Friendly Schools & Families Materials
Whole-School Physical Environment Handbook
During a six-hour school day, most Australian students spend over an hour involved in free play during recess and lunch breaks. During these breaks, students are typically confined by supervision boundaries and are provided with play equipment and other resources to occupy their time. Supervision levels during this free time drop below the usual one staff member to every thirty students in a classroom.
Schools involved in our research have found that by implementing clear schoolyard rules, consistent sets of rules for games, and providing more stimulating and equitable schoolyard activities, the social atmosphere of the schoolyard could improve and reduce incidence of bullying.
We know that positive learning environments improve social relationships
among students and staff, and promote more positive attitudes toward
school. They reduce absenteeism and boost students' and staff self-esteem.
Schools can also increase their students feeling of connectedness
by creating a warm and inviting environments. One often-overlooked
avenue for creating such an atmosphere is the school physical environment.
What is in the Physical Environment Handbook?
This Physical Environment Handbook provides an audit process for schools to review the various aspects of their physical environment and provides many strategies used successfully in schools to address the areas identified for improvement.
Principles for Success in Family Links
The Principles for Success for Bullying Reduction in Schools provide a framework for developing and implementing whole-school programs to reduce bullying in schools. This handbook provides the Principles for Success that have been identified as critical to the successful development of Physical Environment. It also includes information, strategies and samples of from real schools to engage the school community in discussion and planning toward a whole-school response to bullying.
School Snippets
Case study examples, called ‘School Snippets’, have been included throughout the handbooks. These are designed to illustrate in a practical way the guidelines and activities suggested within each handbook. Teachers and administrators from schools involved in the Friendly Schools Research and contributed to the ‘School Snippets’ based on their experiences implementing the Whole-school Program.
This Friendly Schools research school found students were having difficulty seeing duty teachers in the schoolyard. Staff decided that to be more visible to students they would wear fluorescent coloured vests when on duty so students could easily identify them in the crowded schoolyard. The vests were sleeveless; slip on and easy to wear over normal clothes. Teachers reported students were able to find them more easily and were also better behaved due to a perceived increase in supervision.
Friendly Schools have implemented a variety of ideas for supervision, for example bright hats and problem booths supported by trained students.
Check out
When samples, toolkits or extra resources are available to support the particular principle being explained there will be a ‘check out’ symbol and then references to the information.
Tool Kits
Included in the Physical Environment tool kits:
- Physical Environment Review and Planning Pack
- Schools Case Study
- Student Friendly Schools Map
Samples
Click each sample image below to see a larger version.
