Evatt Primary School principal Michael Hatswell named principal of the year

The Belconnen school has a large proportion of students who are from vulnerable families or have complex additional needs.

"Outside of the gates of the school, life is complex. Parents have a whole range and a huge amount of challenges," Mr Hatswell said.

"I have a strong value set and beliefs around inclusion and about every kid, no matter where they've come from or what home looks like... every kid deserves a chance."

When Mr Hatswell was named school leader of the year in the ACT public education awards, he put it down to the teamwork from high-quality teachers and support staff.

"I take my hat off to the team. They've gone over 110 per cent, and whether it's COVID, or ... all the restrictions that were placed on us, they bleed for the kids."

The school has taken a novel approach in addressing the needs of its 340 students.

Instead of referring families to different services to get help, they bring various organisations into the school campus to help solve problems alongside families.

The model is dubbed the Evatt Collective, and brings together services such as ACT Health, The Smith Family, Capital Region Community Services and Libraries ACT.

"We find a lot of the services, they'd sort of work in pockets of isolation, but often they're working to support the same family, often for the same thing, but it's the family having to tell their story 20 times and it seems to be going around in circles," Mr Hatswell said.

"If we all have them in the one space, you've got the family, you've got the one story and they can all collaborate and work together."

Another point of difference is the school's cafe, named The Nest, which welcomes parents in from 8:30am each day to enjoy a tea or barista coffee and read with their children.

"We learned quickly as well that some parents and families for whatever reason, if we were to do that sort of thing in a classroom or in the principal's office or in a library, they're less likely to come in, but if you've got a warm, inviting space with the coffee, you've got great books in there it's very bright and open, they seem far more likely to come in and embrace that," he said.

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Some vulnerable young students use the space to read with their year six buddies, while some parents just take the opportunity to have a conversation with their child.

"It's about providing connection, relationships, an opportunity to have quality time with your own child or another child... It's more than just enhancing the kids' ability to read," he said.

Many Evatt families were hit hard by the COVID-19 restrictions as they were unable to come inside the school gate. As they embark on a new school plan in 2023, Mr Hatswell is keen to continue getting back to business as usual, especially for the younger students.

"The ups and downs over the last few years, that's all they would have known until now. So building some momentum into continuous schooling every day is something to really look forward to," he said.

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