Berry Street Web Docs Berry Street School Practice Approach | Page 2

Foreword
The Berry Street School is a specialist independent school consisting of three campuses based in
Morwell, Noble Park, and Shepparton. Many students referred to Berry Street Education Services
have experienced trauma in their lives as result of neglect, abuse, violence or being witness to
violence, and disrupted attachment. Our students may have significant gaps in academic
achievement and find it difficult to learn in a group setting. They may have behavioural and social
problems at school. Students flourish when the school community is held to high expectations and
students receive support that best meets their individual goals.
The Berry Street School Practice Approach guides teaching, learning, welfare and care at the Berry
Street School. Together, the domains of the Practice Approach encompass a structured vision of the
dual purposes of learning and wellbeing for our school community, including the special focus on our
relational classroom milieu and our relationship based practice grounded in unconditional positive
regard for our students. This approach builds on the domains, concepts and strategies of the initial
Berry Street Model of Education (2010), written by Turnbull and Stokes of the University of
Melbourne Graduate School of Education, Youth Research Centre. As the Berry Street School has
grown, so has the knowledge and expertise of our practice.
Students struggling in school as a result of life histories of trauma from abuse or neglect may be best
understood within the frame of mental health. Each year mental illness in Australia affects one in
five (20 per cent) adults aged 16-85. For young people aged 16-24, rates of mental illness are a third
higher (26 per cent) than for the overall adult population (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2008;
Department of Health and Ageing, 2010). Depression is the leading cause of non-fatal disability in
Australia. The most common mental illnesses are depressive, anxiety and substance use disorders.
Of those diagnosed with mental illness, 65 per cent do not access any treatment (DHA, 2010).
Suicide is the leading cause of fatality for young people aged 15-24 (ABS, 2012).
Many vulnerable children have experienced trauma from abuse or neglect. Children are considered
vulnerable if they are or have been clients of Child Protection, if they are or have been involved in
the Youth Justice service system, or are under the age of 21 and are or have been in the custody or
guardianship of the Secretary to the Department of Human Services (Commissioner for Children and
Young People, 2013). In the state of Victoria, an estimated 5,500 children and adolescents live in
out-of-home care, subject to Child Protection interventions and a range of Children’s Court Orders
(State of Victoria, Department of Education and Early Childhood Development [DEECD], 2011, p. 3).
These children and young people are as diverse as Victoria’s local communities. They share the
common experience of being removed from their parents or homes due to significant exposure to
family destabilisation caused by trauma from abuse or neglect. This cohort represents the most
disadvantaged within the 10 per cent of Victorian young people who disengage from education, and
do not complete Year 12 senior secondary certificates (DEECD, 2011). Higher levels of education are
associated with stable economic participation, higher incomes, better health, and improved social
participation (ABS, 2011). Our task is to ensure that vulnerable children can achieve these outcomes
through an educational experience that supports them to complete Year 12, postsecondary
education qualifications, or pursue enduring vocational pathways.

Tom Brunzell, Senior Advisor, Teaching & Learning and Anne Smithies, Statewide Senior Manager,
Education & Training, Berry Street, May 2014