A case study with Nortlakes Public School

Bethany Harvey– Year 1 Teacher

I was finding that my students were showing a range of different difficulties in the classroom and the playground. We heard about the PAX Good Behaviour Game and determined that it would be the perfect program for our school. And I have been absolutely shocked at how well they have adapted and learnt through the PAX Good Behaviour Game.

Wellbeing is critical in the classroom.

Belinda Talbot – Special Education Teacher

It’s really important that students do feel like they are known, valued and cared for, which is the whole crux of the wellbeing framework, if you can get that right then the kids will engage with their learning.

Larry Micevski – Principal

We were acutely aware of anxiety and behaviour escalating…

Kelly Wootten – Kindergarten Teacher

…And now the introduction of PAX is really going to support those kids. Implementing the PAX Good Behaviour Game is extremely easy.

Bethany Harvey– Year 1 Teacher

It worked perfectly with the programs and the strategies we already had at our school, it just blended in perfectly with what we already doing.

Larry Micevski – Principal

The PAX Good Behaviour Game, it seemed to be a natural transition to the next step but also an easy way to introduce a trauma informed practice based in research.

Kelly Wootten – Kindergarten Teacher

We introduced beat the timer because we were really unorganised in the morning. If we would beat the timer, get our bag unpacked and get on the floor before the timer went off. Straight away we would get a wacky prize.

Bethany Harvey– Year 1 Teacher

Today’s wacky prize is drumming on your desks.

Belinda Talbot – Special Education Teacher

It created a lot of space for our students to be able to then focus on their learning because they walked into a room knowing what to expect.

Larry Micevski – Principal

There was a year 4 student we just could not engage, constantly leaving the room, walking around, no effort independently to do any written work whatsoever. And as the teacher started telling him about the game, that particular boy piped up and said, well what this game? When do we get to play it?

Belinda Talbot – Special Education Teacher

The strategies that you use are pretty simple, its just a way of bringing it all together, have fun, smile, laugh and then be sitting back down ready to continue on with our learning. The vision poster it sets the children up for the expectations of what you are looking for, so we did that out as a class and it gave every child the opportunity to have their own voice.

Larry Micevski – Principal

We are catering to the individual child’s needs much better than we ever have in the past.

Bethany Harvey– Year 1 Teacher

I am finding that the students behaviour is much better than its ever been before. The PAX Good Behaviour Game has created a really supportive environment in my classroom. When we ae actively playing the Good Behaviour Game I am looking out to see which students are showing spleems, which is a made-up word for negative behaviours, so instead of embarrassing the student or pointing out that there is negative behaviour, I can simply just say I can see a spleem.

Larry Micevski – Principal

What we’re working towards is that self-regulation, children valuing their learning, knowing that its something important that will hold them in good stead in the future.

Bethany Harvey– Year 1 Teacher

I am finding that students are being able to self-regulate their emotions, they are more resilient and persistent.

Kelly Wootten – Kindergarten Teacher

The PAX Good Behaviour Game just compliments my style of teaching, I feel that I am more in tune with what my students are feeling and thinking and as a result it has led to a happier classroom.

Belinda Talbot – Special Education Teacher

Its not just about learning to be a student in the classroom its teaching them how to be better member of society really. That’s just not a skill for school, it’s a skill that we all need in life.

Voice-Over:

As educators, you know the importance and benefits of explicitly teaching the behaviours and skills you want students to display.

The PAX Good Behaviour Game, used in classrooms, teaches students to learn self-regulation, value others, develop pro-social behaviours and most importantly, develop resilience through tested and proven strategies as part of every-day lessons.

Now you can bring the power of PAX into your students’ homes through PAX Tools for families and carers.

Your school can now strengthen the connection and consistency for children between school and home – sharing a common language, strategies, and goals – with your own dedicated PAX Tools Facilitator.

So how does it work?

