Getting called to the principal's office in school can be stressful and scary.

Usually, it happens when students misbehave or break the rules.

Lately, that's been happening less often in the Winnipeg School Division thanks to a push to focus on prevention instead of discipline

At Ecole Stanley Knowles – a nursery to grade eight school in Tyndall Park – fewer students are getting called to the principal’s office.

New numbers show out-of-school suspensions right across the Winnipeg School Division have fallen over the past seven years.

Statistics from the division show there were 1438 suspensions during the 2011/2012 school year, 974 suspensions in 2013/2014 and 1047 suspensions last year.

Stanley Knowles principal Darryl Stevenson chalks up the lower numbers to rewarding students for good behaviour – a preventative measure he said reduces the need for punishment.

"The last thing that we want to do as educators is suspend students," said Stevenson. "If they need their behavior changed, we do it in a positive and proactive way."

"That may involve our guidance counsellor, it may involve triaging with support staff."

The numbers show there are fewer suspensions for verbal assault toward staff or other students, there are also fewer suspensions for possession of drugs, alcohol or tobacco and fewer for misconduct, which includes not listening, uncontrollable behaviour and setting off the fire alarm.

The number of suspensions related to weapons and physical assaults on staff has increased while physical assaults on students have dropped but are still the main reason for suspensions.

Winnipeg School Division superintendent of education services Celia Caetano-Gomes credits the decrease to a program known as Positive Behavioural Intervention and Supports or PBIS.

Students get their names entered for prizes like books for following simple rules such as removing their hats when they enter the school or walking in a straight line in the hallway.

"The focus is always about prevention,” said Caetano-Gomes. “It's about teaching, empowering students to make good decisions, to be good role models for one and another.”

"From time to time there are students – that still with all the supports and the training that we've been providing students and reviewing expectations – we do have some students who still require suspensions."

Manitoba School Boards Association executive director Josh Watt said the WSD numbers reflect a trend across all divisions in the province.

"A lot of divisions are using alternative methods for disciplining students and we recognize that out-of-class suspensions are not necessarily the answer,” said Watt. “What we have done increasingly in this province is to establish wraparound programs where a collaborative team that usually consists of education, police and justice officials, health care providers – if there’s a mental health element – they all come together and they provide the supports that every student needs.”

“Of course, if you’re bringing a weapon to school or threatening violence against students or teachers that is very serious and would result in a suspension.”

Read the division's full report on out-of-school suspensions: