Warrah School: A natural approach to educating autistic children

 

Connected to nature … Warrah School students in the playground.

Set on a 30-acre bushland site in Dural, Warrah School provides an idyllic environment for children with moderate to severe autism and other disabilities.

The school is part of the larger Warrah Community that includes a biodynamic and organic farm and a supported community for adults living with disabilities.

Founded 50 years ago, Warrah School offers educational and vocational programs in the Rudolf Steiner tradition of learning, which addresses three key elements of human development – thinking, feeling and activity, incorporating the connection to and healing power of nature.

Growth experience … Warrah student in the sensory garden.

“We have recently developed a new curriculum on the leading edge of special needs education,” Principal Jan Fowler says, “students thrive when they have a connection to the natural world and can see the transformation process revealed to them through working with natural materials, such as wood, wool and fibre and the earth.”

With almost 1000 trees on the property, fruit and vegetable gardens, and abundant wildlife, the school makes the most of its beautiful environment “to do something purposeful and meaningful,” she says.

“Instead of teaching literacy and numeracy through books — a passive approach — we engage them in a range of practical tasks.”

Students learn traditional crafts, such as spinning and weaving wool on a loom and turning wood on a lathe to create products of use for the Warrah and local community. They also participate in growing the farm’s fruit and vegetables, which they then harvest and learn to cook with. 

Skills-based learning … students helping in the Farm Shop.

In the community’s Farm Shop, students measure, weigh and pack produce for the co-op boxes; acquiring computational and organisational skills while performing a useful job that fills them “with great pride and independence,” Ms Fowler says. 

Manual activities help students “find connection and meaning,” she says: “You can see the A-ha! moment when they realise that they are creating something; it gives them joy and the sequential process provides the learning once realised in an end product.”

And a lot of incidental learning. “The skill that’s required to set up a loom, in terms of getting the quantity of wool, creating the design, colour and being supported to deliver quality workmanship, is an amazing process that encompasses artistry, mathematical calculations and even the biology and growth cycle of the sheep,” she says.

Creative learning … Weaving on a loom, requires knowledge of design, maths and biology.

“We work with technology too but there is so much research that supports the premise that developing the capacity to work with hands fosters the capacity for thinking.”

The rhythms and routines of old-fashioned farm life are a calming influence on autistic children, who often suffer from crippling anxiety, she says, and it equips them with knowledge and skills that can lead to a meaningful job after leaving school.

“We see the farm as a unique gift to Warrah but particularly for the students. They see the cycle of the year, experience the impact of weather, seasons and rainfall,” she says, and “experience food from farm to table.”

Another benefit is a healthier diet, she says, explaining that autistic children can be very fussy eaters but after a season working in the strawberry patch, they are often eager to taste the strawberries and vegetables they have cared for and find they love them.

Learning to cook in the school’s brand new wheelchair accessible kitchen has a similar impact on their eating habits and is an essential skill, Ms Fowler says.

Life skills … Warrah students learn to cook healthy meals.

Over the course of the program, students learn to prepare a range of simple, healthy meals from soup and casseroles to baking their own bread and, like all kids, “they love making birthday cakes,” she says. 

Teaching life skills is at the heart of the Warrah School mission, she says: “We strive to give them as much independence as possible and share experiences. Sharing a simple meal, going to the shop and buying food ingredients, paying and getting change, learning to clean up after cooking, learn to make a bed, do their laundry. We’re always preparing them to live in the community and realise their potential.”

The after-school program for senior students is an important component of transitioning older children to adulthood, Ms Fowler says.

She says students tend to be anxious about the prospect of leaving the school but through the program’s social activities and supported work experience they gain “a platform and the confidence to step out into the wider world.”

Students receive workplace readiness training via an onsite TAFE course and by attending Supported Employment Centres before being placed with local employers and volunteer groups.

“We had a young student who was passionate about books. We worked with Redfield College in Dural, who took him in for work experience in their library, and as a result he got employment with the council library,” Ms Fowler says.

Other former students help out at the local Bunnings nursery, another is a barista and one particularly “happy, outgoing” student cheers the residents at a nearby aged care home with his regular visits.

The best part of her job is seeing students flourish, Ms Fowler says.

“We focus not on ability but on capacity and we’re always striving to help them master skills. Today, we have a group of students doing horse riding at the local stables. It’s a very carefully thought-out process: they practice sitting in the stable, putting on a helmet, putting on boots and eventually they get to ride and they love it.

“We have a strong relationship with Vision Valley Camp at Arcadia and the students do canoeing, abseiling and rock climbing. 

“We’re so proud of what they’ve achieved. It’s about building physical strength but also overcoming challenges knowing you will be supported, which builds trust.

“Some of our greatest achievements are seeing them become independent, achieve outcomes they never thought possible and getting joy from connection. 

“A meaningful, purposeful life is our goal for each student – becoming the best they can be,” she concludes. 

Co-ed Or Single Sex: What Will Work Best For Your Child?

Australia has perhaps the widest range of schooling options in the English-speaking world, including a comparatively high proportion of single-sex schools in both the public and non-government sectors.

