Emily Jade on how Emmanuel College has handled the horrific news

"Trauma effects everybody differently and they understood this."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yesterday, the city was reeling with the news that a
little girl had been murdered at Emberle Lakes in her home.
And it was when the news came through the night
before that a little girl be murdered. I know, I
live in that area, and everyone started questioning, you know,
how could this happen? And then it was revealed yesterday
that it was a little girl from Emmanual College and

(00:22):
that's the school my kids go to, and I just
wanted to speak a little bit about how well the
school coped with the situation yesterday. Emmanual's a really beautiful
school for those that don't know it, and many parents
choose it not because of its facilities, which are amazing,
or its achievements, which are amazing, but because of the loving, caring,
Christian nature of the school and the morals that they

(00:43):
instill in our kids. And as a parent who's been
there for nine years now, and I've had some difficulties,
as you guys know, along the way personally, and I
can say that the school has always risen to the
occasion to support me and our family. And it wasn't
just the leaders of the school or the teachers at
the time. It was actually often the parents and the
community that helped us through, and I'm not the only

(01:03):
one that's been embraced by the school in really hard times.
It's a wonderful community and the level of care and
understanding and support is always impressive to me, and I'm
thankful that our family is at that school. So yesterday,
the school's approach was just second to none with the
most terrific situation.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
So staff were.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
Called in around five point thirty in the morning to
be briefed. By seven, we had an email. All the
school had an email about the situation, and by drop
off time, all staff and support staff were at every
single entry point to the school ready to assist anybody
that needed any help. They got counselors from other schools

(01:43):
as well who mobilized to be at the school. So
that was amazing as well for our Gold Coast community.
The high school kids, they were meant to have a
character costume day yesterday for book week celebrations and news travels.
Fast after that email went through on all their various
chat groups, who were all dressing in themes or dressing

(02:04):
up as teams. It went around pretty quickly that that
wasn't the right day to do it. So the kids
just went in free dress and in somber dress, and
that was without guidance, that was on their own accord.
By school pickup time, we had another email come through
and it detailed the movements of the day how the
school that approached it with all the kids of the

(02:24):
different age levels. They had a different approach, age appropriate
approach for all the kids in all the classes, and
they also had a huge lift of services in this
email that we could access if needed without judgment of
how close or far we were to the victim or
the family, because trauma affects everybody differently, and they know
they understand this. So I'm so impressed by the school.

(02:45):
It's moments like this that you realize the character of
a school and you cannot fault a manual college. Many
of the families and the kids, they're laying flowers and
they're writing cards. Some my little man came home and
wanted to write a card. And they're reaching out to
other parents other kids to make sure that they're all okay.
Lots of the chat groups, everyone's reaching out and saying
if you need help. Sophie's being remembered as a kind,

(03:08):
caring and positive little girl who was dedicated, intelligent and creative.
She was recently inducted into the Emmanual College Millionaires Group,
and at only ten, she'd already read a million words.
She was an impressive and clever little lady, and everyone
was close to her loved her. The overwhelming thought now
for many of us is how could this have happened?
How could one of our kids in this situation, slip

(03:30):
through the cracks? What could we have done to notice
this or stop this, or help a family going through
something difficult? And so as such, I just want to
say this to the Gold Coast. We have an amazing
community here. There are many hearts ready to help in
hard times and in situations that you could ever imagine.
We're all here for you whatever you're going through. If
you need anything, if you struggle with anything, let someone

(03:51):
know you'll be supported, You'll be wrapped in love and care.
And if at first the initial person you tell doesn't
give you the support you need, don't write it off,
or them off, or the school or the sea situation,
all the service. Just try again with somebody else. We
all don't know what each other is going through, but
the whole city is really filled with loving and caring
people who will help you if you can just take

(04:11):
that first hard step to reach out. There is no
shame in it. And I hope people don't mind me
saying this, but I just feel for the school today
and I feel how we're all wondering what we could
have done because I know I am, and please just
reach out if you need help.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, well said DJ. I think we as a radio
station have an opportunity now to share, let the community
share on how they're feeling. It's one of those situations
where everyone is being affected by this right across the country,
let alone our community here on the Gold Coast. So
if you feel like you need to just talk about

(04:49):
your last twenty four hours on hearing the news and
how it's affected you, please give us a call here
at Hot Tomato if you feel like you want to
just talk and we're happy to you, call

Speaker 1 (05:00):
Double five seven one one oh two nine