School Values – Courage, Compassion, Respect, Growth

Our School values guide the ways we interact in our School. They are also a way through which the MLC School girl should grow and develop throughout her time at School.

A way to achieve this is by developing proactive systems to define, teach and support appropriate student behaviour, based on these values. The Junior School staff have been working on defining appropriate student behaviour. We have had rigorous discussions about what our values look like when we interact with each other.

The Behaviour Expectation Matrix articulates what these expectations look like in everyday school life. We have deliberately used “I” language to come up with behaviours that apply to everyone, at all times.

Matrix

I am Courageous

I act with Compassion

I show Respect

I aim for Growth
  • I have a go
  • I try new/different things
  • I stand up for what is right
  • I am kind
  • I am open minded
  • I include others
  • I respect myself
  • I respect others
  • I respect our environment
  • I do my personal best
  • I am flexible
  • I persevere

Going forward we will be teaching these to the girls. This matrix gives all people within our School community a common language through which to speak about our School values. Grades will also be developing more specific behaviours that are age appropriate, that will look different in different studios and learning spaces. The emphasis is on positive behaviours, as most girls display these behaviours most of the time.

Acknowledging girls and staff who show our values is an important part of building a positive school community. We do this in our weekly class awards – four of the five awards are for each of our values. Each term we will focus on one value and learn more about it in depth. Assembly at the beginning of each term will introduce the value and termly awards at the end of the term will acknowledge girls displaying that value over a longer period of time. This term our focus is on Courage. We also have end of year values awards which we give out at Speech Day for Year 3 to Year 6.

The Matrix is currently in draft form. We will review it at the end of the year to ensure it is meeting our needs at MLC Junior School and is supporting our girls in the manner it is intended. We will work with our Junior School Student Council, so the girls also have a voice in its development. We are also very happy to receive any feedback from parents.

– Joanne Sharpe
Acting Head of Junior School – Student Life