At Prospect Primary School, positive slogans are everywhere.

"You are looking good; you are feeling good; you are even smelling good,'' says one.

The halls and grounds are immaculate, and the 321 children are well-behaved.

Now in her fourth year as principal, it could be a sign that Mrs. Marva Outerbridge's approach is working.

"The over-all school philosophy is that children must be taught to take responsibility for themselves, their actions, their behaviour, their decisions,'' Mrs. Outerbridge told The Royal Gazette yesterday.

"We give them tools to help accomplish that,'' said the 33-year teaching veteran.

Mrs. Outerbridge, along with her teaching staff, try to teach the children to "celebrate themselves,'' in the belief that "once you know who you are, you don't have problems with other people''.

Children who felt good about themselves were not constantly looking for validation from others, she said.

School assemblies, held each Monday to "say hello,'' and Friday to "say goodbye'', are part of the approach.

A school class organises each assembly. On St. Patrick's Day, it was Primary 3, and the children who performed the skit added green ribbons to their school uniforms.

They gave a lively presentation on vowels, which was followed by Mrs.

Outerbridge quizzing her pupils on what they had learned.

"You're not quite right, but thank you for taking the risk,'' the principal told a girl who stood up in the large assembly room but missed an answer.

"You're a smart girl.

"There are no putdowns here,'' Mrs. Outerbridge said later. "I highlight the positive. I deal with some very negative behaviour very quietly.'' At Prospect Primary "we earn our privileges'' and participation in events like sports days can be taken away for bad behaviour.

In another part of the assembly, children volunteered to "celebrate'' themselves, singing a short song in front of their classmates: "I am special, I'm very special, just because I'm me.''