From Instinct and Assumption to Evidence-Informed Support: Chester Hill North Public School’s Journey With Life Skills GO
Chester Hill North Public School is a government primary school serving a highly diverse community, with around 27 languages spoken across the school and an inclusive education unit spanning three multi-categorical support classes, a hearing unit and a community hub. Life Skills GO was introduced as part of the school’s strategic direction on productive partnerships, and it now sits inside the daily and fortnightly routines that capture student voice, belonging, wellbeing and readiness to learn alongside attendance and behaviour information.
What this makes possible is a school that can act on a pattern as it emerges rather than only after it has already become a problem, that can bring families into the conversation with specific information rather than a general impression, and that is beginning to bring wellbeing, attendance and school data together to understand what may be sitting beneath changes in behaviour and engagement.
The Story in 60 Seconds
A short summary for anyone short on time. Everything below goes deeper.
The Challenge
Leadership had a wellbeing committee and professional learning, but no reliable way to see what students were thinking and feeling, so decisions leaned on instinct and assumption.
What They Did
The school started with staff wellbeing, brought the committee and the P&C in early, and began with a simple check-in for Years 3 to 6.
What Changed
Check-in data is reviewed every morning and fortnightly by the executive team, so staff can act on a pattern as it emerges.
Try This First
Start with staff, not students, and check the data every morning.
Who Is Chester Hill North Public School?
A government primary school in New South Wales, serving a diverse and dynamic community with around 27 different languages spoken across the school. The school’s Family Occupation and Education Index sits at 149, reflecting a high level of need, and Principal Amanda Adams describes the diversity as something that enriches the school environment rather than a challenge to work around.
Read more about the school
Chester Hill North runs 19 classes, including an inclusive education unit with three multi-categorical support classes, a hearing unit on site and a community hub. The range of needs across the school prompts staff to be innovative and responsive so that support is equitable for every learner, whether they are in a mainstream classroom, the support unit or the hearing unit.
Amanda Adams has been Principal at Chester Hill North for just over three and a half years, and an educator for more than twenty years, the last twelve of them in leadership roles, largely in schools serving lower socio-economic communities. In her time as Principal she has established the school’s support unit and community hub, building the processes needed to support the community around them.
Part of a Wider Strategic Direction
Life Skills GO was introduced at Chester Hill North as part of the school’s Strategic Direction 3, focused on productive partnerships and originally aimed at enhancing student wellbeing. Even with an established wellbeing committee and its own real schools in place, leadership felt something was missing: a reliable way to gain insight into what students were actually thinking and feeling, and evidence to target particular initiatives.
That gap is what the school set out to close, starting with its own staff before it ever reached a student check-in.
Amanda AdamsPrincipal“It’s no longer something that you’re just nice to have. It’s actually essential. And I don’t think if you don’t look after that, you’re not going to have engaged students, and it also underpins behaviour and learning outcomes. So at our school, wellbeing, particularly student wellbeing, is a huge key driver in our school, and it’s basically the foundation for everything that we do. So for me as a leader, I can’t even look at outcomes or anything else unless our wellbeing is looked after.”
Before Life Skills GO: Wellbeing Understood Through Instinct, Not Evidence
Before introducing Life Skills GO, Chester Hill North already treated student wellbeing as central to its work. What it did not have was a reliable way to see what students were actually thinking and feeling, or evidence to target the initiatives already underway.
Nothing Concrete to Hold On To
Leadership had a wellbeing committee, professional learning and staff and parent feedback, but no reliable way to see what was actually happening beneath a child’s behaviour or an off day. As Amanda Adams puts it, “you cannot assume things, and I feel like I say that a lot. Do you really know that? What’s the proof for me?”
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Today, that same question has a different answer. Staff can point to a pattern in the data before they raise a concern with a family, rather than relying on a general impression.
Insight Depended on Who Was in the Room
Professional learning and staff observation mattered, but they could only capture what showed up on the surface, and only where a staff member happened to notice it. Without a consistent, whole-school way to hear from students directly, quiet children and those who masked how they were feeling were easy to miss.