While co-education is the predominant mode of schooling in the US and Canada, and is rapidly becoming so in the UK as well, gender-specific education remains a popular choice for Australian families.

Greater than the sum of its parts … consider all the elements to find the right school for your child.

This is especially true in NSW, where there are more than 130 single-sex schools throughout the independent, public and Catholic school systems.

Sydney-based parents have many excellent schools of either type to choose from and deciding between the two can present a real dilemma for many.

With a wealth of research on the topic available, there is a strong case to be made for the merits of each. Excellent academic results can be seen in both types of schools and there are no distinct drawbacks to either schooling style.

However, they do differ in terms of environment and social factors.

Research shows that girls are more likely to excel in music, maths, and science subjects when they attend single-sex schools. It is presupposed that the absence of boys may help girls to develop greater self-confidence in their abilities as well as making them more willing to speak out and perform for an audience.

Meanwhile, boys are said to benefit from male-centric teaching methods, which are more readily delivered in boys-only schools.

Dr Tim Hawkes, former headmaster of The King’s School in Parramatta, is a vocal advocate of gender-specific teaching methods.

“We must allow boys to be boys, we must allow them run in the playground and learn according to their learning style and not try to force them to adopt learning behaviours that are antithetical to the way they discover and learn new information,” he says.

On the co-ed side of the ledger, Barker College head Phillip Heath makes the point that the contemporary workplace is a mixed-gender environment and that schools need to prepare students for adult reality. Last year he announced that Barker College would be transitioning to a fully co-ed school by 2022 because “life is co-ed.”

“Barker College aims to prepare young people for much more than an ATAR or even for life at university. The real purpose of a school is to support students to reach their full potential in the workplace and in their communities, and in building strong relationships and families,” Mr Heath told the Hornsby Advocate.

Proponents of single-sex schooling counter this view with the argument that schools aren’t employment training centres but are instead, as MamaMia contributor Zoe Rochford wrote in defence of girls’ schools, “a safe place where developing brains can learn about things, both conceptually and practically, from a distance. They’re a recognition that our adolescents aren’t ready for the “real world” yet – that they still have learning and growing to do… If that means that single-sex education suits some brains better, the way it did mine, then so be it.”

That said, international research demonstrates that teacher quality is the most decisive factor in academic outcomes. Breaking down the various influences on education attainment including individual capability, family background, teachers, principal, peers and school, the data shows that 50 per cent of achievement can be attributed to a student’s academic potential and 30 per cent to teacher ability, with the other elements making up the balance.

It’s probably fair to say that a school is greater than the sum of its parts. No single institutional component will make or break a student’s education but the overall mix will have a huge impact.

In a column for the Manly Daily, Greg Whitby, executive director of schools for the Parramatta Catholic diocese, counsels parents against focussing solely on the single sex vs co-ed issue, advising them to look at the bigger picture.

“To put it simply, there are good single-sex schools but also some pretty poor ones. The same applies to co-educational schools.

“The best learning environments for young people are the ones that respond to their social, emotional and learning needs, that allow for diverse opinions, encourage healthy and positive relationships­ and ultimately reflect the diversity of the communities in which they live,” he writes.

When it comes to deciding between a single sex or coed school, there is no clear winner. Like many complex questions, the honest answer is: it depends. There are distinct advantages to each type of school but, ultimately, the best option is the one that suits your child the best.

References:

Research versus the media: Mixed or single-gender settings? — Helen J Forgasz, Gilah C Leder and Calvin Taylor, Monash University, 2007
http://www.aare.edu.au/data/publications/2007/for07148.pdf

Teachers Make a Difference: What is the research evidence? — John Hattie, University of Auckland, Australian Council for Educational Research, October 2003
https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/proflearn/docs/pdf/qt_hattie.pdf

Barker College becomes Sydney’s first private boys’ school to welcome girls across all grades — Jake McCallum, Hornsby Advocate, November 4, 2016
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/hornsby-advocate/barker-college-in-hornsby-will-introduce-female-students-to-junior-year-groups-in-new-coeducational-scheme/news-story/32934b26dbcbd698426a48e89d884b40?nk=71c909cf3ea5cdff59e0c34f1859f415-1493967386

A prestigious school goes co-ed and suddenly everyone’s saying how evil single sex schools are. Rubbish. — Zoe Rochford, MamaMia, November 8, 2016
http://www.mamamia.com.au/benefits-of-single-sex-schools/

Dividing line not key to success – Greg Whitby, Manly Daily, February 18, 2017
http://www.pressreader.com/australia/manly-daily/20170218/283167198322183

Independent schooling helps bridge gender pay gap

IGS schools

For all the gains feminism has brought women, true equality, particularly in the workplace, remains elusive.

Women make up almost half of university graduates and enter the workforce in equal numbers to men yet they earn less and climb the corporate ladder much more slowly, if at all.

On the bright side, things are changing — albeit very slowly. The release of the Gender Equality Scorecard this week revealed that women earn 23 per cent less than men but that figure represents a gain of 1.6 percentage points in the three years since the first Scorecard was released. Continue reading “Independent schooling helps bridge gender pay gap”