Fairness is a character strength that fits within the relationship arm of the Barwon Heads PS PERMA starfish.
Fair means treating everyone equally and giving everyone a fair chance. Fair is when everyone has their needs met. To be fair you need to remember to treat people the way you want to be treated.
People who are fair play by the rules, they take turns and think about how their actions may affect others.
The following videos show examples of both unfairness and fairness.
This is Our House by Bob Graham
At school and at home, when playing (games and sport) and being with others, there are many examples of writtten and unwritten rules to make things fair to everyone.
Being a positive bystander is another example of fairness.
Some more examples of unwritten rules can be; in my home, people take their shoes off before they come inside if they are muddy or wet so as not to dirty the floors. Another understanding is that we take it in turns to wash the dishes after dinner.
In the classroom, students know to put their hands up if they want to speak as it’s unfair to the teacher and their classmates if they call out. Another unwritten rule is that we are considerate of others, especially our classmates and teachers.
Can you list some rules, or understandings that you can think of that make things fair? Why do we have these understandings/rules?
Modesty is about not showing off and knowing your strengths and weaknesses.
Modesty is like humility and people who show humility do not seek the spotlight, preferring to let their accomplishments speak for themselves. They do not regard themselves as special, and others recognise their modesty.
It is good to be confident in yourself and to always strive to be the best you can be. Yet, truly successful people strive not only to be their best, but to be great in how they treat others and celebrate their talents.
Modesty comes within the Positive Emotions arm of our PERMA model.
Modesty is not just for the footy field or basketball court, it is something to apply to every aspect of your life. It is about being courteous and saying “please” and “thank you” all the time, not occasionally. It is about being able to apologise to others even if you are just slightly in the wrong. It is also about listening and open to learning from others. Being humble is recognising that everyone has different strengths and paying complements to other people.
“The Rainbow Fish” by Marcus Pfister – How did Rainbow Fish’s lack of modesty effect the way others thought of him?
How you can help your children develop Humility (for parents, but equally applicable in the classroom).
“King Pig” by Nick Bland – did King Pig show modesty? How did his behaviour impact on those around him?
Can you make connections between humility and modesty?
Can you think of someone who you look up to who shows modesty? It might be a leader, someone you know or a sports star.
People with wisdom are wise and understand what is important in life. Having wisdom means being able to give advice and recognising different sides before making decisions.
Older people are said to be wise as they have lived through so many different experiences. People with wisdom are often understanding and have a bank of knowledge or learning from the past that they use to choose from. They think before they speak or offer advice.
Can you think of a person or a mentor who shows the Character Strength of Wisdom? What about Aesop’s fables? Can you think of any fables wherein characters display wisdom?
What have you learnt about life? What words of wisdom would you give to a student younger than you?
Courage is being afraid of something and doing it anyway. This can apply to all aspects of life from holding a snake to telling the truth to standing up for yourself.
To practice being brave:
Try new things, have adventures, and face your fears. This can be done in baby steps and at your own pace
Be an upstander! This takes courage as upstanders need to take risks to support others and to do what they feel is the right thing to do for the good of the whole.
Remember that it’s ok to do it wrong. It’s also ok to “fail” and at Barwon Heads PS we all know that mistakes are good because they help us to learn! Often we are too afraid to try out for a team or role in a play because we are afraid we will not get accepted. Failing and rejection are all part of the learning process. We have to take chances and learn from both the good and bad that results from them.
Our Resilience Toolkit has been designed by our students, teachers and parents as a tool to help students to cope in situations when another student is being unkind.
“Tomorrow I’ll be Brave” by Jessica Hisch
Have Courage and Be Fearless
I like this clip with Kid President, it’s about being brave but it’s also “a Call to people all over the world” which fits well with Meaning (I belong to a world bigger than myself) in our PERMA model.
Rose Meets Mr Wintergarden by Bob Graham
I Am Courage – A book of Resilience by Susan Verde
Who is your hero. Who do you know who has shown courage? When have you shown courage?
Hope is like a seed planted in the ground. At first, it’s just a small but if we nurture that seed with care, giving it sunlight, water, and love, something amazing happens—it starts to grow. Hope is a lot like that seed. It’s the belief that good things can come even when things seem tough.
