Our Culture

Our School Culture

How do we want our teachers and students to feel when they walk into school every morning?

Are our teachers dreading coming to work in the morning? Do students walk into the building with their heads down, trying not to interact with others?

Or are our teachers excited, starting each class with enthusiasm? Do we hear laughter in the hallways when students are coming in?

We always believe in having a positive school culture has an impact, not just on the attitudes of students and teachers, but on the entire learning experience.

What we mean by ‘school culture’?

Culture, ethos, atmosphere, climate…

What do these words mean for our school?

Basically, a school culture consists of the underlying influences and attitudes within the school — based on the norms, traditions and beliefs of the staff and students.

How important is school culture? In short, the prevailing atmosphere in your school will affect everything that goes on inside its walls.

This goes beyond the student body: it also involves how teachers interact with each other, their students, and the parents.

Toxic vs. positive school culture

A toxic school culture has been described as a place where “staffs are extremely fragmented, where the purpose of serving students has been lost to the goal of serving the adults, where negative values and hopelessness reign.”

We SB family describe and understand that a toxic school culture as an environment where school staff “fails to figure out what’s needed to cultivate the characteristics necessary for student growth and learning.”

Obviously, this is not a good environment for any school.

On the other hand, a positive school culture is a place where our efforts are translated into positive experiences for both staff and students. Success, joy, and accomplishment are all main features of a positive school culture too.

As our school has positive culture, at SB, teachers are excited to work because they see the bigger picture, and students are in a better position (mentally and emotionally) to learn.

So, herewith we practice 10 Proven ways of building a positive school culture

1. By Creating meaningful parent involvement

Generating clear, open communication with the parents of our students can help us avoid misunderstandings and remove feelings of mistrust or hostility.

To involve parents in our school culture, give them a platform for feedback on classroom activities or school programs. Ask them about their hopes or concerns regarding their children’s education. Go beyond parent-teacher meetings and organize workshops where teachers and parents can discuss homework, study skills, and tests.

Involving parents in school activities in a meaningful way also helps foster positive feelings between the school and the parents. We ask parents to be on event committees or to participate in school fundraisers.

Developing educational programs for parents can also help involve them in their children’s schooling, and thus build a more positive atmosphere in your school.

2. Celebrating personal achievement and good behaviour

This means more than the occasional “good job.”

Complimenting kids helps them to feel that they are cared for individually. Both the management and our staff play a huge part in this aspect of our school culture.

One way to generate more positive reinforcement from our staff is to set goals for the number of compliments each member has to give during the day or week. Encourage them to give specific compliments that highlight what each individual student has done well.

3. Establishing our school norms that build values

Our school and classroom rules should be clear to all students, and should be well-regulated.

However, this doesn’t mean that establishing rules for every possible situation.

Instead, creating school norms that focus on building positive values in our class. This helps our kids to learn, not just what they should and shouldn’t do, but why they should or shouldn’t do it.

4. Setting consistent discipline

When rules are not followed, discipline must be administered. However, broadening the range of discipline methods can help encourage a positive school culture.

Instead of constantly putting out fires, trying a more proactive approach to discipline. Giving a student detention after bad behaviour teaches him that he did something wrong. But giving him a task that helps correct the wrong teaches him what he should’ve done instead.20 classroom management strategies and techniques. Click to expand!

5. Modelling the behaviours we want to see in our school

We have a list of qualities and values that we want to see in our teachers and students.

We do all changes starting from the top. That means when we interact with teachers and students, we always be an example of the behaviour that we want to see in our school.

6. Engaging students in ways that benefit them

When in school, our students are learning more than just secular instruction. They’re also developing their social skills, and learning how to become successful adults.

We help students develop essential social skills are preparing them on an even deeper level for their future after graduation.

One way to engage students and develop these types of skills is through social-emotional learning (SEL). Throughout the day, encourage teachers to include activities that help students develop qualities such as empathy, reliability, respect, concern, and a sense of humour.

Creating appropriate times to have fun and laugh breaks up the day and gives students a chance to relax in between learning. This helps them become more refreshed when returning to the classroom.

7. Encouraging innovation in the classroom

Innovation in the classroom starts with us.

When talking with teachers, we encourage them to try new methods of teaching. We even set up regular meetings to discuss new research on teaching methods or new teaching tech, and how these can be implemented in our school.

These meetings will help the whole teaching staff to brainstorm and implement new ideas, bringing teachers into the process of building our school culture.

8. Developing our teachers as Professionals

Students are not the only people in our school who should be learning. Helping our teachers to develop their skills will encourage a positive school culture by giving them the ability to improve their craft.

Supporting new teachers in this way can help promote a consistent atmosphere across our school.

Also, we always aware of what our teachers think and feel in their work. Set up regular times to ask for feedback, hear out concerns, and get suggestions for improvement.

9. Maintaining the physical environment of our school

Surprisingly enough, the physical surroundings of students and teachers has a huge impact on the culture of your school.

It was found that half of the learning impact came from light, temperature, and air quality. The other half of learning impact came from factors such as individualization of the environment and color of the room. For example, the ideal classroom was found to have light-colored walls with one accent wall of a brighter color.

Adopting a policy that allows for flexible seating in classrooms is one step school leaders are taking more frequently.Adjusting these seemingly insignificant factors isn’t difficult, and can result in an increase in student engagement and improvement in learning.

10. Keeping tabs on your school’s culture, and make adjustments when necessary

Unfortunately, creating a positive school culture isn’t just a matter of following a checklist. We always stay informed of what’s going on in our school, and understand the attitudes and atmosphere that permeate the hallways and classrooms.

As we mentioned above, starting the process of improving our school culture involves analyzing the current situation of our school. This analyzation process should become a regular part of our schedule.

Set aside time every few months to analyzeour school culture. Keep on the watch for the specific factors that indicate a positive school culture, and keep using the steps above to reinforce those aspects. Also, be aware of any negative factors that have started to seep in, and take decisive action to remove those.

Above all, take time to listen to feedback from both teachers and students in order to understand the experience that they are having in our school.

As school assembly is an excellent resource for students to learn more about the school, develop their values, and provide an exciting venue for them to grow and develop into a valuable member of society and the outlying community, we compulsorily have assembly on every school day. With which our students will also learn about what their school stands for and how it can be the stepping stone to some great opportunities in life.

Not only this, but also. . .

. . . they get a good opportunity to meet together

. . . itshows them a symbol of unity of our school

. . . it helps them to cultivate a sense of belonging towards our school

. . . it trains them to behave well and learn to respect and appreciate what others have done for us

. . .  it provides a channel to release information related to our school life such as the club activities and extra-curricular activities

. . . they can know what is going on around us in school everyday

. . . .it provides a golden opportunity to speak English in ONE-minute, which we believe is very important in developing our confidence in speaking English in front of a lot of people

. . . it provides a training platform for both students and teachers in sharing their ideas about cultures, festivals and current affairs.