There are some children who slip through the cracks in school and struggle to ever finish. The Naremburn School helps lift those children up and gives them hope.
This story contains content that some readers may find distressing.
As you walk into The Naremburn School, there’s a kelpie cross called Nala running around greeting people. She stops by every person for a pat, then drops a ball, waiting for it to be thrown. Nala is an integral part of what makes the Naremburn School a success. You will not find classrooms with rows of tables in this school, or a timetable of lessons. The bell never rings for recess and students come when they can.
Instead, you will find rooms with safe spaces like a colourful tent with fairy lights, a kitchen where students prepare food they eat themselves, and comfortable lounges. In this place, students are accepted for who they are and embraced to be the best they can be.
These students have mostly been rejected by mainstream education. Between them, the 34 children have 586 suspension days in previous schools. Some have committed crimes. A few are homeless. But at this school, the suspension rate is zero and attendance has gone up by almost 50 per cent.
Principal Pat Laird has been involved from the very beginning, almost 30 years ago. At a previous school, Pat had been involved in taking ‘troubled’ students out of class for one- on-one instruction.
“We found out that every single one of them was going through trauma,” Pat says. “That’s why they weren’t coping in class. So it was an eye opener as to what some kids are going through, and they’re expected to fit the mainstream format and it doesn’t always work.”
Most of the students at the school have been suspended, but some have underlying mental health issues, self-harm, suicidal ideation, or ‘outrageous’ behaviours. “And their school just goes, ‘I can’t manage this anymore,’” says Pat.
Students enjoy doing hand-on work, such as woodwork and pottery.
A departmental panel assesses which students may be appropriate to attend the school, following referrals. Just like the first day of kindergarten, there is a lot of trepidation from new students, says assistant principal Geoff Tunks. “When they come to the school, the first thing that you need to do is build that relationship and rapport with them,” he says. “And it’s just talking to them, getting to know them, and them getting to know us a little bit more.”
One student who had been out of formal schooling for three years prior to coming to Naremburn is SJ. They* say Naremburn was their ‘last option’. Suffering from mental health issues, SJ felt her needs at the large schools she attended were ‘swept under the rug’ or staff prioritised high-achieving students. “When I first came here, I couldn’t even get into the classroom. I’d sit out in the hall for 15 minutes before going home.
“I had spent so long out of school, that knowing that I could leave if it got too much at first seemed like an empty promise.
“But seeing how that was followed through, and that it wasn’t frowned upon to need that kind of support, I was then slowly able to make my way into the classroom or stay longer in the day. I was never pushed to hurry along that transition.”
SJ is now completing a subject for her HSC, something they thought would be impossible four years ago. And they now plan to become a service dog trainer, and will be supported all the way by Naremburn.
“There was a point in my life where I didn’t think that I would even make it past 16, and I’m now 20 and about to finish high school. I think if I had gone back to a mainstream school, I just would’ve given up again.”
At Naremburn, students undertake subjects a bit differently to other high schools. First of all, teaching of most subjects is via distance education, not direct tuition. All students are fed proper meals throughout the day, and music therapy is an important part of the curriculum, as well as art and woodwork. Flexibility is key, says Geoff. “We have a lot of structure, but we have flexibility within that structure to change at any given moment.”
So if a student comes in and is feeling ‘low,’ their schedule is adjusted for that day. But there are no free passes. “We have high expectations for them (which) they haven’t had before,” Pat says. She explains that the students have previously missed a lot of classes so they fall behind and lose motivation to keep trying. The teachers at Naremburn spend a lot of time helping them to catch up. “They start to feel like they’re achieving,” she says.
Pat says the constant dialogue with students is important.
“If they’re showing behaviours that are going to get them into trouble, we bring them in and discuss what’s going on and how they can cope better with situations. And they just start to learn. Most of them say nobody’s ever bothered to sit down with them and chat about things like that.”
SJ says she had been let down at her previous schools, so learnt not to hope. “But since being here I’ve learned that you are able to look forward and you are able to hope for things.
“I’m a lot more confident now and better at voicing my opinions and my needs. And I’m also able to trust people more because I know that the world isn’t against me anymore.”
*SJ uses the pronouns them/them.
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