them. Look for real-life, authentic situations in which to demonstrate these attitudes. Discuss these with your son when reflecting on his attitudes or when he has demonstrated a desirable attitude.

These attitudes will enhance your son’s engagement in learning both through the environment in which he learns and through his interactions within this environment.

Joel Weekes – Teaching and Learning Team Leader (PYPC)

Courage

This week was the next installment of our PALS (Positive Attitudes and Life Skills) program and it was also the first session led completely by the Year 6 students. After significant training and preparation the boys entered the classrooms with a sense of anticipation as they assumed the role of teacher for a lesson. As you can imagine, this exercise was both daunting and exciting all at once and required a significant level of courage; the very focus of the lesson.

One of the great things about the PALS program is that our Year 6 boys have the opportunity to lead the other students in developing a student-centred understanding of the concepts being introduced. As I walked around each of the classes it was tremendous to see courage being talked about, but even more rewarding to see courage being exhibited. As educators it is often easy to overlook the importance of modeling, but in this case our boys received a perfect example from their Year 6 peers.

Courage is a tremendously important aspect of learning; being willing to take risks in learning, being prepared to move outside our comfort zone in order to stretch ourselves, being prepared to make mistakes in order to learn new things.

It is our strong intention to promote courageous learning in all areas of school (academic, social, emotional, physical) through a supportive and safe learning environment. Our Year 6 boys play an important part in this as they set the tone in formal and informal situations and model courage.

Chris Wyatt