Hope sits within the Positive Emotions arm of our PERMA model and our BHPS definition of hope is; “I look forward to the future and believe that good things will happen.” Hope, in the case of remembering the ANZACs belongs within the Meaning arm of our PERMA; “I use the character strengths of positive role models” and ” I recognise that I am part of a school and wider community.”
Now, let’s journey to a time long ago, during World War I. Imagine brave soldiers from Australia and New Zealand, far away from their homes, working to protect their countries. They faced challenges and hardships every day, yet they held onto something powerful—hope. They hoped for peace, for their loved ones to be safe, and for a better tomorrow.
ANZAC Day is a special day when we remember these brave soldiers and all the things they stood for—courage, mateship, and, yes, hope. On this day, people gather to pay tribute to their sacrifices and to celebrate the enduring spirit of hope that they carried with them.
You might wonder, “How can I embrace hope in my own life?” Well, here are a few magical ways:
Believe in Yourself: Just like those soldiers believed in their cause, believe in your dreams and abilities. You can achieve amazing things!
Stay Positive: Even when things seem tough, try to find the silver lining. There’s always something good to be found.
Help Others: Acts of kindness and support can spark hope in someone else’s heart. Be a beacon of light for others.
As we celebrate ANZAC Day and reflect on the strength of hope, let’s remember that even in the darkest of times, a tiny seed of hope can grow into something extraordinary.
Self belief, like self worth, means that you value yourself and expect to be treated with respect.
People with a sense of self-belief try not to compare themselves to others. Having self worth comes from setting goals, working to attain the goals and achieving success. This makes us feel good about ourselves.
Self-Belief comes within the “Meaning” arm of our wellbeing model because people with self-worth are inspired by and use the character strengths of positive role models, they do things that make a positive difference and use their strengths in all that they do.
The positive side effects of high self-esteem, include:
Taking responsibility for our actions
Forming positive relationships
Feeling confident and respected
Feeling proud of our achievements
Understanding mistakes is part of learning
Being resilient and independent
Being confident of our decisions in the face of peer pressure
Having a positive self-image
To understand yourself better and increase your self worth and boost how you feel about yourself you can use these sentence stems (or prompts) :
I was really happy when . . .
A goal that I have achieved recently is…
Something that my friends like about me is . . .
I’m proud of . . .
My family was happy when I . . .
In school, I’m good at . . .
Something that makes me unique is . . .
Others tell me my character strength is…
You can also use positive self-talk to boost your self worth. To do this, you need to catch yourself saying negative things about yourself in your head and chage the thinking to being more positive (eg. I’m not as good as the rest of my team (at, say, football) you could say; I may not be as good, but I play a valuable role and my team mates think I’m funny/kind/nice)
You can also use positive self-talk to boost your self worth. To do this, you need to catch yourself saying negative things about yourself in your head and change the thinking to being more positive eg. Instead of thinking; I’m not as good as the rest of my team (at, say, football) you could say; I may not be as good, but I play a valuable role and my team mates think I’m funny/kind/nice)
Perfectly Norman by Tom Percival
What is the main message in this story?
So Few of Me by Peter H. Reynolds
My favourite line in this story is: What if I did less but did my best?
Willy the Champ by Anthony Brown
From Cosmic Kids Yoga: Jamie writes; “Here are 3 meditations for kids that are specially designed to boost confidence. They will motivate a positive can-do attitude and give kids (and grownups too) a sense of self-belief! Go get ’em tiger!” 🐯
Do you know what positive affirmations are?
They are statements that can be used for positive thinking and self- empowerment and can help us to achieve success. This week, have a go at writing down three positive affirmations each day and if you get stuck, google positive affirmations!
As we embark on Week 5 of our new school year we will be focussing on friendship which is a big part of the Relationships arm of our PREMA model. At Barwon Heads PS the friendship character strength means; “I am a good friend to others and understand that my friends have thoughts and feelings”.
Every day at school we see examples of students who have great friendships because they talk, laugh and play together and care about each other’s feelings.
Good friendships have a positive impact on wellbeing for a number of reasons. Supportive friendships can alleviate stress and provide security and a sharing ear for tackling difficulties. Being in the company of those that we like can evoke pleasure and laughter. Furthermore, forming new friendships requires an element of bravery and reciprocity. The famous Harvard study (almost 80 years old) into the health and happiness of a group of graduates found that it was relationships that had the most powerful effect on health and that those who cultivated their relationships over the long term tended to live for longer.
