BERRY ST EDUCATION MODEL

The Berry Street Education Model (BSEM) is an evidence-based framework that provides educators with practical strategies to enhance student well-being, engagement, and academic achievement. The model is built on five key domains: Body, Relationship, Stamina, Engagement, and Character. 

Module 1, Body, focuses on the fundamental principle that students must be regulated and feel safe before they can be ready to learn. Our staff have been utilising a range of strategies to support and enhance student engagement, learning and wellbeing these past two terms.

Key strategies from this module aim to help students increase their physical regulation of the stress response, de-escalate, and improve their focus. These include practices like  

• "Brain Breaks” which are short, physical activities designed to re-energize and refocus the class.
• "Ready to Learn" routines, which are predictable, consistent actions at the start of a lesson or transition that help students feel calm and prepared. 

By teaching students about the connection between their physical body and their emotional state, educators can empower them with tools like grounding techniques and mindfulness exercises to manage stress and anxiety, creating a more stable and productive learning environment.

Kindergarten: 

In Kindergarten, we love starting our day with a morning circle and personal greeting, which gives us a chance to connect and feel part of our class community. We use our 3-point ‘Ready to Learn’ scale to check in with how our bodies and minds are feeling, helping us understand what it means to be calm, focused, and ready to learn. Throughout the day, we enjoy a variety of fun brain breaks to move, laugh, and re-energise, so we can refocus and give our best to each new learning adventure.

Year 1:

In Year 1, we have been exploring a variety of movement brain break activities, both on our “brain break wall” and digitally on our tv, to re-energise our brains and give ourselves an opportunity to refocus for the next learning experience.

We also have a fun “Read to Learn” scale. This is an opportunity for us to self-assess our emotional state and communicate our readiness to learn to our teacher. 

Year 2:

Year 2 has been enjoying a variety of body activities for brain breaks, including body percussion, desk drumming, dodge games, “Would You Rather,” yoga, and running or walking laps in the beautiful sunshine. These short movement breaks have helped us to re-energise and be ready for learning.

We have also been learning to use our “Ready to Learn” scale, which helps us understand what it feels like when our bodies and minds are calm, focused, and ready for learning. By practising this, we are becoming more aware of ourselves and are making choices that help us stay engaged and do our best in class.

Our circle time has been a positive way to practise the skills of gratitude and to reflect on what went well. It has become a regular celebration of our learning and achievements.

Year 3:

Year 3 have enjoyed ‘welcome circles’ routines which have supported engagement in learning and wellbeing to start our days. We review key values and expectations and celebrate any announcements and successes. It allows the students to ground themselves, co-regulate and establish a common rhythm for the learning day. We start with a greeting in another language to each other and connect. 

We use positive primers at the beginning of a day to encourage the flow of positive emotions.They have been trying a whole class game of ‘popcorn’. 

End of day chats allow students to feel safe, engaged, and confident. Daily conversations and activities contribute to this by giving students a voice and a sense of belonging. The goal is to build trust and address underlying issues so the student can end the day feeling understood and supported.

Year 4: Fab Fours

What a fantastic term it's been in Year 4! We've made our days special with Welcome Circles, where we've greeted each other in different ways and used calming music to help us feel connected and ready to learn. We've honed our focus and teamwork by playing the Popcorn game, learning to co-regulate and work together as a whole class. And to keep our minds sharp and ready, we've used fun thumb and hand coordination activities as quick brain breaks.

We've also been working on building a positive mindset and resilience, especially when things get tough. We've learned to see challenges in our learning, particularly in subjects like maths, as a chance to stretch our brains—just like exercising at the gym! By acknowledging how we feel in those moments, we've practiced pushing through and celebrating our efforts.

All of these routines have helped us build a positive and supportive classroom environment, showing just how much we've grown in our focus, cooperation, and well-being. 

Year 5:

Year 5 use a “Ready To Learn” scale and although we aim to be in the green zone when we are in our classroom, we discuss how and why we aren’t always in the green zone and how each individual can help themself get there. 

We use brain breaks - we have learnt some new activities, but also enjoy a quick run outside to help us re-energise and reset.

Our Beehive is a place we love to be and take pride in - the buy in has been of an extremely high level and engagement levels reflect this.  

Year 6: 

This term, Year 6 have implemented Morning Circles and Positive Primers into their morning routine to help get students ready for the day of learning. These routines help us begin each morning with a sense of connection as a class, creating a positive classroom environment where every student feels prepared and ready to engage in their learning. Some of the Positive Primers like Popcorn have proved to be a fun challenge and a good brain-break for students between tasks. 

Creative Arts (Drama, Music) Lessons with Miss Maher:

This term in Creative Arts we have implemented the use of morning circles, positive primers to increase and decrease energy levels and wellbeing check ins. These 3 strategies have worked hand in hand in the CAPA space, being implemented at the beginning of each lesson as I have 5 classes in 1 day. This is a way for me to check in with students on how their day is going and what positive choices can be made/encouraged to make their day even better.  

I can see these strategies having a positive impact on my students' engagement and willingness to be vulnerable and confident when completing class activities. 

Physical Education lessons with Mrs Boyle: 

This term in PE, we have implemented a participation “check-in” to encourage student reflection and self-regulation. Students signal their level of participation and reflect on their engagement using a simple thumb signal (up, sideways, down). Guiding prompts include:

• How do I feel about my participation?
• Did I try my best?
• Did I contribute positively?

We have created a Positive Primer: Dance. These dance routines have been taught across the whole school, encouraging a sense of community and connectivity. The primer can be used at any time in PE or with class teachers.

• Energise students physically and emotionally.
• Build a sense of fun and connection.
• Provide a safe, inclusive way to express creativity and prepare for movement activities.

STEM MAD Innovate for Impact Newsletter

On Tuesday 23 September, two talented teams from Holy Cross were selected to showcase their STEM MAD project to industry professionals, CEDoW staff, teachers and over 200 students as part of the Innovate for Impact event at the University of Wollongong Innovation Campus. Our teams spoke confidently, explaining their design solutions to real-life issues and how they ‘Make a Difference’ in the lives of others.   

Our teams:

Anxiety Spray Kit - Sophie, Florence, Indigo

Frankie the De-Stress Dog - Sophia, Sadie, Vida

Both teams represented our school with pride and we are so proud of all the hard work and effort you put into your projects and presentation. 

A special congratulations to Vida, Sophia and Sadie who created Frankie the De-Stress Dog. This team won the CEDoW Primary Schools award. Their empathetic project, designed for people with neurodivergence, received positive feedback and praise. The judges were impressed by their exceptional knowledge of the design process and their strong presentation skills. As a result, this team has been invited by iAccelerate to attend a workshop next term to further develop their product and pitch. We are so proud of you and can't wait to see what you achieve next!