Mandurah Primary School bag & uniform packs, and encouragement for other primary schools to state their support of the issue make their own pledges to support kids experiencing FDV. In the picture (from left to right): Natasha Upcott (Principal MPS), Christina Brady (MPS School Chaplain), Kristy Fissioli (Special Needs EA), and Emma Blythe (local artist and champion of MPS) with the packs.
There is another story.
Speaking to Mandurah Primary School’s principal, Natasha Upcott, about their work as a PSNTV Alliance member is both inspiring and uplifting. Mandurah’s oldest primary school is also one of the Peel Says No to Violence project’s early adopters, signing their pledge in 2017. This continues the work that Natasha and her staff undertake every day to ensure that kids experiencing domestic and family violence can still come to school and can still fit in enough to allow them to learn.
When families are experiencing domestic and family violence, there are usually compounding issues such as financial hardship, mental health factors, drug and alcohol abuse and relocation of the home, displacement or temporary accommodation. The combination of these factors can mean that kids don’t make it to school and that if they do, school can be an additional source of anxiety in an already stressful situation if they feel they don’t fit in.
Mandurah Primary School is making a difference in two ways. Firstly, they’ve pledged to support kids who have either had to change school as a result of FDV, or who enrol at the school where FDV trauma has been identified, with school packs containing uniforms, a school bag, lunchbox, stationery and other equipment to help them feel part of the school community immediately. This relieves pressure on the parents and aims to remove one of the barriers to keeping kids who are experiencing this trauma, in school.
“If we don’t offer the chance for kids to come to school and to fit in, they’re just going to struggle”, said Ms Upcott, the Principal of the school. By providing this kind of support for families, the benefits go directly to the kids. Supplying them with basic equipment and uniform means they looks like everyone else and can feel like they fit in when levels of trauma and anxiety are often already high.
Two families have received these school packs so far this year and Ms Upcott credits her staff with being highly aware and sensitive to the issues enabling the school to offer this assistance without the parents having to ask. It is through communication with the parent, child and supporting services that staff are able to see and support the whole child. One parent who was the recipient of the packs commented that no school had ever sat and spoken with the family like that before.
The other part of the Mandurah Primary School’s pledge is to encourage other primary schools in the region to pledge their support for the beliefs, understanding and commitment to stand together as a collegiate group in support of the project.
Ms Upcott is urging other schools in the region to sign and display a poster that shows each school’s belief that:
- Everyone has a role to play in ending family violence.
- Gender equality is an important part of ending family violence.
- It is important to support people when they choose to leave, stay and return to violence.
- Family violence, in all its forms, is wrong.
And that they understand that family violence:
- Affects a wide range of people in our community from different social, economic and cultural backgrounds as well as from different family types and relationships.
- Is expressed in a variety of forms including physical, emotional, financial, sexual and cultural abuse.
- Has a significant impact on children.
- Is characterised by controlling behaviours that produce fear and compliance in those affected.
- Can be ended/reduced by our collective efforts.
Ms Upcott hopes that in making this collegiate pledge schools in the region will also become Alliance members and extend their pledges to include activities that will directly benefit children and families. She highlights the fact that many schools are already doing things in their own way to assist individuals dealing with family and domestic violence within their school community, and that much can be learnt through sharing sessions and a collective approach.
Mandurah Primary School is committed to finding ways to improve understanding and attitudes towards family and domestic violence, leading the way for other schools to step up and join the movement and, most of all, having a positive impact on the lives of children affected by this issue. Their efforts embody the vision of the project and we look forward to watching the ripple effect as they continue to make telling a different story about family and domestic violence in the Peel a priority.
The Peel Says No To Violence (PSNTV) project aims to better understand the prevalence of family violence in the region, identify how our community can better support those who experience it, raise awareness of services and support available, and create a movement of people in the wider community to actively support the Peel Says No To Violence message. The Alliance aims facilitate that message, understanding, movement and prevention of FDV through the pledges of its Alliance members.