The beginning of the school year has come around again and school staff, parents and students are preparing for the year ahead. Schools play an enormous role in the lives of children and in communities. For most children, their school is a constant in their lives and provides a sense of stability. Some children are starting their first school experience and may rely on the welcoming and support of the school as they enter it for a whole new stage of their lives. This reception and the sense of exciting new experiences, as well as the structures of the school and its nurturance, are likely to contribute to the child’s wellbeing, sense of security, capacity to deal with new challenges and opportunities and to take these important steps forward in his or her future and development.

Some children may be entering school or returning to it this year after difficult experiences in their home environments. Children may have experienced a trauma or loss, or experienced ongoing adversities, if living in households where adversity and trauma are frequent and pervasive. These issues may be transient or long-term.

How schools understand and respond to children, adolescents and their families who are vulnerable because of such experiences may make a vast difference to their future lives.  Schools provide learning, nurturance and support and can assist with liaising with parents and referring if specialised assistance is required. Schools also need to build their own capacity to deal with unexpected trauma and loss that may occur through sudden and untimely events affecting the school community. Schools as communities do much to provide support through such difficulties, and schools and families working together can achieve much that will promote the wellbeing of young people in the community.

Principals, teachers and other school personnel are actively involved in supporting children through their learning and development, in nurturing and positive environments and are very committed, wherever possible, to ensuring the best possible outcomes, as well as to ensure that their own environments are free from traumas such as bullying or other adversities.

At the beginning of the school year, many schools will be looking at planning ahead for the year to come. One area that many schools now focus on, is planning their response to disasters and other crisis events. Schools can get caught up unexpectedly in disasters and crises, such as major loss following a fire, injuries and deaths of pupils on a school journey, or deliberate violence. “Wise Before the Event”, a book by William Yule and Anne Gold, describes some of the ways that crises can affect schools, and suggests how schools can help to lessen the physical and emotional affects of disasters. Many of the strategies suggested can be built into the school curriculum. The book has been made available in PDF format by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in the and can be accessed through the link at:

http://www.earlytraumagrief.anu.edu.au/information_resources/professional_resources/schools/

Please visit the links to training http://www.earlytraumagrief.anu.edu.au/events_activities/training/ on the ACATLGN website to view our updated training list for 2009. This includes training events taking place wide and being presented by a number of local and international organisations.