No Way to See a Trend
An off day and a genuine emerging concern could look the same from the outside. Without consistent data, there was no easy way to notice that a normally happy child had checked in sad for several days in a row, or that a particular class was having more heightened emotional days than others, until someone happened to notice.
Amanda AdamsPrincipal“I just felt I was still presuming things and making assumptions. And if someone was to come to me and say, why did they do that? I didn’t have anything to stand on, whereas I feel like now I can see, you know, there’s a pattern of something.”
Building Buy-In: Start With Teachers, Not With Data
The most common question other schools ask Chester Hill North is how it got a whole community, not just its leadership team, behind Life Skills GO. The answer began with staff, not students, and treated the platform as one part of a broader strategic direction rather than a decision handed down from the top.
Read the full buy-in story
Life Skills GO was introduced as part of the school’s Strategic Direction 3, focused on productive partnerships and originally aimed at enhancing student wellbeing. Even with an established wellbeing committee already in place, leadership felt there was something missing: a reliable way to gain insight into what students were thinking and feeling, and data to help target particular initiatives.
Amanda is candid that the decision was not simply hers to make, even though she was drawn to the platform early. “It’s not always about what I want. It has to fit what the school needs.” The process was, by her own description, slow and deliberate rather than fast.
It started with professional learning for teachers, focused first on staff wellbeing rather than the platform itself, because that was what Amanda felt mattered most in helping staff understand why wellbeing was important in the first place. Only once staff were engaged did the idea move to students, through the school’s wellbeing committee, and then to families, through the P&C.
Lead with staff wellbeing first
Start with professional learning focused on teachers’ own wellbeing, before introducing the platform as something for students.
Bring the wellbeing committee in early
Let the committee look at the platform and discuss its benefits before it goes any further across the school.
Show the P&C the platform directly
Parents responded well to seeing the platform themselves, rather than only hearing it described.
Make Fortnightly Data a Standing Item on the Executive Agenda
Life Skills GO reporting is now a standing item on the school’s executive team agenda every fortnight. The expectation is that each member of the executive team has already downloaded and looked at the data before the team comes together.
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From there, the team discusses what it is seeing across stages, where it might need to target support, and what a term’s worth of data is showing. A recent term one evaluation, for example, surfaced a pattern around a particular day of the week showing more readiness to learn than others, prompting the school to ask what had made that day different and how it might extend that engagement further.
The school is now also beginning to cross-reference Life Skills GO data with wellbeing and attendance information through its student information system, to look for shared patterns across its highest-need students.
Start small, with the oldest students
Years 3 to 6 began with a single, simple check-in before the practice extended further across the school.
Teach the emotions, not just collect them
Life Skills GO resources are used to teach emotions as part of lessons, so the check-in sits alongside a growing vocabulary rather than replacing it.
Amanda AdamsPrincipal“It’s not always about what I want. It has to fit what the school needs. So I think by bringing it to the teachers, and then the community, it really did help to make sure that it wasn’t just a leadership vision, that it was something that happened across the school.”
Embedding It: From a Simple Morning Check-In to a Whole-School Habit
The habit at Chester Hill North did not arrive through a single rollout. It grew from the smallest sustainable start, staged deliberately across year groups, roles and levels of need.
We Started With the Older Students
“What we did first was we started with our older students in Years 3 to 6 first, and had them just doing a check-in, very simple, just how they were feeling as they walked into the classroom in the morning.” From there the check-in was extended to include context, and later brought into the school’s inclusive education unit.
Teaching the Emotions, Not Just Collecting Them
Alongside the check-in itself, the school uses Life Skills GO’s own resources to teach emotions as part of its lessons, so students are learning new emotions and new ways of expressing themselves, not simply selecting an option each morning. Students’ data is integrated into their regular class data rather than kept separate, though teachers can still download it on its own if they want a closer look.
