Why Tallowood School is thanking Rouse Hill Times for winning $10,000 at film festival

TALLOWOOD School has 10,000 reasons to thank all its amazing supporters after its film clip won the People’s Choice Award at the annual Focus on Ability Film Festival.

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TALLOWOOD School has 10,000 reasons to thank all its amazing supporters after its film clip won the People’s Choice Award at the annual Focus on Ability Film Festival.

The Kellyville school, which caters to those with special needs, thanked the Rouse Hill Times for the “tremendous support” which helped win $10,000 worth of items from Rebel Sport.

The Times posted the school’s entry, Tallowood News, on the Facebook page and it was shared and liked by hundreds of our readers who also voted for the school.

One of the comments from a reader, Leanne Masters up in Bonny Hills, near Port Macquarie, sums up the positive reaction on the school’s entry page: “That was just gorgeous and brought a tear to my eye. Well done to the amazing talent at Tallowood.”

Tallowood beat more than 70 schools from Australia and New Zealand for the prize.

Tallowood’s entry for the film festival.

All students contributed to the film.

“I just wanted to say a huge thank you because without your help we would not have been as successful,” Tallowood spokeswoman Le Couteur told us.

“It was such a wonderful surprise to walk up on stage to receive our prize.

“Our students were stoked that we won and we are excited to look through Rebel Sport catalogues to figure out what we are going to spend our money on.”

Tallowood school’s entry has won the People’s Choice Award at the short film festival.

We are, of course, delighted to help such a wonderful school and thank our many readers who supported the Tallowood entry. Along with our colleagues from the Hills Shire Times, we also helped to spruce up their gardens during the recent Do Something Day event.

The theme of the not-for-profit competition — sponsored by Nova employment — was to focus on the ability of people with a disability and Ms Le Couteur said they have used their entry to show how much the students value the support of their community.

“To enter, we had to decide what to film and, as a school, we decided that our community gives us so much and we wanted to show how our students appreciate their support,” Ms Le Couteur said.

Don Maroon and Ray Black reading the news in the film.

“The film highlights how the students are giving back to the community and how proud they are to be part of it.

“The whole school was involved in making the film from staff to students.

“Even if some students weren’t in the film they were still crucial to the concept of the film.

“The best part about making the film was seeing the enthusiasm from the students.

“To be able to film the incredible abilities of these students makes us exceptionally proud.”