Life Skills GO Deep Dive · Inglewood Primary School
From Reports That Only Showed What Had Already Happened to a Daily Whole-School Habit: Inglewood Primary School's Journey With Life Skills GO
Inglewood Primary School is a small school in regional Victoria, where staff often work across multiple roles, teacher, leader and administrator, with limited time and resources to spare. A Life Skills GO partner since 2024, the school has embedded daily check-ins into everyday practice, capturing student voice, belonging, wellbeing and readiness to learn alongside attendance and behaviour information.
Leadership can now bring check-in, attendance and behaviour information together to build a clearer picture of what may be happening for a student before concerns escalate. Life Skills GO sits alongside the school's existing School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support and Berry Street practices, supporting what the school is already building rather than replacing it.
Who Is Inglewood Primary School?
Inglewood Primary School is a small primary school in regional Victoria. Like many small regional schools, staff commonly work across several roles at once, teacher, leader and administrator, which means any new practice has to earn its place in an already busy day.
Wellbeing has long been a stated priority at Inglewood, and the school has built a proactive, data-informed approach to it over time. That approach sits alongside the school's existing School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support framework and Berry Street practices, rather than replacing either.
Wellbeing is not treated as separate from learning at Inglewood. It is understood as part of the foundation that allows students to attend, participate, belong and learn.
A partner since 2024
Jayne Lawson, Classroom Teacher and Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader at Inglewood, first trialled Life Skills GO as part of a school leadership project. Wellbeing has always been Jayne's passion, and she led the school's shift towards a proactive, data-informed approach through the platform.
Since that trial, daily check-ins have become part of everyday practice across the school community. Jayne continues to champion real-time wellbeing data at Inglewood and regularly shares her experience with other Victorian schools navigating their own early implementation.
Wellbeing has always been Jayne Lawson's passion. As Classroom Teacher and Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader, she led Inglewood's shift towards a proactive, data-informed approach to student wellbeing, and continues to champion the use of real-time wellbeing data across the school and with other Victorian schools navigating their own early implementation.
Before Life Skills GO: A Small School Relying on Observation and Existing Frameworks Alone
Before Life Skills GO, Inglewood already had a genuine commitment to wellbeing, built around its School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support framework and Berry Street practices. What was missing was a consistent, real-time way to see what may be sitting beneath attendance and behaviour patterns, day to day, across a small school where every staff member wears several hats.
Limited Time and Resources to Spare
In small schools, staff often wear multiple hats, teacher, leader and administrator, usually with limited time and resources to spare. Without a consistent, easy-to-embed system for real-time wellbeing data, the risk was reacting late rather than supporting students early.
With daily check-ins now embedded in everyday practice, the school can bring student voice into the picture alongside attendance and behaviour tracking, without adding a parallel process for already stretched staff.
Existing Frameworks Without Real-Time Visibility
School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support and Berry Street practices gave Inglewood a strong foundation, but on their own they did not provide a consistent, real-time view of how individual students were tracking day to day.
Triangulating Information Was Manual
Attendance and behaviour tracking existed as separate records. Bringing them together with any sense of student voice depended on staff manually piecing the picture together themselves, in a school where time to do that was scarce.
Building Buy-In: A Leadership Project That Became Whole-School Practice
A common question other small schools ask Inglewood is how a new practice can take hold without adding to an already full day. The answer at Inglewood began with a single staff member testing an idea, rather than a whole-school mandate from day one.
Jayne Lawson first trialled Life Skills GO as part of a school leadership project. Wellbeing has always been Jayne's passion, and that personal commitment, tested carefully before it was extended further, appears to have been central to how the practice took hold at Inglewood.
Small schools can find staff buy-in harder to sustain than larger ones, since every staff member is already stretched across multiple responsibilities. Starting with a contained trial, led by someone with genuine passion for the subject, let the school test whether the practice was sustainable before asking every classroom to adopt it.
Jayne continues to champion real-time wellbeing data at Inglewood and regularly shares her experience with other Victorian schools navigating their own early implementation, which suggests the model has proved workable enough to be worth passing on.
Start with one committed champion
Let a staff member with genuine passion for wellbeing trial the practice first, rather than mandating it across the school immediately.
Frame it as support, not extra administration
In a small school where staff already wear multiple hats, any new practice has to reduce burden, not add to it.
Connect it to what the school already does
Position the daily check-in alongside School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support and Berry Street practices, so it strengthens rather than competes with existing work.
Build teacher confidence gradually
Practical strategies for embedding emotional literacy and consistent check-ins were introduced gradually, in keeping with a small school's limited staff and resources.