Your selected PAX Tools Facilitator receives detailed training and ongoing support to guide families and others to bring PAX into homes and the wider school community.

A PAX Tools Facilitator is a member of the school team that works across the whole school with an ongoing role with families.

PAX Tools Facilitators don’t need to be teachers. Wellbeing staff, support officers, and community liaison officers are a recognised connection for schools with families.

Eight hours of professional training is all that’s needed to get started.

Each school and PAX Tools Facilitator receive materials and resources to support the entire school community as well as ongoing tips and guidance from the Paxis Institute as part of the PAX Tools Community Workshops certification.

Once trained, your school has the flexibility for your PAX Tools Facilitator to run sessions for your families and community groups including the P&C at times and locations to meet your needs.

Northlake Testimony:

I was finding that my students were showing a range of different difficulties within the classroom and the playground. We heard about the PAX Good Behaviour Game and determined that it would be the perfect program for our school. And I have been absolutely shocked at how well they have adapted and learnt through the PAX Good Behaviour Game. Wellbeing is critical in the classroom.

Like the best tools, these strategies are easy to use. Based on more than three decades of research and development, the PAX Good Behaviour Game has been tested and refined to provide proven psychologically and sociologically-informed strategies.

Killarney Vale Testimony:

The PAX Good Behaviour Game is lifelong learning for children. I see that it empowers children. I see that it gives them the opportunity to be accountable and make smart choices around their own learning and their own behaviour. They learn to be a part of a team. They learn to be a leader. They’re recognised and they’re acknowledged.

These tools are designed to develop confident, capable, resilient children. With the support and guidance of a PAX Tools Facilitator, schools will benefit from supporting children with these strategies Monday to Sunday, morning to night, creating a seamless flow between home and school.

Put the power of PAX Tools in the hands of your school community.

Contact PAXGBG@det.nsw.edu.au

A guide for using PAX GBG in the classroom. Produced with Killarney Vale Public School

Jeanette Dillon – Principal

We had a lot of students who didn’t have a great deal of self-worth, engagement was a problem. We needed something specifically for the classrooms.

Pamela Quinn – Student Learning and Support

What I liked about the PAX Good Behaviour Game, is the changes that it would bring to children. A kernel is anything that influences a positive change in behaviour. Lining up and transitioning into the classroom. The teacher talks about PAX hands and Feet…

Rachael Beamster – Teacher

PAX hands and feet, ‘I love your hands by your sides, PAX Leaders’.

Pamela Quinn – Student Learning and Support

…From the beginning so it gives predictable limitations around what behaviour is to be expected.

Rachael Beamster – Teacher

To make sure we have PAX Hands and Feet, you will need to tuck your chairs in and you need make sure you are very careful with your friends.

Pamela Quinn – Student Learning and Support

PAX Leaders not only does the adult identify leaders but children are identifying themselves and identifying other [can’t understand] promotes co-regulation which means everybody is working together. It reduces conflict and negative emotions. PAX Vision is fun to mentor in a creative and nurturing environment. The teacher works with the students to collaborate again. What do we want to see more of and what do we want to see less of. The vision is used throughout the day throughout activities to remind children of just how we are going to operate in the classroom. PAX quiet, using the harmonica to bring a quietness to the classroom, so once the teacher plays with the harmonica…

Rachael Beamster – Teacher

‘Well done Yellow, eyes are to me’

Pamela Quinn – Student Learning and Support

That children just put their fingers up for peace and it’s great to see all children stop and know exactly what to do. PAX Quiet is about creating a nurturing environment. PAX Voices – is used to set expectations around voice volume.

