Welfare

SCHOOL RULES
	Everyone needs to be friendly. Everyone needs to be able to learn. Everyone need to be safe. Everyone needs to be healthy and hygienic. Everyone needs to be correctly dressed.
STUDENT WELFARE PROGRAMS
	Personal development of each student is attended to in each classroom where students are provided opportunities to enhance self-esteem, gain satisfaction associated with challenge and achievement, develop personal values, develop skills in communication and decision making, understand their own feeling and behaviour and those of others. To enhance or protect the welfare of students, teachers in the normal course of duties maintain a safe and secure school and classroom environment conducive to learning, and encourage appropriate forms of behaviour.
PEER SUPPORT AND BUDDIES
	These programs ensure older students are given opportunities to accept responsibility for younger children and act in a leadership role. Buddies are organised between Kindergarten and Year 6 students from the start of each year. Peer Support groups meet regularly to undertake planned activities which encourage sharing, caring and a sense of belonging.
LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
	These are provided through classroom and school organisation. School Captains and Prefects are elected annually and a Student Representative Council (SRC) with representatives from each class share aspects of school governance. House Captains, Library Assistants and Class Captains are also elected regularly.
PROGRAMS FOR TALENTED STUDENTS
	Individual programs in their areas of talent are provided as part of the normal classroom lesson program for talented students. These students also benefit from certificated teachers able to address individual needs of all students; teachers with post-graduate training in gifted and talented education, numeracy, literacy, science education; opportunities to interact with peers of equal intellect; use of first class facilities - state-of-the-art technology, borrowing library, research facilities including Internet and CD-Rom, encyclopedias and other reference materials; student-focussed learning through use of selected materials, techniques and programs to challenge and motivate students; acquisition of higher order thinking skills; frank and accurate reporting about performance and application to develop a clear understanding of progress, in order to maintain the incentive for high achievement; Special programs enabling accelerated progression and early entry; small group activities, mentorships and contact with community members with expertise in the student's areas of interest and ability; activities of intellectual skill including debates, public speaking, chess club, competitions in Maths, English, Art, Writing, Science, Computer Application; performance opportunities at school events such as Presentation Nights, Music Festivals, Education Week displays; Dance Groups and Music Ensembles - winds, strings, choral; Leadership opportunities - Prefects, Student Representative Council, Peer Support; sporting opportunities through individual effort and team membership, inter-school team competitions in softball, t-ball, netball, basketball, newcombeball, rugby league, rugby union, soccer, Australian Football, tennis, cricket; school carnivals and inter-school competition in athletics, swimming, cross country running and ball games; opportunities to try out for district, state and national representation.
LEARNING DIFFICULTIES
	These are addressed in each individual classroom with the Class Teacher able to draw upon the expertise of a Support Teacher in diagnostically assessing student progress, designing and implementing individual programs for students who are having difficulty in learning.
SCHOOL COUNSELLOR
	The School Counsellor is able to counsel students with special needs which may be academic, social or emotional. Testing of students may be undertaken but only with parental approval. Our Counsellor is an experienced teacher and psychologist with an understanding of child development. He has extensive training and experience in recognising and understanding problems of learning and behaviour, and deciding on ways of dealing with them.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION OF ACHIEVEMENT
	At Castle Hill we celebrate participation and achievement. Awards and recognition underpin all aspects of school life as a strategy to promote effective learning. Student achievements are published in a weekly newsletter and frequently in local newspapers.
ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE
	Students from a non-English speaking background needing assistance to learn English are provided with individual programs in English language by a trained specialist teacher until they are sufficiently able to communicate.