Let leadership triangulate the information
Once check-ins were established, leadership could begin bringing check-in data together with attendance and behaviour tracking to improve visibility of wellbeing trends across the school.
Share the model with other schools
Jayne now regularly shares Inglewood's experience with other Victorian schools navigating their own early implementation.
Embedding It: Start Small, Stay Consistent
At Inglewood, embedding Life Skills GO did not come from a big launch. It came from a leadership project that grew into a daily habit, protected by consistency even with a small staff and limited resources.
Jayne Lawson first trialled Life Skills GO as part of a school leadership project, before daily check-ins became part of everyday practice across the wider school community.
As with any new practice, trust in daily check-in data builds over time. At Inglewood, the daily check-in has become a consistent way for students to be known, valued and cared for, while giving staff an immediate view of what may be happening for a student before it is raised elsewhere.
Daily check-ins have become part of everyday practice across the school community, rather than an occasional add-on to be remembered separately.
Leadership at Inglewood triangulates check-ins, attendance and behaviour tracking to improve visibility of student wellbeing trends, rather than reviewing any one source in isolation.
In a small school with limited staff, protecting the daily habit matters more, not less, since there are fewer people to absorb a gap if the practice slips.
Every Student Known: Two Years of Change
The shift at Inglewood is best seen over time. What began as a single leadership project trial has become a daily, whole-school habit where student voice sits alongside attendance and behaviour tracking.
Before · 2024
- We relied on School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support and Berry Street practices, alongside professional observation, to understand student wellbeing.
- We had no consistent, real-time way to see how a student was arriving at school on a given day.
- Attendance and behaviour tracking existed as separate records, without an easy way to bring them together.
- As a small school with limited staff, we had little spare time to build or maintain a new reporting process.
- We did not have a consistent, whole-school practice for daily check-ins.
- Understanding what may be sitting beneath a change in a student's behaviour depended largely on individual staff observation.
The Shift · A Daily Habit
- A daily check-in trialled first through a school leadership project, led by Jayne Lawson
- The check-in gradually extended from a single trial into everyday practice across the school community
- Check-in information reviewed alongside attendance and behaviour tracking, rather than in isolation
- Leadership triangulating the three sources to improve visibility of student wellbeing trends
- Practical strategies introduced gradually, suited to a small school with limited staff and resources
- The daily check-in sitting alongside, not replacing, existing School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support and Berry Street practices
After · Two Years On
- Daily check-ins have become part of everyday practice across the whole school community.
- Leadership can triangulate check-ins, attendance and behaviour tracking to improve visibility of student wellbeing trends.
- Staff can build teacher confidence and consistency in using a digital tool to support proactive, preventative wellbeing practice.
- Life Skills GO complements the school's existing School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support and Berry Street practices, supporting a genuine whole-school culture of wellbeing.
- Jayne now shares Inglewood's experience with other Victorian schools navigating their own early implementation.
- What began as one staff member's trial has grown into a sustainable, whole-school approach to real-time wellbeing data, appropriate for a small regional school's staffing and resources.
What They Can See Now That They Couldn't Before
The change at Inglewood shows up across the school community, in how a child is known day to day, how a classroom teacher runs a room, how the wellbeing team looks at patterns, and how leadership and families understand the whole child. Here is what daily check-ins have made visible.
For Students
Before: which children may have needed support was largely a matter of what surfaced through behaviour or a teacher's observation on a given day.
Now:
- A daily, consistent opportunity to say how they are feeling
- A check-in practice that sits alongside existing School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support and Berry Street approaches
- A way for quieter students to be seen without needing to raise a hand
- Consistency in the habit, even in a small school where staff cover multiple roles
For Teachers
Before: teachers, already covering several roles in a small school, relied on their own observation to gauge how a class was arriving each day.
Now:
- A consistent, easy-to-embed system for real-time wellbeing data
- Practical strategies for embedding emotional literacy and consistent check-ins, suited to limited staff and resources
- Growing confidence and consistency in using a digital tool for proactive, preventative wellbeing practice
- A practice that supports, rather than competes with, existing behaviour and wellbeing frameworks
For the Wellbeing Team
Before: understanding whole-school wellbeing trends meant piecing together attendance, behaviour and observation manually, with little time to spare.
Now:
- Check-in, attendance and behaviour information triangulated to improve visibility of student wellbeing trends
- A proactive, data-informed approach to wellbeing, rather than a reactive one
- A sustainable model that other Victorian schools have asked to learn from
- Evidence that helps the school understand how its own practice is working, alongside its existing frameworks
For Leadership & Parents
Before: conversations about a child's wellbeing depended on what an individual teacher had observed and remembered to raise.