With the biggest predictor of happiness and fulfilment being our relationships, the need for us all to pay attention to our friendships becomes evident.
At Barwon Heads PS we use the analogy of “bucket filling” as a metaphor for maintaining good relationships.
Here is “Have You Filled A Bucket Today?” just in case your classs hasn’t seen it yet
“Stick and Stone”
I know that this is from the eprspective of kinder children, but it’s cute!!
For older children “The Very Best of Friends” shows what can happen if friends are neglected
There is a saying that “Kindness makes the world go around!” and do you know what? I agree. One of the best things about kindness is that when you do something kind for someone else, it makes you feel really good.
The character strength of kindness sits within the “Positive Emotions” arm of our PERMA model.
Kindness is my favourite character strength and when classes are surveyed, guess which character strength is usually the most popular? You guessed right – kindness.
We never forget when someone has shown kindness towards us, but research has shown that the wellbeing benefits of being kind to others is far greater than receiving kindness!
Kindness can be as easy as smiling at someone and saying hello.
Here are a few reasons for being kind:
Being kind feels good. Doing something for someone else really does make us feel good. Just as running releases endorphins, so does kindness. Make someone smile and you’ll feel better for having done so.
Kindness broadens our perspective. In order to be kind, we have to pay attention to what is happening around us. As we notice more things and help others, we get a glimpse of other ways of looking at things. A broader perspective helps us to keep things in context.
Kindness softens our heart. When we look for kind deeds, beauty, and the opportunity for kindness, we’ll find that we are more compassionate and more tolerant. As we practice empathy, it opens our heart to others.
Kindness brightens our world. When we are kind to people, it makes them happy. The more people who experience kindness from us, the more happy people will be in our lives. When those around us are happier, our world becomes a brighter, lighter place to live.
Kindness helps people feel respected and less alone. By recognising someone’s need for help and acting on it in a compassionate manner, it makes the recipient feel valued. It also makes the giver feel better about themselves and more connected.
Kindness makes people want to be around us. One of the most common responses to kindness is gratitude. People appreciate what we’ve done for them. Our kindness is very attractive, so they want to be around us and actually seek us out.
Kindness bears wonderful fruit. Kindness begets kindness, openness, health and reduces the effects of stress on our bodies and our hearts
Kindness begets kindness. When you are kind to others, the impact of your action doesn’t stop there. Many times the recipient of your kindness and others who see or hear about your kindness are inspired to be kinder. The ripples of kindness are truly endless.
One of my favourite quotes is: “In a world where you can be anything, choose kind.”
This week we reflect on the ‘Love of Learning’ character strength. What is it that you, as a learner enjoy or have a yearning to learn more about? What subject or area do you feel most excited about learning? Do you have an interest that you feel passionate about?
People who possess the character strength love of learning are motivated to acquire new skills or knowledge or to build on existing skills or knowledge. They feel good when they are learning new things, even though they may occasionally become frustrated when the material is challenging.
Love of Learning sits within the Engagement area of our PERMA as people with this character strength like to make the most of learning opportunities.
Thank you Mr Falker (14 mins)
The Incredible Book Eating Boy
The Most Magnificent Thing
The Boy Who Loved Words
Me at My Best – A general clip about the Character Strengths
If your top character strength is “Hope” you are a person who looks forward to what’s ahead and has a rosy outlook towards the future.
Hope is like a bright, shining light inside you. It’s the feeling that things will get better, even when they seem tough. Imagine it as a sparkly rainbow on a rainy day, or a cozy blanket wrapping around you when you’re feeling a bit chilly. Hope is what helps you keep going, no matter what.
Hope sits within the Positive Emotions arm of our PERMA model and our BHPS definition of hope is; “I look forward to the future and believe that good things will happen.”
When thinking about next year – having hope can mean that you have the self-belief necessary to shape the future to be what you want it to be. For example, if you have a positive attitude towards your new class, the chances are that not only will you spend the holidays looking forward to it, but you will have a fantastic year because you will make it happen!
My Grandad Marches on Anzac Day
A short animation about a baby turtle facing many challenges (8.42)