Rachael Beamster – Teacher

‘When we are using our voices in the classroom we need to use all different types of voices. So when we are using a 0cm voice, we don’t have any sound, can you say hello to me when we are using a 0cm voice? Very good, now. When we are using a 3cm voice it is a whisper, can you say hello to me in a 3cm voice? Very good, we might use that one when we are sounding out a word or when we are asking a friend for a pencil. And sometimes we need to use a normal talking voice and that is a 1m voice, can you please say hello to me in a 1m voice? So that’s good, so that might be when we are in group work or if we are talking to our friends just normally. And then we have a 3m voice, now we use a 3m voice when we are outside or we are doing something a bit funny in the classroom, can you all say hello to me in a 3m voice?

Pamela Quinn – Student Learning and Support

PAX Sticks – The names are chosen randomly, if they are wanting a leader or someone to go and do a task or be in charge of something. So children know that they have an opportunity for their name to come up.

Rachael Beamster – Teacher

Think about words, we are going to need describing words, Levi – good one, Ellie, Isaac, Rocco

Pamela Quinn – Student Learning and Support

They see straight away there is fairness, everybody has to sit in that moment and they learn to self-regulate and again that is a great opportunity to learn about those emotions that come and go.

Ok-Not ok is visual that can sit on the desk. The red is not ok and the green is ok. While the teacher is moving around the room, it is a non-verbal prompt for the students to check their behaviour.

Beat the Timer – increases on task behaviour because children have to finish a task within a given time.

Rachael Beamster – Teacher

I am going to give you too much time here. Show me your PAX Leaders, go, we beat the timer! My goodness, alright we better pause it.

Pamela Quinn – Student Learning and Support

They know that they’ve got to work towards that timer and it reduces problematic behaviour because aren’t lingering or waiting around

Granny’s Wacky Prizes – is all around self-regulation and celebrating that self-regulation, its really about celebrating the PAX in you, it can just be used randomly, very quickly within the day, pulling a silly face, standing on the spot and jumping for 10 seconds.

Rachael Beamster – Teacher

All tables have three or less spleems so we are going to do a Granny’s wacky prize – we have a 30 second nap, that’s it pencils done and you may have a nap on your desk for 30 seconds, off you go.

Pamela Quinn – Student Learning and Support

The most important point around the Granny’s wacky prizes is that its intrinsically motivated, they are in a moment of excitement because they have had a win and they’re doing something different in the class and then it just ends.

Rachael Beamster – Teacher

Very good Yellow. Let’s keep working.

Pamela Quinn – Student Learning and Support

The ability to chop and change, Granny’s wacky prizes does that very well.

Tootles- is a made up word, the opposite is tattle and tootle is again reinforcing and celebrating where children have demonstrated self-regulation in a classroom. Students can also identify a student that they think deserve a tootle.

Student

For trying to complete sentences on her own

Rachael Beamster – Teacher

Oh well done Harper, good on you. We’ll have to give that to Harper, there you go, thank you for being a pax leader.

Pamela Quinn – Student Learning and Support

It’s recognition for being a PAX person.

Jeanette Dillon – Principal

I’d just like to see it go throughout so that all the students know about PAX and everybody wants to be a PAX leader. PAX is peace, productivity, health and happiness. And those four elements are what we want to see in our classroom but beyond the classroom its what we want our young students to have as they move into high school and then further life.

Pamela Quinn – Student Learning and Support

PAX Good Behaviour Game is life-long learning for children, I see that it empowers children, I see that it gives them opportunity to be accountable and make smart choices around their own learning and their own behaviour. They learn to be a part of a team, they learn to be a leader, their recognised and they are acknowledged.

PAX Good Behaviour Game supports ...

Self-regulation

The PAX Good Behaviour Game builds self-regulation in children by creating shared relational frames with adults and peers. By reinforcing desirable behaviours and inhibiting unwanted behaviours, children develop agency and command to delay gratification and reduce impulsivity. This increase in pro-social behaviour and self-regulation paves the way for remarkably better academic, behavioural, and lifetime outcomes. PAX also develops and strengthens peer networks to improve relationships now and in the future.

