Omatas School

06/08/2026

Children are learning all of the time, not just when we tell them to. When we are mindful of this, we can co-create with the child the whole being.

When they make a mistake like breaking a toy, or shouting at a friend, or getting a sum wrong, we have an opportunity to model how to repair.

If we fix it for them, we teach them that they don't have to take responsibility for their actions because we will do it for them.

If we shout at them, they learn that mistakes are shameful and they can become very anxious about making other mistakes or they avoid hard things, maybe even start lying.

If we fix it without them, they learn that what they do doesn't matter and doesn't have consequences.

If we fix it together, we team them to be kind to others and to themselves. And we teach them that mistakes are normal but we do need to say sorry and make it right.

This is the foundation of responsibility, impulse control, focused attention and learning.

It doesn't matter if it was on purpose or not. The repair work belongs to the person who did the damage. But we have to model how to repair.

09/07/2026

I want to separate truth from the story that power is telling.

Because I've learnt something important.

The loudest voice in the room is not necessarily the wisest voice. It is not necessarily the most truthful voice.

Often, it is simply the loudest.

The tragedy is that people with integrity frequently mistake volume for authority.

They begin to question themselves.

They shrink.

They hand their confidence to someone who simply speaks more loudly.

And as they become quieter, the loud voice becomes even louder.

That should never be the way we measure truth.

Truth is not determined by confidence.

Integrity is not determined by popularity.

Reality is not determined by who speaks first or who speaks the loudest.

It is determined by what is actually there.

21/05/2026

Learning is more important than passing.

Passing is just one way of measuring successful learning and 30% is not successful learning.

The problem is that the system doesn't have enough tools to be able to help tne child who is just passing. It's up to you, or a place like .

20/05/2026

Last week I was fixing the bench outside when one of our beautiful little girls came to help me.

She struggles to go into class sometimes, mostly she's just not ready and the distractions around her keep her away.

She is looking for connection, involvement and to be seen. When she gets that, her nervous system slows down a bit and she is more able to learn.

I know this. So I encourage her to help me. She's hammering in the staples I have put into the frabric through to the wood. She wants to use the staple gun but I don't think she's ready for that yet. She doesn't have enough ability to listen yet, so safety for her is a priority for us. But I give her the big heavy hammer. She hits my thumbs a few times. It's not too sore. She says sorry each time, and tries a bit harder to get control with her tiny hands.

An au pair of another child walks passed on her way out and gets involved because she can't help herself. Adults often struggle with impulse control and want to get children into class and behind the desk where they belong.

She asks the child to go to class and almost reaches down to hold her shoulders and steer her in the direction she feels is right. I can almost hear her voice later telling her friends how children aren't in class, "Tut, tut, unacceptable."

I gently talk to the au pair through the child.

"You're enjoying being with me and helping to fix rhe bench. When you're done with the hammer and feel ready to learn, I can help you to join your friends in class. Are you happy with that?"

The child nods, all too content to still be hammering staples, and my thumb by accident. She looks up each time to feel my reaction.

"Ow, that was sore."

"Sorry," she says. Her big brown doe eyes a little worried. I can't see her sympathy, remorse and fear.

I am careful to smile and say, "Don't worry. I can move my thumb out of the way. You are doing a great job of learning. Thank you for saying sorry." Repair work is so important to model for children.

She smiles and keeps going. The au pair is visibly worried that the child is not going to class.This time I talk to the au pair. "She'll be ready in a moment. Right now she is finding her way."

20/05/2026

Last week I was fixing the bench outside when one of our beautiful little girls came to help me.

She struggles to go into class sometimes, mostly she's just not ready and the distractions around her keep her away.

She is looking for connection, involvement and to be seen. When she gets that, her nervous system slows down a bit and she is more able to learn.

