Carmel W has been involved with Emerson School as a parent and carer for the past 33 years, and as a School Councillor for 31 of those years. She says finding Emerson for her two sons, and now her kinship care child, Jemma, was “the greatest thing for our family since sliced bread.”
“I couldn’t think of anywhere else to get the education and opportunities our children needed than at Emerson,” she says.
Carmel’s son Steven spent all his school years at Emerson. When he first started, the school bus would pick him up directly outside their house. “I wasn’t sure what to expect from Steven’s education, but it was like a weight lifted off my shoulders, knowing I’d made the right decision for him,” she says.
Her younger son Darren was in a mainstream school until Grade 5, when he transferred to Emerson. “At that stage, Darren couldn’t read or write,” Carmel says. “He settled in well once at Emerson and now reads and has beautiful handwriting. He works at Waverley Social Enterprises and is doing well, recently completing team leader training.”
Steven and Darren both have Opitz Syndrome, a rare condition that Carmel says often has a life expectancy of just 10-15 years. Steven is now the oldest in the world with the condition, at nearly 40 years of age, with Darren not far behind at 34 years old.
When Carmel became the permanent kinship carer a few years ago for Jemma, it was an easy decision to send her to Emerson after seeing how much she had struggled in her mainstream primary school.
“Jemma was coming home defeated every single day,” Carmel says. “But that changed once she started in Middle School at Emerson. She totally and utterly flourished and has a continuing sense of excitement and exhilaration about attending school each day and then coming home to share her stories with us.”
Carmel says the bounding leaps ahead for Jemma has been nothing short of astonishing. Her child is now in Senior School and Carmel is incredibly proud of her achievements, particularly in sport.
“I attended a Council Christmas dinner for Jemma’s previous mainstream school and showed off Jemma’s many medals and ribbons to her former teacher, who was shocked,” Carmel says.
“That’s because Jemma has opportunities at Emerson that simply weren’t offered at her previous school. At Emerson, the kids can have a go at everything, whether it be sport, mechanics, cooking, woodwork or other activities such as work placement opportunities. Jemma is looking forward to that as she wants her turn in the workforce.”
Carmel enjoys being part of the Emerson School Council, because it gives her an inside look behind the scenes and helps her to understand the school better. She particularly enjoys hearing about the school camps.
“The opportunities for the kids to be away from home in a safe, educational environment, and learn about things that ‘regular’ kids take for granted, is priceless.”
Carmel says the Emerson program is probably three-quarters what “regular” kids instinctively know, with everything at the school thought out for the benefit of the students. She quotes the example of trying unsuccessfully to teach Jemma how to tell the time, until Jemma’s teacher stepped in last year and taught her in a way that stuck.
“That teacher did a flipping great job!” Carmel says. “I wish I’d had that teacher when I was younger!”
[interviewed June 2026]
Photo credits: feature image shows Carmel and Jemma, photo supplied by Carmel W / supplementary image shows Carmel with sons Steven and Darren, photo supplied by Carmel W
