Bushfires bring schools’ crisis support role into sharp focus

For families traumatised by fires, floods and drought, school can be a place of safety and all-important support for their children. Here’s how school staff can embrace the important role.

The Hamilton and Alexandra College student Marcus Munro graduated last year and became a DELWP firerisk office, working on the firegrounds in East Gippsland this January.

SCHOOLS have a pivotal role to play supporting families and communities through crisis.

Gippsland Grammar principal David Baker knows this fact well.

Many in his Gippsland school community have lived through fires during the past two months, and drought for the past two years.

“It has been a really difficult start to the year,” said Mr Baker, who heads the independent school, which has campuses at Sale and Bairnsdale.

“Normally school starts with enthusiasm. This year people are tired. A lot of families have experienced trauma over the summer.”

Mr Baker said two of the school’s families lost their houses in the fires, many were evacuated from their homes and some were on the frontline fighting the blazes. Recovery will be a long process.

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Mr Baker said the situation made it strikingly clear that emotional and wellbeing support for students was as important as teaching and learning.

“Country families are really stoic,” Mr Baker said. “They don’t complain and tell you they need extra help. You have to be really vigilant and watch the kids and talk to the families.”

The Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association of New South Wales has urged all boarding schools to focus on these responsibilities in light of the drought and recent fires.

Following the lead of the Queensland ICPA, the group sent a letter to all NSW boarding schools this month explaining the trauma children may have lived through over the summer.

It stated: “Out of concern for the mental health and wellbeing of these children … we ask you to please pass this letter onto your teaching and boarding staff.

“For some children, going back to boarding and school will in fact be a relief as they can return to some form of normality. Please encourage these staff to have conversations with their boarding students should they wish to, in the classrooms, with their peers, so that our school communities have the opportunity to fully understand what life looks like for them at this moment in time.”

The Hamilton and Alexandra College graduate Marcus Munro on the fire control line in East Gippsland, far left.

In the Western District, The Hamilton and Alexandra College principal Dr Andrew Hirst has done just that.

He said school staff had a vitally important job to offer both emotional support and financial support during times of hardship.

“We deliberately ensured there was conversation around the challenges of this summer,” Dr Hirst, said, explaining that their students and staff wanted to talk about ways they could help those affected by the fires through fundraising.

“I think it also very pleasingly encouraged a lot of conversation about gratitude and how thankful we should be about the efforts of emergency services and those who have volunteered.”

Dr Hirst said the school’s service-learning programs were designed to encourage young people to place value on helping others.

“Community in regional towns has and will always be the linchpin that helps us endure through times of hardship and crisis,” Dr Hirst said. “We aim to instil and develop a real understanding of what compassion is in the 21st century.

“It is something far deeper than just sympathy or empathy. But determination to actually help those around them.”

Recent Hamilton and Alexandra graduate Marcus Munro is an example of how this service learning translates into meaningful action.

As a Year 12 student last year, Marcus applied for a summer firefighting role
with the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning. The 19-year-old spent three weeks on the fire-control line in East Gippsland as part of the job.

“Hamilton College has put great emphasis on community involvement,” said Marcus, who grew up on a farm at Branxholme and will start a biomedical science degree at Monash this year.

He said he applied for the DELWP job because he appreciated what volunteer firefighters and forestry-management workers did for his local community, and wanted to contribute.

“Obviously I didn’t know the fires were going to happen when I applied for the job,
but I thought it was just a great all-round job to do,” he said. “As the season went on, I realised that they needed more people to help. So if I could help, it would be mean somebody else could rest with their families.”

Many schools are increasing emphasis on service learning programs.

At Hamilton, volunteering in the local community, initiating fundraising activities for good causes and supporting people in need, including drought and fire-affected families, is part of the everyday curriculum.