Built Into the School Learning Support Officer’s Day
A dedicated School Learning Support Officer is rostered for one hour every morning to work with check-in data. “She downloads the data fifteen minutes after the students have checked in and sees where the most needy areas are, and she does one on one check-ins as well.”
Support From the Top on High-Emotion Days
On days where the data shows a lot of high emotion across the school, Amanda and one of her Deputy Principals help directly, dividing up support with staff where it is needed. Sometimes that is simply being present in a room so a teacher can have a conversation with a student who needs it, or running a brief activity to help a class reset before learning begins.
Protect the Consistency
Amanda checks the data most mornings around 9:15am, and the school has learned, through experience, what can happen on the days that check does not happen early enough.
Amanda AdamsPrincipal“We have to watch and be very intuitive, and we have to look and we have to act. We can’t just see a class with ten angry kids and go, oh well, I’m going to keep doing my lesson. We have to stop. And that’s what I like about Life Skills GO, because you can see it instantly, and then there’s always an activity you can do to help regulate everyone and get them back in.”
Every Student Known: A Habit That Keeps Growing
The shift at Chester Hill North is best seen through the small, deliberate habits the school has built, rather than through a single before-and-after moment. What began as a morning check-in with the oldest students has grown into a routine that now touches every class, every support unit, and the school’s fortnightly leadership meetings.
Before
- We had a wellbeing committee and staff professional learning, but no reliable way to see what students were actually thinking and feeling.
- We could not tell whether a particular initiative was working, or where extra resources were most needed.
- Wellbeing information sat apart from our attendance and behaviour systems.
- A casual teacher could be in a room without knowing what Life Skills GO expected of the class.
- We had no consistent way to bring wellbeing information into stage or executive conversations.
- An off day and a genuine emerging concern could look the same from the outside.
- Families who do not speak English as a first language sometimes found it hard to support their children’s emotional needs at home.
- We could not see whether particular classes were experiencing more heightened emotional or not-ready-to-learn days than others.
- We often responded to a difficult incident once it had already happened.
- We had a strong wellbeing philosophy, but limited evidence to back professional judgement.
The Shift · A Daily Habit
- A daily check-in for Years 3 to 6, extended over time to include context and to the inclusive education unit.
- Life Skills GO resources taught alongside the check-in, so emotional literacy became part of lessons.
- A dedicated School Learning Support Officer who downloads check-in data around 15 minutes after students check in.
- Fortnightly Life Skills GO data reviewed by the executive team, with each member analysing the reports before the team meets.
- Reports increasingly cross-referenced with attendance data and other school systems to look for shared patterns.
- Community hub sessions and English language classes for families that also cover emotional literacy.
After
- Life Skills GO is used across mainstream classrooms, the inclusive education unit and the hearing unit.
- Staff can see how students are arriving at school and whether they may be ready to learn.
- Quiet and masking students can be identified when a single check-in breaks a longer pattern.
- The Learning and Support Team, executive team and classroom teachers each use check-in data in the meetings and routines they already run.
- Checking the data early every morning is now a non-negotiable expectation across the school, including for casual staff.
- Leadership can identify particular classes with a heightened pattern of difficult or not-ready-to-learn days and ask what support those teachers or students may need.
- Families can be told directly and specifically when their child’s check-ins show a change, rather than leadership relying on impressions alone.
- The school has engaged external agencies, including a police youth liaison officer, in response to patterns seen in the data around students feeling unsafe online.
- Term evaluations of the data have surfaced patterns, such as a particular day of the week showing more readiness to learn, that the school can test and build on.
- Staff describe feeling more confident that a decision to step in, or not to step in, is grounded in evidence rather than assumption.
- The school continues to extend how it uses the data, including work now underway to bring wellbeing, attendance and Life Skills GO information together for its highest-need students.
Amanda AdamsPrincipal“I just feel if we’re not data informed, I mean, how would I know that something like that happened? I may never have asked the question. So I feel like the data allows us to ask deeper questions in a non-threatening way, because the kids have already told us. They’re telling us that something’s not right.”
