The no put down school : A lesson in leadership

G’day. Did you go to a good school? Did the kids go to a good school? What made it good or not so good? If you think you went to a good one, maybe write in and tell me.

When you think back, probably you remember the teachers you loved or loathed, plays you put on, friends you made, bullies you feared, excursions you went on …. but probably not many would nominate their Principal! Some years ago I had family reasons to visit this particular PUBLIC school inter-state and I was gob-smacked. The kids were honestly being so nice to each other and the interactions between staff and with parents were of the same order. When I talked to random kids in the playground they all said they were going to the best school.

What made this school, which I’ll call Positive Public, different? It was a new school amalgamating families from all over the place that had moved into this new lower middle class estate with some social housing – hardly the formula for an easy school. In fact many of the “clientele” came with histories of behaviour problems in other schools. But there were a few features that might be making the difference: the teachers were selected on merit, on what gifts/talents they thought they could bring to the kids’ education and the Principal was hand selected!

Like every other school, Positive Public had its mission statement and governing ethos but of all the differences, the one the parents mentioned was that the school had decided to adopt one important principle - NO PUT DOWNS!

It was such a simple statement but what an impact it made. That statement was not restricted to comments from kids to other kids, it meant no put downs by teachers of children or of other teachers, or of parents or of administration staff, and of course, vice versa. At first the kids thought this was too weird to be true and walked around all day saying “that’s a put down”, “that’s a put down” but as the novelty wore off and the kids saw the teachers meant it and carried it out in their own behaviour, things started to change. The number of bullying episodes has dropped to the point of being a non-issue, morale is high, absenteeism of teachers and pupils is way below state average and there’s an element of fun that you don’t often feel in schools.

And there was one other element that had the kids hooked into school - whatever techniques the principal was using, he had the parents working with him, not against him and I believe kids felt the force and security of home and school in partnership.

Maybe you think school should mirror life and that put down’s and bullying are part of their learning, but the school takes the view that it has to let kids see that there is another way to interact, that does work, and that there’s plenty of opportunity to tackle that tougher side of life after school, in sport, clubs, at home, with siblings etc.

I think I’m inclined to agree with them. The proof is in the pudding -every teacher wants to stay on and they’ve got more kids clambering to come in than they can cope with. So maybe that Principal got it right - maybe we’re all aching to be part of that school of life where people treat each other with that same respect.

What a great grooming for happy adults in the future. Well done N.D. – you’re my Humble Hero for today. I wish I’d gone to your school.