We are a small primary school located in the northern suburbs of Adelaide in Elizabeth Downs. We have 125 students and 40 of those access our disability unit. Across our school we have 70% of our students have an additional need and we have 15% of our students who are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

A supportive community feels like good and joyful to be part of a family and be part of a welcoming community. Feeling belonged and having people that support you. I feel loved by everyone because everyone would be my friend.

Taparra being such a small school and so focused on community. The DU and the mainstream um integrate so well together and I think that is very important for our students moving forward in life as well. They're so inclusive and understanding and it feels so warm here. From leadership to teachers to students, they all work together. Even with the DU, it's just amazing how everyone is literally included. A supportive school community means that we are truly the heart of our community. So, everyone feels like they are valued, they belong, and that's extended not only to our students, but to our staff and our families. And we all have a collective commitment to student wellbeing and student achievement.

Using all our school three school values. Be kind, be safe, and be a learner. It helps kids especially the younger ones work and play all together as one community. Um I feel like having this supportive community and like inclusive is like so everybody has their own voice. Um, one of the main areas that we focus on is voice. So whether that's student voice, parent voice, that community voice, but also teacher voice as well. So all of the decision making kind of go through those different channels so that everyone has their voice that can be heard and then from that um decisions can be made and I feel like it's a really positive way that people feel like what they're saying is really valued. Being able to have that voice and coming in and discussing anything that comes through my way and the school um listening and always making sure that everything's resolved or even in the positives. It's just continuously building on the smaller things and making it better and stronger.

One of the key contributing factors to a supportive school community is developing a strong trust with your governing council. They are the voices of our community and I want them to know that when they are bringing things to me that I value those things and see the importance in them and we have our governing council who are very supportive in anything that we need at the school um but especially with our events all the small bits that help to make our events run really smoothly but also they're really warm and welcoming as well there's so many community events that's huge multiple different events in a term our NAIDOC native barbecue event. It's probably one of our biggest events. The whole school community is invited and involved in and I think that makes such a massive difference. The parents and the staff and the students aren't separate there. We're just a big family community. It's what it feels like. What comes next? And it's always something that comes next and it always gets done. And that's just built it into a amazing school that now is the place you want to be.

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