What They Can See Now That They Couldn’t Before
The change shows up at every level of the school: in how a child is supported, how a teacher runs a room, how the Learning and Support Team plans, and how leadership works with families. Here is what Life Skills GO has made visible so far.
Now:
- A simple, consistent way to say how they are feeling every morning, tailored to their level of need
- A smaller set of emotions offered in the support unit, taught and practised through circle check-ins as well as the platform itself
- A channel that keeps working even for students who are not yet confident naming more complex feelings
- Consistent language for emotional literacy that stays with students as they move up through the school
Now:
- A same-morning view of how their class is arriving and whether students are ready to learn
- Support from a dedicated School Learning Support Officer, who reviews check-in data within 15 minutes of students checking in
- A shared, whole-school expectation of what Life Skills GO is for, extended to new and casual staff
- The ability to flag a concerning pattern early, rather than only after a difficult incident
Now:
- A dedicated School Learning Support Officer checks Life Skills GO data every morning and follows up directly with students in the areas of most need
- On high-emotion days, the Principal and a Deputy Principal help directly, sometimes simply being present in a room
- Life Skills GO data increasingly cross-referenced with attendance and other whole-school systems, to look for shared patterns across a top tier of students
- Fortnightly reports that are now a standing item on the executive team agenda
Now:
- Parents were shown the platform directly through the P&C before it was introduced school-wide
- Community English language classes now also teach families about emotions, so they can support their children at home
- The school’s community hub leader attends Life Skills GO professional learning and communicates updates back to families in language
- Leadership can call a family with specific, dated information about how their child has been feeling
Giving Every Student a Voice
Chester Hill North runs an inclusive education unit with three multi-categorical support classes, alongside a hearing unit and mainstream classrooms. Life Skills GO flexes to meet each group of students where they are, from the earliest support-unit check-ins to the language work now underway with the school’s community.
Accessible for Every Level of Need
The inclusive education unit’s Kindergarten intake began with 21 students, described by Amanda Adams as “very lively and very, very crazy” in the early days. The unit now spans students from Year 1 to Year 3, and because they were introduced to Life Skills GO so early, students now in Year 2 and Year 3 check in in much the same way as students in mainstream classes.
Learning to Name a Feeling
When check-ins first began in the support classes, students did not always understand much more than happy or sad. The school uses six emotions with these classes, taught and practised through circle check-ins, where students take turns before placing their choice on the board.
One Coloured Tile Among the Green
A boy who was usually happy in his check-ins was sad for a couple of days in a row. Staff noticed the change against his normal pattern, checked in with him directly, and later learned his grandfather had passed away, giving the school a reason to bring his family into the conversation too.
A Non-Threatening Way to Ask a Deeper Question
Amanda Adams describes the value of the data as giving staff a reason to ask rather than presume. “The kids have already told us. They’re telling us that something’s not right.”
Reading Between Happy and Tired
Not every pattern means the same thing. Staff have learned to read “tired” check-ins in context, for example around Ramadan, rather than treating every tired day the same way, while still watching for an unusual run of tired check-ins that might point to something else, such as late nights or not enough food.
A Cry for Attention Is Still a Cry for Help
Amanda Adams pushes back on the idea that a child checking in as angry or sad repeatedly is “just doing it for attention.” As she puts it, “a cry for attention isn’t just for attention. It’s for a reason, and it’s up to us as their educators to find out what that reason is.”
“We can’t just see a class with ten angry kids and go, oh well, I’m going to keep doing my lesson. We have to stop. And that’s what I like about Life Skills GO, because you can see it instantly, and then there’s always an activity you can do to help regulate everyone and get them back in.”Amanda Adams, Principal, Chester Hill North Public School
What We Learned: Key Takeaways
What Amanda Adams would tell any school just starting out with Life Skills GO.
Start With Staff, Not Students
Lead with professional learning focused on teachers’ own wellbeing before introducing the platform to students. When staff understand why wellbeing matters for themselves, they bring that understanding into how they use it in the classroom.
