Schoolwide Positive Behaviour Plans

Rationale: A schoolwide positive behaviour plan is central to the educational process. As a staff, we are committed to the delivery of quality programs to all of our students.

We, the staff of Donwood School, believe:

That children want to be respected, treated fairly, and recognized for their worth and abilities in a safe environment where they feel as if they belong.
That children want to take ownership of their learning by having a say in what’s to be learned so they can become independent.
That children want to be involved in deciding rules and consequences for choices made to allow for academic and behavioural success.
That children need a safe, caring environment where clear expectations, consistency, and challenging opportunities help develop creative and lifelong learners.
That Donwood School needs to provide a safe, caring environment in order for optimum learning to take place and for every student to grow to their full potential. Children are most successful when there are clear expectations, quality teaching, and collaboration between home and school.
That children of the future will continue to need:

To be creative, critical thinkers
To be flexible
To be problem solvers
To be co-operative problem solvers
To have the confidence to see themselves as successful lifelong learners, all of which are reached through a safe, caring, and positive environment where best teaching practices are used

Put into practice, these beliefs will foster academic and behavioural success in our students so they may become independent lifelong learners. In practice, our beliefs will allow for optimum learning, under the direction of quality teachers, in an environment where students feel they belong.

Donwood School has an organized cross-level house system where all students in Grades 1 to 6 are placed on a different house team. These house teams meet in the gym every second Day 6, from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m., in these mixed-grade 1 to 6 groupings. There are many benefits to our mixed-grade house system. The main objective is to foster the sense of community within Donwood School through these social learning, recognitions, and buddy reading times. Students learn to work co-operatively with children from all grades and become more empathetic towards each other in other social environments. Schoolwide themes or virtues, such as co-operation, empathy, friendship, kindness, respect, fair play, and safety are taught, modelled, and practised in these settings.