Student health and safety

We are committed to ensuring a safe and happy environment for your child.

We support your child’s health and safety through a range of strategies including:

• the behaviour code for students, which outlines the standards of behaviour expected in all NSW public schools
• anti-racism education
• anti-bullying programs
• conflict resolution and mediation training
• peer support
• road safety education
• the Healthy School Canteen Strategy.

For more information, visit the student wellbeing section of the department’s website.

Like all NSW public schools, we promote the healthy development of students through:

• school programs and practices that protect and promote health and safety
• supporting individual students who need help with health issues
• providing first aid and temporary care of students who become unwell or who have an accident at school.

Student wellbeing

Like all NSW public schools, we provide safe learning and teaching environments to encourage healthy, happy, successful and productive students.

The department is committed to creating quality learning opportunities for children and young people. These opportunities support wellbeing through positive and respectful relationships and fostering a sense of belonging to the school and community.

The Wellbeing Framework for Schools helps schools support the cognitive, physical, social, emotional and spiritual development of students and allows them to connect, succeed and thrive throughout their education.

Wellbeing at Porters Creek PS

At Porters Creek Public School, we believe that students learn best when they are in an environment where authentic relationships with their peers and teachers support students’ emotional, intellectual, social and physical development. This development is underpinned by our human need for safety, love, power, fun and freedom. 

School Values Connect * Empower * Innovate * Excel

What they look like in action:

• Connection- Building authentic and positive relationships with staff, students and community members, ensuring high levels of engagement and genuine collaboration.

• Empowerment- Providing a voice and instilling a sense of self-belief, resilience and autonomy among all members of the Porters Creek community.

• Innovation- Creating a culture that fosters critical and creative thinkers who are able to take calculated risks, solve problems and give back to their community as global citizens.

• Excellence- Establishing high expectations for our Porters Creek community and creating an environment where all members flourish and continually grow as lifelong learners. 

Porters Creek Priorities

The Porters Creek Priorities are our pathway to a safe and happy learning environment, where all expectations in a variety of settings are explicitly taught from Kindergarten through to Year 6. A common language is used by all staff and the 'Priority' for each week is taught at the same time in all learning hubs.  

Porters Creek Public School Learning Links

It is fundamental for students to develop an awareness of the way they learn and establish forward-facing attitudes to learning, to enable them to become lifelong learners. With this in mind, we have developed eight core learning dispositions known as ‘Learning Links’ for students at Porters Creek Public School. These links align with our school values to show what our values actually look like in action.  They also play a vital role in supporting students when setting personal growth goals and as an intervention tool. 

Note - the Learning Links support the Porters Creek Priorities, and are taught as an extension of the Priorities.

Empowering individuals

At Porters Creek Public School, one of the pillars of our wellbeing programs is a joint understanding that you can only control your own behaviour. You are in total control of your own behavioural choices but have zero control over others’. We apply Dr William Glasser's Choice Theory/Reality Therapy to allow students and staff to take responsibility for themselves and their own decisions. Individuals are empowered to take responsibility for their choices and support others in taking ownership of their own choices.

We use the 'Total Behaviour Car™' to help students understand this. Peers, teachers and parents can influence choices, but they cannot control or make decisions on behalf of the 'driver' (the student).