Now:
- A genuinely proactive, data-informed approach to wellbeing that leadership can point to
- Real-time wellbeing data that may inform early intervention and targeted support
- A model sustainable enough for a small school with limited staff and resources
- A story worth sharing with other Victorian schools building their own approach
Giving Every Student a Voice
Inglewood is a small school, and the daily check-in has become a way for every student in the school community to be known, valued and cared for, regardless of how much staff time is available on any given day.
A Habit That Does Not Depend on Staff Numbers
In a small school where staff wear multiple hats, a consistent, easy-to-embed system matters more, not less. The daily check-in gives every student a chance to be heard, without relying on a staff member having the spare time to notice and ask.
One Champion, Then a Whole School
Jayne Lawson first trialled Life Skills GO as part of a school leadership project. What started as one teacher's trial has grown into a habit that now runs across the school community.
Complementing, Not Replacing, Existing Practice
Life Skills GO complements Inglewood's existing School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support and Berry Street practices, supporting a genuine whole-school culture of wellbeing rather than sitting apart from it.
Building Confidence, Not Just Compliance
Part of embedding the practice has been building teacher confidence and consistency when using a digital tool for proactive, preventative wellbeing work, rather than treating it as a box to tick.
A Model Worth Sharing
Jayne regularly shares Inglewood's experience with other Victorian schools navigating their own early implementation, suggesting the practice has proved genuinely sustainable, not just possible on paper.
Small School, Whole-School Culture
Being a small school has not stopped Inglewood from building what the school itself describes as a genuine whole-school culture of wellbeing, supported day to day by a consistent daily habit.
"When a student is in the fight, flight or freeze response, their attention narrows, their prefrontal cortex is functionally impaired, and learning does not occur: all you are doing is reacting to what is actually around you. Conversely, a learning-ready brain is relaxed, calm, happy, and connecting with their teacher, and ready to learn."
What We Learned: Key Takeaways
Two years of embedding Life Skills GO at a small regional school, distilled into what Inglewood would tell another school starting out.
Start With One Committed Champion
A single staff member with genuine passion for wellbeing, testing the practice through a leadership project, gave Inglewood a low-risk way to find out whether the habit was sustainable before extending it school-wide.
Small Schools Need Consistency More, Not Less
With fewer staff to absorb a gap, protecting the daily check-in habit matters even more in a small school than in a larger one.
Complement Existing Frameworks
Life Skills GO was introduced alongside School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support and Berry Street practices, not as a replacement for either, which appears to have supported buy-in.
Triangulate, Do Not Look at One Source Alone
Bringing check-ins, attendance and behaviour tracking together gives leadership a clearer picture than any one source could on its own.
Build Confidence Gradually
Practical strategies introduced step by step helped build teacher confidence and consistency, especially where staff and resources are limited.
It Is Not Just a Data Tool
The deeper value at Inglewood is a genuine, sustainable, whole-school culture of wellbeing. Real-time data is what makes that culture visible and measurable, not the point of it.
Reflections From Jayne
Wellbeing has always been Jayne's passion, and she led Inglewood's shift towards a proactive, data-informed approach through Life Skills GO, first trialling the platform as part of a school leadership project. She continues to champion real-time wellbeing data at Inglewood and regularly shares her experience with other Victorian schools navigating their own early implementation.
Put the Reports Into the Meetings You Already Hold
At Inglewood, the value of Life Skills GO was never limited to the daily check-in itself. The real value came from what leadership could then do with it, alongside information the school already had.
Leadership at Inglewood triangulates check-ins, attendance and behaviour tracking to improve visibility of student wellbeing trends. Rather than creating a new reporting process, the information is intended to support the decisions leadership and staff are already making, in the meetings and reviews the school already runs.
In a small school with limited staff and resources, that matters. Staff are not asked to build reports, analyse spreadsheets or learn a new system on top of everything else they already do. The aim is a consistent, easy-to-embed practice that supports proactive, preventative wellbeing work without adding to the load.
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.
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.
Take These Ideas Further
Go deeper on the themes in Inglewood's story. From the upcoming webinar featuring Jayne Lawson, to free expert guides you can use with your team tomorrow.
Related Webinars
Jayne Lawson and Inglewood Primary School feature in this Life Skills GO session on building a proactive, data-informed approach to wellbeing in a small regional school.
Free Guides & Expert Insights
Practical downloads for educators, leaders and families, including neuroscience-backed insight on emotions, learning and wellbeing.
Book 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.