What do you think positive behaviour is?
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That was the question asked by local school students in a survey of members of the Kurri community.
The survey was a part of a Positive Behaviour Learning (PBL) program being run by the Kurri Learning Community, which involves Kurri High and Public Schools, Stanford Merthyr Infants School, and Mulbring, Weston and Pelaw Main Public Schools.
PBL is an initiative widely practiced in schools, which involves students being encouraged to create a safe, welcoming environment for their school community.
Students got together to create the survey, which was distributed to the public online and by the students in the Kurri CBD on Tuesday.
Questions were focused around the topics of be responsible, act safely, show respect and active citizenship, which forms the acronym BASA.
The idea was to find out what people thought were important behaviours for school children to display in the community.
These answers will then be distributed to local businesses and organisations for them to keep an eye out for students who live up to these behaviours.
When a student is spotted exhibiting these habits, staff and community members can present them with a BASA.
The student then takes the BASA back to the school to go in the draw for a prize.
Kurri High School deputy principal Alan Hope said the idea was to take what was happening in the school, and extend that to the wider community.
“It’s all about promoting and recognising those positive behaviours,” he said.
But Mr Hope said while it is based off the school initiative, what the community values is different to school expectations, hence why community surveys were conducted.
All up about 200 responses were collected through online and face-to-face surveying.
Mr Hope said they ultimately aim to be able to put the BASAs into local sporting groups for children to earn on the weekends.