Crisis 
OUR GOAL
To provide children affected by crises with rapid support to meet their immediate needs, and long-term support that builds resilience and reduces the impact of crises on their learning and wellbeing.
By 2027, we aim to impact 150,000 children per year.
Children get access to tangible resources that meet their immediate needs to continue their usual school routine, e.g. classroom equipment, new uniforms.
Children’s mental health and wellbeing is supported and shown through their resilience, behaviour and engagement during and post event crisis events.
Children’s learning outcomes continue to improve.
THE NEED
As a result of the pandemic and other major crises like flood and fires, every child in Australia has experienced unprecedented disruption to their schooling over the past few years.
For children and young people facing disadvantage:
the impact of recent crises has been felt severely, as existing challenges like housing and good insecurity, domestic violence and financial burden have been exacerbated and have compounded issues like social isolation and limited access to resources and technolgy.
Our work to support children impacted by crisis
13,958
children
1,785
teachers
93
school communities
Our unique
model drives
our impact
Schools Plus’ model combines three interdependent components that work together to drive change.
Place-based approach
We take a place-based and community led approach to target the unique needs of children within a specific community. We engage a broad range of stakeholders including teachers, health practitioners and families to be active participants in the development and implementation of interventions, because we know it is the community that knows its children best.
Investment to effect change
We support school communities with critical resources that help them to effect change. This includes funding to help access physical and professional resources as well as coaching to enable the project’s successful implementation and evaluation.
Influencing systems change
Some of our larger-scale projects are now playing a key role in influencing systems change at a sector level with some projects incubated by Schools Plus expanding and scaling into mainstream educational programs.
How we give children more opportunities
We partner with schools to provide rapid response to children in need of immediate support during a crisis as well as providing longer-term wellbeing support for children impacted by trauma and other slower-onset crises.
Some examples of our work include:
- Funding equipment such as laptops, books and learning packs
- Equipping teachers with skills to apply trauma informed and restorative practices
- Access to expert allied health support to help children and the broader community build resilience
DONATE NOW to our crisis response
Where we work
Schools Plus works with school communities across all states and territories in Australia. Our work supports children from schools with an ICSEA score (Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage) of less than 1000. We also partner with special needs schools.
STORIES OF IMPACT
Supporting Crisis Affected Schools in 2020
In 2020, schools faced challenges on a scale never seen before. Bushfires, floods, drought and COVID-19 combined to create unprecedented levels of trauma, anxiety and relentless, rapid change for students, teachers, families and school communities. Schools Plus responded by launching our first Crisis Appeal and we were overwhelmed by the generosity of our donors.
Learn more >
Read our latest Impact Report
We are proud to release our 2020 Impact Report, detailing our impact on schools faced with disadvantage since 2015. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, as of June 2020, Schools Plus has been able to direct over $17 million to vulnerable children across Australia.
Learn more >
Supporting Student Mental Health and Wellbeing
It is estimated that poor mental health accounts for 10% – 25% of the education gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children. After a year like no other, we know students are struggling to maintain good mental health and wellbeing. That’s why, in this period, we’re turning our focus to student mental health and wellbeing.
Learn more >
