School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) is an evidenced based framework. It is a plan to enable the goals of the school to be achieved. Eaglehawk Primary School’s plan is to provide a positive school climate, and create a supportive environment for personal, social and academic learning, by teaching, recognising and rewarding the expected behaviours. By acknowledging what someone is doing correctly, we can improve behaviour by 80%!  

SWPBS includes:

• redesigning the environment to achieve success
• teaching specific behaviour expectations
• teaching students about appropriate behaviour
• looking for and rewarding appropriate and positive behaviour

SWPBS is NOT:

• a behaviour management system
• reacting to problem behaviour
• about punishment

SWPBS works when:

• the focus is on everyone and all school settings
• there is common language and expectations
• it is based on values
• there is involvement from students, staff and the community
• it is continually taught, referred to daily  and implemented consistently
• data is collected from the classroom and from the yard that is evaluated

Our school values
At Eaglehawk Primary School, SWPBS is underpinned by our school values.  We expect all staff, students and the community to demonstrate behaviours that reflect:



SWPBS Matrix
Our SWPBS matrix. states the expected behaviours for all school settings. Expected behaviours are displayed around the school, taught, referred to, and acknowledged daily.

Click HERE to view Eaglehawk Primary School Matrix,

Positive reinforcements
A key component of SWPBS is identifying and acknowledging students implementing the school behaviour expectations. We acknowledge someone modelling one of our behaviour expectations through ‘gotcha cards’, and class value awards at assembly. Class value awards are published in the newsletter. ‘Gotcha cards’ are awarded when a staff member catches a student demonstrating a behaviour from the matrix. These cards can be traded for time with a teacher, prizes, or free time, or accumulated for a special activity such as lunch with the principal or teacher of choice or cooking.

Systems approach
SWPBS is a system and individualised approach, to ensure ‘everyone’ understands the expectations and they are implemented fairly and consistently. We provide additional support for students who need it, just as we do learning needs.

To learn better ways of behaving students must be directly taught the behaviours.

To retain new behaviours, students must be given specific, positive feedback and opportunities to practice in a variety of settings where the behaviours are used.

Punish them or Engage them:
“If a child doesn’t know how to read, we teach”

“If a child doesn’t know how to write, we teach”

“If a child doesn’t know how to count, we teach”

“If a child doesn’t know how to behave, … we punish?   we teach!

Finishing the last sentence does not come as automatically as it does the others.