Bring the Community In Early
Show the platform directly to your wellbeing committee and your P&C before rolling it out school-wide, particularly in a community where many families do not speak English as a first language.
Start Small, With the Oldest Students First
A single, simple check-in with Years 3 to 6 is enough to begin building trust in the data, before extending it further across the school.
Check the Data Every Morning, Without Exception
Checking early is what turns the data into prevention rather than record-keeping. A day where the check happens later than usual is a day where a pattern can be missed.
Let the Data Ask the Question, Not Presume the Answer
The data gives staff a non-threatening way to check in on a child, rather than assuming what is going on. It does not mean jumping in immediately every time; sometimes it is an opportunity for connection a little later.
It Is Not Just a Data Tool
The deeper value is teaching emotional literacy and self-regulation, so children can identify, communicate and manage their emotions. The whole-school data is the byproduct of children who can thrive.
“For me, if I think about student wellbeing, it means creating an environment where every child feels known, valued and cared for. I don’t think about it just academically, I think about it emotionally and socially as well. Today’s world is so complex, and it’s no longer something that you’re just nice to have. It’s actually essential. Student wellbeing has been extended into staff wellbeing as well, so it’s a whole sort of holistic approach to wellbeing, and I think we need that nowadays.”
Bring Student Voice, Wellbeing and School Data Together All in One Place
Book a personalised conversation with a Life Skills GO education specialist. We will guide you through a short, interactive demonstration and show how the platform supports early identification, student voice, engagement and belonging, partnerships with families and carers, proactive intervention, staff decision-making and continuous whole-school improvement.
More about the demo, and reports
You will also have the opportunity to ask questions, explore how Life Skills GO could support your school’s priorities and determine whether it is the right fit for your community.
Life Skills GO supports schools and systems of every size, sector and context, including metropolitan, regional and remote schools, government, Catholic, independent and specialist settings, and support classes.
Put the Reports Into the Meetings You Already Hold
At Chester Hill North, the value of Life Skills GO was never only the morning check-in itself. It was what happened next: whether a member of staff saw the pattern, understood what may have been driving it, and knew what to do about it.
Fortnightly Life Skills GO data is now a standing item on the school’s executive team agenda, and executives are expected to have downloaded and reviewed the data before the meeting. The school is also beginning to cross-reference wellbeing, attendance and Life Skills GO data through its student information system, to look for shared patterns across its highest-need students.
Staff are not asked to build reports or learn a new reporting system to get there. The information is designed to surface inside a meeting or routine the school already runs, whether that is a fortnightly executive check, a stage conversation, or a phone call home to a family.
Take These Ideas Further
Go deeper on the themes in Chester Hill North’s story. Watch Amanda Adams share these insights directly, or explore free expert guides you can use with your team tomorrow.
Related Webinars
Amanda Adams, Principal of Chester Hill North Public School, features in this Life Skills GO webinar on moving from assumption to evidence-informed wellbeing practice.
From Instinct to Insight: How Chester Hill North Public School Uses Data-Informed Wellbeing
FeaturingAmanda Adams (Chester Hill North Public School) & Lucia Massaioli (Life Skills GO)
Watch the ReplayFree Guides & Expert Insights
Practical downloads for educators, leaders and families, including neuroscience-backed insight on emotions, learning and wellbeing.
Neuroscience of Emotions and Learning
FeaturingDr Mark Williams (Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience) with Nikki Bonus. How emotions shape learning, grounded in brain research and Life Skills GO practice.
Get the Free ResourceMore Guides & Resources
The full Life Skills GO resource library, including guides on whole-school wellbeing implementation, measurement and classroom practice.
Browse the Resource LibraryBook a personalised meeting with our education wellbeing specialist, to show you how Life Skills GO can help you achieve your school’s wellbeing goals. We will guide you through a short interactive demo and answer any questions to help you determine if Life Skills GO is right for your school.
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