At Northcote Primary School, we aim to ensure every child is feeling good, functioning well, and has the skills and knowledge to help them thrive when faced with both challenges and opportunities. This means that student wellbeing is a priority in all that we do. We support student wellbeing by responding to each individual student’s needs, and by developing students who are motivated, engaged, and resilient, and who contribute to the well-being of others.
We have a zero-tolerance policy for bullying. We support our students to foster healthy friendships and relationships with their peers, build self-regulation strategies for coping with complex emotions, and engage in mindfulness activities to ensure all students are ready to learn.
We are large enough to offer our students a range of opportunities, whilst remaining small enough to allow us the chance of really getting to know every student and family. Students who have complex needs are supported with individual education plans or behaviour support plans, which are co-created with teachers and families and reviewed regularly.
Northcote Primary School is a Child Safe School. We have a firm commitment to uphold the Child Safe Standards and to embed a culture of child safety. Strategies that seek to prevent harm and neglect (including physical, sexual, emotional, neglect, racial and cultural or religious abuse) all contribute to a child safe culture. It is therefore critical that child safety is part of the everyday thinking and practice of all within the school community.
Protecting the safety and wellbeing of children enrolled at our school is our highest priority. Families put their trust in the staff, volunteers and external providers to keep their children safe as they learn and play. We know students learn best when they feel they are in a safe and supportive environment.
Our child safety and wellbeing policies outline the measures and strategies we have in place to support, promote and maintain the safety and wellbeing of our students.
Meeting the Standards is about considering the needs of all children, particularly those who may be vulnerable due to age, family circumstances, abilities, or indigenous, cultural or linguistic backgrounds. All members of our community share the responsibility for keeping our students safe so if you have concerns for a child’s safety you must take action.
As valuable partners in promoting and maintaining child safety and wellbeing at Northcote Primary School, we welcome and encourage your feedback.
If you have any suggestions, comments or questions in relation to our child safe policies and practices, please contact the Principal.
All learning areas at Northcote Primary School provide opportunities for students to play a key role in providing input and feedback on their learning. We have spent time researching and trialling different ways of collecting feedback from students. This involves using a range of strategies including ‘thumbs up/thumbs down’, traffic light system (Green – I can do this, Orange I am getting there, Red – I need help), exit slips etc. These strategies provide students with a voice, as well as an opportunity to reflect on their own learning.
At various points throughout the year, we undertake different student perception surveys, for instance the Departments Attitude to School Survey and Pivot. This allows us to capture the thoughts, perceptions, issues, and areas for improvement from the students as vital stakeholders in the learning taking place at school.
We support students to take more agency, responsibility, and ownership of their own learning using learning intentions and success criteria. Teachers work closely with students to set learning goals and monitor their individual progress towards these learning goals as a powerful learning tool. The culmination of this is the celebration of a learning conference with students, parents and teachers.
We value and promote leadership activities that are meaningful and that carry a level of responsibility for students. Foundation to Year 6 student representatives are elected by their peers to the Junior School Council (JSC) and meet fortnightly. The JSC is a powerful voice for the students at Northcote Primary School. The JSC members represent their classrooms, organise school-based fundraising events and consider issues that concern or that are important to students at school.
The house system at Northcote is used to foster and develop formal leadership skills and to provide opportunities for students to take an active role within the school and wider community. The elected House Captains model and embody our school values and are representatives of our school. The House Captains demonstrate a high level of leadership while also presenting a high level of teamwork and exercising responsibility when representing the school in sporting teams across the district, or at regional and state levels.
House Captains maintain a high level of commitment throughout the year to promote sport events, encourage and motivate their house in participation, competitive spirit, and sportsmanship.
At Northcote Primary School we have four Houses: Blue, Red, Yellow, and Green.
At Northcote Primary School, we are committed to sustainability and making our school a more sustainable environment. Northcote Primary School is registered for the sustainability program ResourceSmart which aims to assist schools to embed sustainability into everything that they do.
To lead this work, we have established a student leadership team called the Green Team. This is a group of students who work together to make our school and the local community more sustainable. They meet fortnightly to collaborate, discuss and implement school-based goals around minimising our impact on the planet, reducing waste, improving recycling and other more sustainable practices through advocacy and action.
Every child has a right to inclusive education. Access to inclusive education has been found to be socially and academically beneficial for both students with and without disabilities. We believe in valuing student differences and supporting learning needs to the greatest extent possible. Evidence-based strategies are used at our school to support diverse learners which includes specific changes to the curriculum, pedagogy and assessment practices, and the use of data. Our staff are committed to working with our students, families, and the community to create a shared understanding of inclusive education.
Some of the ways we currently promote inclusion includes:
Our teachers know how to assess learning needs, and successfully personalise and differentiate learning. There are also tailored approaches designed to be more effective with specific cohorts, such as Koorie, LGBTIQA+, Out of Home Care and EAL students, as well as students with a disability.
Northcote Primary School implements that the Respectful Relationships Initiative, which teaches our children how to build healthy relationships, resilience, and confidence. It also supports our community to promote and model respect and equality. Our Respectful Relationships curriculum acknowledges that children of any age have challenges to overcome, teaching social and emotional skills appropriate to their age and level of maturity. At Northcote Primary School, we teach the 4Rs as a core component of the Victorian Curriculum, primarily centred around the Personal and Social Capability and Health and Physical Education Curriculum.
As a school, we utilise the Resilience, Rights & Respectful Relationships teaching and learning materials developed by the University of Melbourne. These lessons are taught throughout the year & provide students with the opportunity to learn and practise social skills and apply them in a positive way to learning, life and relationships. The following eight topics are covered for each year level:
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Northcote Primary School is an eSmart school. eSmart is a long-term change program designed to educate, track, monitor and prevent bullying and cyber bullying. eSmart is tailor-made for schools and designed to effect change in that specific environment.
We encourage everyone in the school community to continue to uphold and promote eSmart behaviours, at school and at home. If you are aware of any incidents of bullying, cyberbulling or risky online behaviour, please contact the school via phone (03) 9481 0009 or via email on northcote.ps@education.vic.gov.au
For more information, please see: eSmart information for parents and carers.
eSafety Commissioner's iParent
iParent provides guidance for using safety settings on your family’s web-connected devices, tips for choosing movies and games and strategies for keeping young people safe online.
Blocking explicit results on Google
You can filter explicit search results on Google, like pornography, using the SafeSearch setting. SafeSearch is not 100% accurate, but it helps you and your child to avoid explicit content. You can use SafeSearch as a parental control to help protect children from inappropriate search results on mobile phones, tablets and computer. Follow these three easy-to-follow steps to turn SafeSearch on your child's devices.
Limiting your child's digital footprint
Blogging and posting photos of your childBlogging about your child or posting photos of him/her can be a nice way to share your child’s special moments. But it is worth thinking about how the photos and information you post will become part of your child’s digital footprint. Find out more in this article from the Australian Parenting website.
Games, apps and social networking
The Australian Government's eSafety Commissioner website contains quick guides to popular social media sites and apps. Find out how to protect your child's privacy setting, age restrictions for social media sites and how to report cyberbullying or abuse.