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Naahii Ridge is a BUCKET FILLING SCHOOL! This means that we teach and encourage students to show respect through kind actions, their words and always lending a helping hand to fill their own and others’ buckets.

Naahii Ridge is also a PBS school, this means that we engage in School Wide Positive Behaviour Philosophy which also encourage students to show respect.

Over the past three years, staff members have worked hard at incorporating the two programs to help the students become more accountable, more proactive and more thoughtful of how their actions may impact others in the school as well as the community at large. The idea of bucket filling has become increasingly popular amongst schools throughout North America and the world. Books have been written on the topic and entire programs have been designed and put into place. Bucket filling can also be encouraged at home and in the community. The idea stems from the metaphorical “bucket” that each human being has within themselves. This bucket is filled with all the positive thoughts and actions that others have said or done for us, as well as the intrinsic rewards that come with our individual efforts to fill the buckets of others. For more information, you can check out www.bucketfillers101.com which has a number of free resources as well as information on bucket filling. There are also a number of books that are available at local libraries, such as; “Have You Filled a Bucket Today?” “Will You Fill My Bucket?” and “Baby’s Bucket Book”.

School Wide Positive Behavioural Support programs have also been introduced in a few schools throughout Chatham Kent and Lambton. Here at Naahii Ridge, goal areas were identified by students and staff, that would help students demonstrate the overall value of Respect, including; Attentive Listening, Responsibility, Participation and Positive Attitude. Posters have been created by staff and hung throughout the school, demonstrating the expectations to the students and the staff. The goal of the program is to make the expectations clear, and to reward positive behaviour. At Naahii, we reward positive behaviours through our Thunderbucks program, in which students are provided with tickets that they can enter into a weekly draw, earn prizes for their classrooms and also earn school-wide celebrations. We have also developed a “Shine Committee” made up of students who demonstrate the areas of expectations and help to teach and encourage other students to show the same values. Shine stands for Students Helping to Initiate New Education. The students two years ago, who are now in grade 8, created this here and to date we now have 14 Shine members who assist us with developing our PBS philosophy. The Shine Committee receives training in diversity, peer mediation and TRACKS (Try again, Right thing, Assist, Congratulate, Keep trying, Show), which is a program that helps the Shine committee to encourage and assist students in developing skills and helping them to become more inclusive and supportive to others.

PBS also hopes to help students who are requiring extra support, teach the needed selfregulation and coping skills as well as positive behaviour. If you have been into Naahii, you may have noticed our triangle poster in the front foyer, titled “Naahii Ridge Grows the Green”. Within the triangle, there are areas of green, yellow, and red. The green area identifies students who feel engaged, happy and positive in the school environment and who are able to demonstrate the behaviours that are identified on the expectations poster. The yellow area is to represent students who may require extra support or learning, within the school in order to meet the outlined expectations. And finally, the red area is to identify students who may be requiring external or more intensive school based supports in order to feel safe, confident and therefore engaged and willing to meet the school’s expectations.

There is still work to be done, as within a school we are always learning! The overall goal is to help students with the skills to identify if they are functioning in the green, yellow or red zones, and to use the skills required to get to green; or “grow the green” area of the triangle. When students are not able to do so, on their own, there are supports in place throughout the school to help them attempt to do so. These supports include Teachers, Educational Assistants, Resource staff, Child and Youth Worker, Volunteers, as well as Board employees who are able to help identify areas of concerns and help us get the appropriate supports into place. We also utilize sensory toys, technology, visuals and many other resources that help support the needs of children.

Here at Naahii, we use the principles of bucket filling, to help students learn and meet the school’s expectations, which helps to grow the green and get students involve with the school community through teaching, mentoring and personal, classroom or school wide celebrations. More information about School Wide Positive Behaviour Support or SWPBS can be found at www.pbis.org/school/swpbis-for-beginners. If you have any questions about programs that are in place at the school wide level, please feel free to contact your child’s teacher or administrative staff! We are more than happy to answer any questions you may have.