BLOG POST 16:

BEHAVIOUR IMPROVEMENT IN SCHOOLS

A Shared Journey With Parents

(& Keeping Them Informed Along The Way)

“Schools and families should be working together to improve individual student behaviour.

We should be aiming to create a Shared Journey & partnership in order to achieve optimal outcomes for the child.”

There are a few strategies that we can utilise in order to encourage parents to come along on the journey and work with us rather than against us when their child is struggling with behavioural expectations.

1. Avoid the use of acronyms – Acronyms are heavily used in Education and we often leave parents confused and uncertain about what we are referring to when we use these in communication. As annoying as it is, try to expand all abbreviations to help families become familiar with the common language being used across the school.

2. Use newsletters or school social media to provide bite size information to parents. People are less likely to read a lengthy article (unless they love their school newsletter like me  – haha), but may read a quick snippet of information to keep them informed

3. Use school communication channels to share progress particularly in the early stages when a lot of progress is going on behind the scenes but is not necessarily visible to the school community. Take the opportunity to also share input that students have given in developing the positive school culture and invite families to become involved in various ways.

4. Whole school events and focus activities ( I will talk about these in upcoming blog posts) are a fantastic opportunity to promote the school values/behaviours and allow families to become involved in the development of important behaviours.

5. Communicate, communicate, communicate.  I cannot say it enough but if parents are informed when behaviour issues arise they feel much more a part of the process.  This is an opportunity to not just mention what their child has done wrong, but also very importantly, a chance to discuss what is happening for the child, talk about strategies for teaching the child the skills they need or may be lacking and put in place and support that may be needed.

6.  Consider creating fridge magnets of your Behaviour/Core Vales poster.  This can be included in Enrolment packs or any promotional material.  It can also be given to all families so that they become familiar with the language being used around behaviour.

I will go into this area in more detail and explain the process for inducting both current and new families in a future blog post.

If you would like to keep up to date with blog posts on improving behaviour in schools as they are released, please subscrive to my FREE newsletter and you will receive your choice of FREEBIE to support your iniative plus regular information to help you make improvements.

If you would prefer to chat to me in person, I am available via email, zoom or phone to chat and identify how to begin to set up improvements to mental health and wellbeing in your school or setting.  I can also help you problem solve any issues you are having or help you implement any initiatives you have planned.  You can also simply email me to vent about any issues you are currently facing or successes you have achieved.

If you would like to Schedule a Zoom chat with me to see if we are a good fit to work together or ask any questions, click on the link below.

I also have resources available to support you or if you wish to guide yourself through the process by following this link below.

NEXT BLOG TOPIC

In my next blog post  I will explain how to teach the focus behaviours in order to get maximum buy-in from staff and in order to create a cultural shift towards a positive school environment.

If you have any questions about behavioural initiatives, student mental health & wellbeing, community approaches to mental health or any other areas of interest, please send me an email at renee@thinkeffective.com.au

or check out Positive Approaches To Behaviour | THINK Effective Consultancy

for more detailed information, resources and about how we can work together.

As always, please feel free to share my blog post with friends and colleagues and contact me with any questions.

If you have any questions about improving behaviour in schools, student mental health & wellbeing or community approaches to mental health , or any other areas of interest, please send me an email @ renee@thinkeffective.com.au 

or check out submit a comment below

or check out

https://thinkeffective.com.au/positive-approaches-to-behaviour/

for more detailed information about how we can work together or access resources to support your journey.

As always, please feel free to share my blog post with friends and colleagues and contact me with any questions.

Have a great day! 🙂

Renee Knapp