And so the journey continues….
Jane Turner, Mt Gambier North
Jane was the 2005 recipient of the SAPPA & Master School Portraits Inquiry and Research
Award. Her first article about her vision and plan, which supported her application for the
award, was published in Primary Focus Vol. 19 No. 2 Term 2, 2005
Last year we shared our beginning journey into the development of a socially inclusive school.
Our key vehicles for change were two projects involving the relocation of the kindergarten to the
school site and developing a shared environmental area. Our plan was to develop a site where the
children and their community felt they belonged and that there was a place of value for all. The
last six months have seen the continuation of this project with every possible opportunity used to
involve our community in the life of the school and to build a broader sense of pride in who we
are.
Emerging from the chaos was a new project – very slow growing – which aimed to build onto the
early success and which was heavily promoted by our local member of parliament, Rory
McEwen. The Mt Gambier City Council sponsored a survey of the wider community in an effort
to identify the key issues for urban renewal. A significant number of responses were received as
the entire district was leafleted. The local South Australian Housing Trust office was keen to be a
part of the project, as were the police, with the school developing close links with our police
liaison officer. This survey identified the issues for the community and was followed by a night
of consultation. Concerns were aired, issues raised and a Community group was born.
With the local police taking immediate action at the school crossing, the community was excited
about what they could achieve. Ultimately the Community group, now renamed North Central
Connections, oversaw community fun and information events, and spawned a Neighbourhood
Watch group to protect community safety. Both projects have blossomed and gradually moved
away from the early intensive school support.
We held family fun days with an amazing number of families coming to share a Sunday
afternoon. We’ve flown kites, raced model cars and more. We held musical show cases. We
changed the nature of acquaintance night to include the members of our parent community also
becoming acquainted with each other. We produced holiday reading packs to empower parents to
support their children as beginning readers. We shared many highs and lows which allowed us to
write a new history and share many stories that will hopefully become our folklore. And yet we
need to continue..
For us, receiving the SAPPA & Master School Portraits Inquiry & Research Award was timely,
as we needed to continue these projects while exploring ‘Where to next?’ and ‘How can we
sustain the momentum?’
The $5 000 which came with the Award bought the essential resource which, of course, is time.
We now had time to reflect and inquire into the next step.
If we were using the National Report Card, I’d give our progress to date a ‘C’. But then of course
that would miss most of the story!
Continuing the journey
Our reflection showed that although many families had engaged with the school we still had a
core of community families and children who remained distant and did not feel attached to the
school. How can we engage the hard core group? What had we missed? This ongoing reflection
appeared not to have an answer and it wasn’t just ‘to work harder.’
During this time we heard about some work from America called RAP that was proving
successful with youth who seemed to be beyond help. ‘Response Ability Pathways Restoring
Bonds of Respect’ provided practical methods to foster pathways to responsibility.
Our leadership team went to training in the Christmas vacation to explore a unique and maybe
challenging way of working. This taught us that children in emotional pain had growth needs that
were unmet and that the circle of courage provided a tool to help them.
It was a matter of developing a sense of belonging, mastery, independence and generosity. We
practiced being mentors to troubled youth to find the moment of connection and help build their
skills.
The model integrates Native American philosophies of child-rearing, the heritage of early
pioneers ineducation and youth work, and contemporary resilience research. The Circle of
Courage is based in four universal growth needs of all children: belonging, mastery,
independence, and generosity.
Anthropologists have long known that Native Americans reared courageous, respectful children
without using harsh, coercive controls. Nevertheless, Europeans colonizing North America tried
to ‘civilize’ indigenous children in punitive boarding schools, unaware that Natives possessed a
sophisticated philosophy that treated children with deep respect.
These traditional values are validated by contemporary child research and are consistent with the
findings of Stanley Coopersmith who identified four foundations for self-worth: significance,
competence, power, and virtue.
So the next stage of our journey begins – we will continue to use the strategies with difficult
students and their families. We will engage a mentor to challenge our work and extend our
thinking. We will continue with the strategies that do not come easily from our traditional
headsets. We will trial and make mistakes.
In another six months time we will reflect again and ask if this has made a difference to the very
isolated.
This work was enabled by Jane Turner being the inaugural recipient of the Master School
Portraits Inquiry and Research Award 2005.
This award provides $5000 to facilitate inquiry and research into a significant education issue in
Schools.
SAPPA - South Australian Primary Principals Association