What really matters...

 All Principals of Independent Public Schools were called into Central Office this week and while everyone was enjoying the Book Week Assembly I listened to a lot of things about School Reviews and inputs and outputs and NAPLAN and outcomes and a bit more about reviews... Hmmm.... Not the most riveting of material.

It got me thinking about what matters, and about what really matters. And it's kids that matter, and it's what they are learning that really matters.

Last week one of our teachers told me that while on duty he had observed Bradley in tears on the ball courts. He saw that Jenny and Suzy had just spoken to him so he asked them what had happened before he then spoke with Bradley himself. Jenny told him that Bradley had been left out of the boy's soccer game because they had even teams already and didn’t want uneven teams. (This seemed a bit mean but to be fair to the boys, Bradley was playing a different game before wanting to join their game). Before the teacher could even say anything in an attempt to resolve the situation – Suzy pipes up and says, 'Maybe I should offer to play too; that way there’d be even teams?' So, off the girls went, called Bradley over, joined the game and everyone was happy.

This is what really matters. We are teaching kids to solve problems peacefully, to walk in the shoes of others, to be inclusive. And every day we see they are getting it.

This kind of learning leaves inputs, outputs and reviews for dead!

(I've changed the names but I bet these lovely kids could identify themselves if they read this.)

Common Courtesies - doing it naturally

I was visiting 2M last Thursday afternoon and as I cast my eyes around the room for somewhere to sit, little Jack says 'Sit here, Ms Sands' and patted the empty desk next to him. He then raced over to the corner of the room with an 'I'll get you a chair'.

And later that day as I was leaving the office laden down with my brief case, lunch bag, hand bag and other myriad things I seem to collect to take home every day, young Amaya says 'Let me get the door for you'.

This is common courtesy at it's best, and I'm so proud it happens in our school not only every day but multiple times a day.

We do teach Common Courtesies. We have a list of ten we've all decided are the really important ones. It includes things like saying please, thank you, excuse me and good morning; things like knocking politely and waiting by a door for an invitation in; things like using people's names when you address them. Our list is displayed in every classroom and we usually send it home in the newsletter once a year asking parents to reinforce the same at home.

Common courtesies are taught as a routine in our school. We can't just assume that children will know how good manners make the world go round. So by teaching these few courtesies explicitly we can at the very least ensure they have some standard ways of behaving that help them draw people closer to them.

Our kids' manners are the first things noticed by every visitor to our school. People find it so surprising.

But what I love is that they don't just know the script, know the routine and just say it - they do it naturally. Caring for others and displaying common courtesy is common place at Peregian Springs. Thank you to all parents who help us reinforce this!