Supporting and protecting students and staff has been the number one priority for Bairnsdale Secondary College principal, Noel Creece, following recent negative media activity.

The school was at the centre of a national television investigation recently, the program detailing teacher trauma and what they described as a toxic educational culture.

The program labelled the school “one of the worst in Australia”, despite an increase in enrolments by around 250 this year.

Mr Creece said the immediate aftermath of the program was met with unwavering support from the Department of Education as well as his own staff, ensuring students and staff who were affected had the assistance they required.

“We’ve taken internal, proactive responses with what we can control. In terms of priorities, the kids are my number one, and any kids that have concerns or any teacher that has a concern or a learning need, they will come first,” Mr Creece said.

“I’m continuing to manage the overall well-being of these students and I will continue to do that as my number one goal.

“The Department of Education are always mindful that we are celebrating the student learning, which we do, and making sure we’re kicking goals with the kids.

“The kids, that’s who I’ve got to take care of, I’ve got to protect them and do the best I can and make sure the staff can do their jobs.

“At any time that there is anything that might be a concern for a student or staff, we do use department resources. We have support people coming out to make sure we are okay, we had it on the day and proceeding days, we’ve got it here today (Thursday) to make sure the kids are taken care of.

“Staff have been offered support, the kids have been offered support and it’s material support. We’re talking about people coming out who are skilled in being able to help anyone who experiences grief or loss or trauma, which you would do in any circumstance.

“In terms of the collective psyche, its extraordinarily disappointing to have any label, because a label put onto a school naturally flows onto a child and that’s not how we want them to think and I venture to say some of them feel that way.

“The kids are sad about it. It’s disappointing, I’m devastated by that. It’s a great school, I mean that and every kid deserves every chance.”

Mr Creece said the support resources available to school have been utilised successfully and will continue to play a role in aiding students and staff.

“Our regional area director, Alison Clark, has been extremely supportive, and so has our SEIL (Senior Education Improvement Leader), Tony Roberts. They have been front and centre saying ‘what do you need?’, front and centre, ‘what does the school need? How do we improve?’,” Mr Creece said.

“One of the most senior members of the Department of Education was in contact with me the night of the story, saying ‘what do you need, tells us what you need?’.

“I couldn’t fault them.

“Alison Clark counselled our leadership team about how to respond, asked what support we need and what people we need, and put them on the ground. You can’t ask for more than that.

“With the resources we have, I’m not sure what more we could do.”

Mr Creece said students have been affected by the label, saying the school can be viewed as a reflection of the local community, and challenged the general public to show the students are respected.

“I think it’s disappointing, it’s sad, it can effect students and staff and we as a community should do everything we can to protect them from that.

“These kids are 13 to 18 years old, their capacity to respond to that (labelling), is partially in our hands.

“I get beautiful kids telling my their life story, which is sometimes complicated, like most of ours are, and they are just wanting to succeed, want to get to where they want to go.

“Is every kid happy all day? No, it’s a normal school. There’s always bumps and bruises.

“The disappointment and sadness is around that social media can say what it likes and the right of reply is not necessarily available. If you buy in, you’re almost adding oxygen to a fire you can’t control.

“I think the kids will be putting it back on the community. They will ask, not in a righteous way, ‘how will the community going to respond to support us so we are valued both as humans and as an institution?’.”

Put in a difficult position, Mr Creece said the school’s staff couldn’t be faulted in their response, saying their immediate move was to care for the students.

“Our instruction was around rising above to remain professional because if we become unprofessional, what effect is that going to have on the students?,” he said.

“Their response was protective of the students, first instinct was, ‘how are the kids going to be and what are we going to do to help them?’. They are not a selfish group, they are decent human beings.”

Mr Creece said he would “encourage anyone with a problem to go through the right channels and get advice and support”.

PICTURED: Supporting and protecting students and staff has been the number one priority for Bairnsdale Secondary College principal, Noel Creece, following recent negative media activity.