The evidence-based, school-wide approach supports students to help them develop key social and emotional skills, while also responding to challenging behaviour in a data-driven and consistent way.
The PBS philosophy consists of a three-tiered intervention framework that effectively builds a positive culture within the school.
The top tier focuses on tertiary prevention of behaviour by recognising the need for specialised and individualised systems for student with high-risk behaviours.
The second tier identifies and provides targeted group supports for students who may be at risk of developing challenging behaviour.
The final tier provides school and classroom-wide systems for students with significant support needs through a multi-disciplinary team.
The tiers of prevention are implemented and enforced in the school through the teaching of school-wide expectations in both the classroom and school community. The teachings focus on the theme of respect, with staff and students at St Dominic’s taught to show respect to others, respect to self and respect to community.
The expectations are complemented by the Zones of Regulation program which aims to improve emotional regulation skills by teaching students how to recognise a range of emotions and develop a ‘tool box’ of appropriate activities to help them come back to the ‘green zone’.
Students at St Dominic’s have access to the ‘Sanctuary’ and the ‘Movement Room’ which provide a space of environmental support to the students to help them process an event or feelings before returning to the classroom.
The use of the rooms by students is tracked by staff who use the detailed data to inform individualised support programs and further promote student self-regulation.
Student success and positive community contribution is celebrated at St Dominic’s through regular positive reinforcement. This positive behaviour management strategy helps students to feel valued and understand their importance within the school community.
Students at times may find aspects of school life and interacting with staff challenging. Through the support of school leadership, functional behavioural assessments are conducted to identify the underlying causes of a student’s behaviour. The assessments are used in consultation with parents to create an intervention plan that aims to teach replacement behaviours and improve a student’s communication skills.