Trauma-informed Care

PAX GBG creates a nurturing environment in every school and classroom allowing children to develop pro-social behaviours in a safe setting. It provides teachers with research-based strategies shown to support development and prevent the re-traumatisation of children who have been exposed to trauma. These strategies allow students to co-create consistent expectations and summon peer support in creating a nurturing classroom environment.

Tiered-Intervention

The PAX Good Behaviour Game provides teachers and other educators with practical tiered-intervention strategies to implement in the classroom. These strategies work together to reinforce expected, pro-social behaviours while inhibiting problematic behaviours. PAX GBG ensures evidence-based strategies and expectations for every student and uses data-driven decision-making to provide multiple levels of support for students with more intense needs. PAX GBG creates for a unified, multi-tier approach that establishes consistent expectations throughout the school.

Social and Emotional Learning

The PAX Good Behaviour Game promotes social and emotional learning in all students. By engaging students in co-creating expectations and developing shared relational frames, children can begin to recognise their own thoughts and feelings as well as regulate their own emotions and behaviours. PAX GBG also improves awareness for the needs of others and helps to improve peer support by developing and maintaining positive relationships with others.

Virtual training

We will be starting with the PAX GBG virtual online training, as there are no certified PAX GBG trainers in Australia and travel between countries may not resume for some time.

Training is 7 hours of elective professional development through MyPL. Training is delivered in real-time online with an accredited trainer in the US, as a one-day session from 8 am-3 pm including breaks.

This is the foundational training of PAX GBG that explains how to implement strategies. Teachers learn the importance of a nurturing environment and its effects on trauma, self-regulation, and mental health outcomes throughout the lifespan.

Teachers also learn about the role they can play in supporting the students that are most affected by environmental influences, and how PAX strategies integrate seamlessly into existing tiered-intervention and additional school-wide procedures.

For this training, teachers receive a PAX Kit that provides all the materials necessary to carry out PAX GBG in their own classroom including the PAX GBG Manual; and will discuss how to use the PAX Up! App for implementing PAX GBG in the classroom.

PAX Partners are staff already trained in the PAX Good Behaviour Game (PAXGBG) who want to learn how they can support, sustain and expand PAX implementation. PAX Partners support PAX Teachers in implementation fidelity by providing guidance and troubleshooting, collecting and analysing data, and assisting in integrating PAX with other initiatives such as PBL and social and emotional learning (SEL) programs. PAX Partners may be internal school staff or non-school based staff who support across a number of school communities.

 Training is 10 hours of elective PD through MyPL. Training is delivered in real-time online with an accredited trainer in the US, over two consecutive days from 8 am-2 pm including breaks.

Following this training, teachers receive a specialised PAX Partner Manual, access to the PAX Partner resource section on paxis.org and use of the PAX UP! app.

If you would like more information about PAX Partners please email PAXGBG@det.nsw.edu.au.

PAX Tools is a component of the PAX Good Behaviour Game suite of programs that is specifically targeted at supporting parents, carers and community members.

PAX Tools is a collection of trauma-informed, evidence-based behavioural strategies for families and community members to promote the development of self-regulation in children. Parents, carers and community members who participate in the sessions delivered by a trained facilitator receive strategies and materials they need to effectively use PAX Tools with children at home. Through school and home engaging with and implementing the PAX strategies it supports students to develop self-regulation as there is a common language and level of expectation in both settings. PAX Tools Community Educators may be staff who support schools such and Learning and Wellbeing Officers and Advisors or Assistant Principals Learning and Support as well school based staff such as the Community Liaison Officers.

 Training is 8 hours of elective PD through MyPL. Training is delivered in real-time online with an accredited trainer in the US, over two consecutive days from 8 am-1 pm including breaks.

By completing this training you will become a Certified PAX Tools Community Educator/ facilitator who is authorised to present PAX Tools Community Workshops in their community of schools/ local area. As part of this training, participants receive access to online resources and reproducible files.

If you would like more information about PAX Tools please email PAXGBG@det.nsw.edu.au.