When COVID-19 hit the Brighton-Le-Sands Public School community, teachers and Wellbeing officers phoned parents to check in on how they were coping during the crisis.
It soon became apparent juts how many families had been impacted by the lockdown, which had resulted in pay cuts, temporary stand-down directives and, in many cases, job losses.
However, the school’s principal Steven Mead, says that in this time of crisis, the community has come together to bring care and support to one another.
“At Brighton-Le-Sands Public School, for a while now, we have had a partnership with the organisation Oz Harvest, to provide food hampers each week to support some of our families,” Mead told The Educator.
The school has also had an existing partnership with San Souci Baptist Church, through the running of the Kids Hope Australia mentoring program.
“Through our exiting connection with Dan Walz, the minister at San Souci Baptist Church, we contacted him and he sprung into action, providing imperishable food hampers that were organised by the congregational members,” he said.
Feedback from the families the school supported has been glowing, to say the least.
“I just want to say a huge thanks for another hamper packed with love from you and the Baptist Church,” one parent wrote to the school.
A thankful student wrote to the school saying they would provide half of the hamper to their father who “wasn’t looking after himself”.
Another grateful recipient noted that the hamper had been especially helpful as it contained many items that are in short supply in the supermarkets, such as toilet paper, rice, pasta and cereal.
“It has been really important at this time to not only bring academic learning support, but to be able to continue to invest in the ‘community by providing social, emotional and well-being support,” Mead said.
“Our established connections with these organisations allowed us to provide timely support. In this time of isolation as a community, it is good for us to able to help people still feel like they ‘belong’ to a ‘community’ that care for their personal lives”.
This article is part of an ongoing series of good news stories focused on how principals, teachers and students are showing compassion, courage and humanity during this challenging and uncertain time.