As part of our First Nations programs, Positive Partnerships have been planning and consulting in partnership with Briar Road Public School, Airds NSW, to hold the first ever workshop of its kind, bringing teachers and Aboriginal families together. On June 20th and 21st, 5 parents and carers and 5 school staff over 3 schools in the area, came together in the Koorie Room at Briar Road Public School, to share their personal journey and stories from home and school about supporting their child and student on the autism spectrum.
The highlights, outcomes and learnings from this experience, captured through an internal evaluation will be shared at the upcoming Aspect Autism in Education Conference in Brisbane in August.
An important element to the success of this workshop was the careful and considered planning and consultation in the months leading up to this event.
Having the school host the workshop in a welcoming and safe space and the Principal speaking during the Working Together session localised the experience.
Visual and storytelling resources supported parents and staff to highlight the strengths and skills of the child and share these insights with each other. The use of the Storyboard alongside the Storybook was supported by the engagement in both resources and comments from teachers about the richness of information the Storybook provided.
Over the 2 days, we were able to adjust the content and approach to best support the participants as we heard about the vast differences in the environments between home and school and we witnessed how the existing partnerships were strengthened further and deeper by the experience.
Working Together Briar Road Public School
This is the story of Briar Road Public School who have worked closely with the Positive Partnerships team and who truly value the importance of leadership and staff building strong relationships with families and the community. This film clip shares an example of a partnership between a family who have a child on the autism spectrum and the school, as they celebrate the positives and consistently find ways to build successful partnerships with families.
