Thought you might be interested in our latest TRIBES process.

We accessed funds to  employ a Mosaic Artist to work with our Grade ½ children to depict  TRIBES in action.

These panels now grace our school entrance so that each and every day our children see them  as they walk into school.

They look fantastic as a backdrop to our newly developed garden 

Caren Taylor

Assistant Principal
Footscray West Primary School

PANEL ONE - INCLUSION

Sense of belonging

Friendship groups

Acknowledgement

Children are shown on and around the word Inclusion.  They are a part of the word and the nature.

Scene is optimistic, cheerful.

Onlookers are welcomed in.

Acknowledgement of the viewer is shown by children waving.

Sunflowers (prep flower) is the dominant flower.

Less children in this panel – deliberate – children just starting to get involved in friendship groups.

PANEL TWO - INFLUENCE

Setting goals

Solving problems

Making decisions

Right to pass

Bringing together different skills to solve the problem of hanging the word.

Having fun solving this together.

Cartwheel girl exercises her ‘right to pass’

Animals add to the fun and also to the problem.

Children need to set goals to get the job done – how can we manage this?

PANEL THREE - COMMUNITY

Group support

Celebrating achievements

Shared responsibility

Children are shown in pyramid, solid base and support from each other enables this.

The word is in ‘smile’ shape and forms the base for the pyramid

The children are celebrating and shown at night symbolizing achievement.  They have worked through the day and can now relax.

They are shown as a group, togetherness.

PANEL FOUR - PELICANS

Pelicans symbol of Tribes. Watching over the school

Real pelicans are social creatures, rarely alone, always in big groups.

These birds are depicted in cartoon form, more childlike and fun.

One wears a sun hat to denote Footscray West is a ‘sun smart’ school.

One catches the letter S in its beak before it falls to symbolize he is watching and taking note.

The birds depict happiness and friendship groups.

My school has been using Tribes for just over a year now and it has been fantastic. The caring agreements are our new school rules and values, and every member of staff is using Tribes to some degree in their classroom. The staff are really enthusiastic and I have heard so much positive feedback at staff meetings during our CCCs (cares, concerns and celebrations - thanks Nancy and Mary for that great idea!!). To top it all off we have had lots of visitors at our school this term and we have received a lot of feedback about how welcoming our school is. They have said our students are settled and focused, that they seem very happy to be there and the staff are a great team. We believe that Tribes has had a huge part to play in this as it has brought us together as a community. "We're all on the same page", using the same language, and I think that because the staff are so united the children are too. We are having a lot of fun together. Thank you Tribes!!