PB4L
Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi engari he toa takitini.
Success is due not to the work of one but the work of many.
PB4L SCHOOL-WIDE supports New Zealand schools to strengthen their whole-school commitment to well-being and inclusive education. PB4L School-Wide enables schools to build a culture where positive behaviour and learning is a way of life.
PB4L School-Wide is not about changing students; it’s about changing the environment and putting in place systems and practices that will support students to make positive behaviour choices.
PB4L School-Wide takes the approach that opportunities for learning and achievement increase when:
• the school environment is positive and supportive
• expectations are consistent and clear
• students are taught expected behaviour
• students are consistently acknowledged for expected behaviour
• students are responded to equitably and fairly.
PB4L School-Wide relies on schools using data to inform their decision making and to regularly evaluate progress in order to maintain momentum and inform next steps.
At Opunake Primary School our school values are PRIDE Perseverance, Respect, Initiative, Diligence and Empathy.
A major strength of the PB4L–SW approach is its emphasis on school-wide systems that support proactive adult strategies such as defining, teaching, and reinforcing desirable student behaviours. Instead of responding to behavioural incidents in a random, reactive way, the school develops and implements a continuum of positive behaviour support for use across all settings in the school. The continuum includes school-wide strategies for all students (Tier One interventions), Tier Two interventions for groups of students at risk of problem behaviour, and Tier Three interventions for individual students. Tier Two support strategies include differentiated academic and social skills teaching and positive behaviour support. Tier Three strategies can include intensive social skills teaching and behaviour management strategies for students who do not respond to Tier Two strategies. Implementing this system of support improves well-being for all by making problem behaviour less effective and relevant for students than expected behaviour.
Figure 1 illustrates how PB4L–SW practices and systems are organised across this continuum of increasing intensity and complexity. Although the continuum is dynamic and blended, the three tiers are generally described as in the diagram.
