School-wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS)

What is SWPBS?

School-wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) is a globally recognised, evidence-based framework that helps schools create safe, positive, and inclusive environments where students and staff can thrive.

SWPBS supports the Education State priorities and the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model 2.0 by helping schools build consistent, whole-school systems that reward positive behaviour and promote wellbeing, and inclusion – creating the right conditions for effective teaching, learning, and leadership across the school.

How does SWPBS look at our school?

• At SHPS, Tier 1 supports ensure a universal and inclusive approach for all students in all settings. It includes the use of whole school and classroom expectations, door greetings, daily timetables, morning routines and classroom contingencies. We use ‘High Five cards’ to acknowledge expected behaviours within the classroom and in the yard. Students can redeem these cards at our ‘Reward Arcade’  each term for prizes.
• At Tier 2, we provide additional supports for students who may need it. This can be targeted at individuals or small groups and may only be necessary for a limited time. We use social groups, video modelling and ‘Cool Tools’ as key ways of teaching students expected behaviours.
• At Tier 3, students need more indivialised supports in addition to the Tier 1 and Tier 2 strategies. Daily check-ins, individual support plans and modified programs are common ways we support these students.

Our journey

Sunshine Harvester Primary School was accepted into a state-wide rollout of the SWPBS framework in 2013, with training and implementation beginning in 2014.

In 2017, our School Review panel noted that our school climate had significantly improved, and credited the implementation of SWPBS with playing a significant role in this outcome. We continued learning, reviewing and tweaking our SWPBS programs and in 2021 we achieved a Bronze Level Award for successful implentation of SWPBS.

We continued refining our approach and were awarded consecutive Gold Awards for SWPBS in 2022 and 2023. In 2024 our school was invited to present at the Department of Education Queensland SWPBIS conference and we received our third consecutive Gold Award. Early this year, we were very proud to be awarded the highest award, the Platinum Award, for our school’s SWPBS practices in 2025.

Since embarking on the SWPBS journey, the positive impacts on the attitudes, behaviour and learning of our students have been very apparent to us at Sunshine Harvester Primary School. We remain committed to keeping SWPBS as a core element of our school’s culture.

https://www.vic.gov.au/school-wide-positive-behaviour-support