“Well-being is vital for student success and is strongly linked to learning. Well-being is at the heart of curriculum and student educational experiences.”
ERO Well-being for Success: Effective Practice
At KTS we take student health and well-being seriously. There are a number of different approaches we use to ensure that our school is one that is safe and nurturing for young learners and that the learners themselves, and their families, are aware of their rights and responsibilities around this important area. This page outlines the things we do around KTS for student well-being and safety.
Relevant Policies and Procedures - go to School Docs ( User name: kts Password: passion)
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It is important for us to know about issues so we can do something about it.
We respond to concerns raised by students and or their parents with discretion, always respecting privacy where necessary. Our committment is to uphold the mana of the child, and to ensure we all learn from our mistakes.
Students are encouraged to inform teachers (verbally or digitally) if they have a concern. Whenever students raise a concern, staff make an effort to gather as much information from the student themselves and from any other parties involved so that they can make the best choice about how to proceed.
Minor concerns are often dealt with by clarifying the wider context for all parties involved.
More major issues may involve school leaders and parents – see our behaviour policy.
Classroom teachers and Team Leaders regularly check in with each other about the ‘climate’ in their classes and discuss any learning, behavioural or emotional concerns they have about individuals and/or groups of students. NZ norm referenced surveys are also undertaken such as New Zealand Council of Educational Research (NZCER) Well-being survey.
It is important for us to know about issues so we can do something about it.
Parents are urged to contact their child’s class teacher in the first instance regarding concerns.
If of a more serious nature, please contact the team leader or member of the senior leadership team.
If your child’s teacher is unable to help, Senior Leaders welcome the opportunity to discuss your concerns.
The school undertakes regular parent surveys to seek feedback. We encourage all parents to complete these surveys as they inform strategic initiatives.
There are regular opportunities for teachers to promote and talk about well-being and safety with their students during class time. Our primary means of promoting good behaviour in the school is to model good behaviour and celebrate children making good choices.
We incorporate specific themes that support the health curriculum e.g. healthy eating, being sun smart, and how to be a great friend.
We have the Life Education Caravan at the school every 2 years
We run Keeping Ourselves Safe and Kia Kaha programmes (with our school Constable) every two years
Our Year 6–8 students undertake Road Patrol training with the Community Constable
We provide regular professional learning for teachers about well-being and safety
The school takes a rigorous approach to ensuring the environment is physically safe for all. Our Health and Safety Policy and Procedures ensure that any hazards identified are quickly eliminated, minimized or mitigated.
Our Health and Safety Committee meets monthly and reports directly to the Board of Trustees. Our buildings and grounds are regularly audited and given warrants of fitness where needed.
Where students undertake Education Outside the Classroom, we ensure that suitable risk assessment procedures (RAMs) are completed to mitigate against any real or perceived risk. These RAMs are reviewed after each event and any learnings take on board for future reference.
We encourage teachers to foster a safe classroom environment in which students feel they can take risks and learn from mistakes
We take a proactive approach to the emotional well-being of our students. Our behaviour procedure outlines how we focus on and encourage respectful speech and actions, whether that’s in day-to-day classroom interactions, or as part of our school-wide initiatives such as SPARK Awards, focus on ‘Put-Ups’, Kohia Code and Kaitiaki of the Code certificates.
Where students need support in making good choices, our student coaches and playground-based ‘Wise Owls’ are there to coach students through disagreements and conflict and/or seek support of one of our two duty teachers who monitor playground activities.
We promote a positive outlook towards learning and challenge by adopting a ‘Growth Mindset’ and using the ‘power of yet’.
We take an inclusive approach to sports teams, where possible ensuring that participation is valued above competition. Being a small school, it’s almost always true that when a child wants to represent the school in a team sport, they’ll be included in the team.
Where appropriate, the school refers on to outside agencies e.g. Resource Teachers Learning Behaviour (RTLB) Service, Kari Centre which is a child and adolescent mental health service to gain further support for students with high emotional and/or learning needs.
BullyingfreeNZ has good information on bullying for schools, parents and students They suggest:
Students who bully use their power — such as physical strength, knowing something embarassing, or popularity — to control or harm others. Bullying is when one student (or a group of students) keeps picking on another student again and again to make them feel bad. They say or do things to upset them, make fun of them, stop them from joining in, or keep hitting or punching them.
Bullying is a word often used to describe behaviour that is not actually bullying — not all verbal or physical aggression is bullying. For example:
There are occasions where consequences need to be considered. The school's Time Out Time process (see table below) was developed in consultation with students.
| 1 day (reflection sheet) | 2 days (letter to parents) | 3 days (parents called in) |
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