At Balaklava High School, we understand that when students feel connected, confident and respected, all within an inclusive environment, students are able to engage and be successful with their learning.  

Mrs Daniel and Mrs Pudney collaborated and planned a unit together which saw the combination of their literacy classes. Before the students joined classes, there were many questions from the Year 9 students who had not had the previous opportunity to work closely with other students with complex needs. Mrs Daniel shared her knowledge and upskilled the Year 9 students on how they could work together, learn from one another and build new friendships.  

Our first lesson began with nervous smiles but soon saw the students making connections with one another and realising how much they all had in common. The lesson ended with lots of laughs, high fives and friendships formed. At this moment, Mrs Daniel’s and my hearts were filled with admiration for our students and the values reflected by every single one of them. We were excited to see how this unit would then unfold. 

For the next 6 weeks, the class continued to meet regularly to work on the ‘Pieces of Us’ unit. Students were explicitly taught about character strengths and the positive parts of your personality that make you unique. In teams of three or four students they shared their own character strengths and discussed what they saw in their peers and what they valued in people they admired. As a group they took photos which reflected each of their top three character strengths. It was fantastic to see how creative our students were. 

Mrs Tilbrook kindly provided us with some black art frames to display the students’ favourite photos and she suggested that their ‘Pieces of Us’ creations be put on display at the BHS Art Exhibition. The students were very keen on this idea and we hope many parents and community members can visit the Gallery to see this display between the 4th November until the 21st November at The Balaklava Courthouse Gallery.