I know this. So I encourage her to help me. She's hammering in the staples I have put into the frabric through to the wood. She wants to use the staple gun but I don't think she's ready for that yet. She doesn't have enough ability to listen yet, so safety for her is a priority for us. But I give her the big heavy hammer. She hits my thumbs a few times. It's not too sore. She says sorry each time, and tries a bit harder to get control with her tiny hands.

An au pair of another child walks passed on her way out and gets involved because she can't help herself. Adults often struggle with impulse control and want to get children into class and behind the desk where they belong.

She asks the child to go to class and almost reaches down to hold her shoulders and steer her in the direction she feels is right. I can almost hear her voice later telling her friends how children aren't in class, "Tut, tut, unacceptable."

I gently talk to the au pair through the child.

"You're enjoying being with me and helping to fix rhe bench. When you're done with the hammer and feel ready to learn, I can help you to join your friends in class. Are you happy with that?"

The child nods, all too content to still be hammering staples, and my thumb by accident. She looks up each time to feel my reaction.

"Ow, that was sore."

"Sorry," she says. Her big brown doe eyes a little worried. I can't see her sympathy, remorse and fear.

I am careful to smile and say, "Don't worry. I can move my thumb out of the way. You are doing a great job of learning. Thank you for saying sorry." Repair work is so important to model for children.

She smiles and keeps going. The au pair is visibly worried that the child is not going to class.

This time I talk to the au pair. "She'll be ready in a moment. Right now she is finding her way. She needs some connection before she can learn."

This child has a PDA diagnosis. Our approach is gentle kindness.

Before the au pair disappears around the corner, I take up the little girls hand. "You did a wonderful job of helping me. Look at how great the bench looks. We did that."

I smile softly, "Are you ready for class now?"

She walks with me, her pace has a lightness to it.

One of the biggest mistakes we make around struggling children is believing that physical presence automatically equals learning.

It doesn’t.

A child can sit in a classroom every single day while their nervous system is overwhelmed, shut down, masking, panicking or simply trying to survive the environment around them.

And the longer that distress is ignored, the bigger the cost often becomes.

This isn’t about “giving up” on education.

It’s about understanding that regulation, safety and connection are not rewards that come after learning.

They are the foundation that learning is built on.

So many families are being blamed for difficulties that started long before attendance dropped.

If this resonates with you, follow our page for more content around nervous system overwhelm and supporting misunderstood children.

And if you’ve ever looked at your child and thought,
“They physically got there… but they weren’t really coping” — drop a ❤️ below.

Also, we have a library of free resources, including ones on emotionally based school avoidance, just put the word NEWS below in the comments and we can send you a link.

10/05/2026

You have so much power. You can build a human, first inside your body and then inside your heart. You have strength sometimes beyond your memory and knowing. Tap into it, it will grow you in the process, too.

Happy mother's day to the moms raising all sorts of children. Never give up, show them how great they can be. Because you are powerful beyond words.

22/04/2026

This is our experience of both and .

The behaviour is a survival tool of an underlying emotion or difficulty.

We look at these behaviours as communication from the child, trying to tell us that they are not okay. This should be met with kindness and a real urgency to figure out the cause and work on that.

We must work on trauma, pain, inflammation, frustration, allergies, gut health, depression, anxiety, attachment etc.

If we can tolerate the behaviour, and if the social environment that the child is in can tolerate the behaviour, then that behaviour can remain as the measure of whether or not we have found the cause and are addressing that cause in a productive and effective way.

When the behaviour goes away, we will know that we have been addressing the right area.

Behaviours are symptoms and therefore, they are measures of health, both physical and mental.

21/04/2026

Inclusion and participation are the goal for children with alternative needs, however, not at the full cost of other children. Teaching children to participate in healthy and productive ways is very important otherwise they cause harm and then get excluded.

It's a hard road, a worthwhile road, but a very hard path to the end goal.

27/03/2026

When the grade is low we always ask children to put in more effort. But, more often than not, children are actually putting in high levels of effort they are just not getting the outcome normally associated with high effort.

I think there is a third metric. What obstacles are in the way? For example, dyslexia.

We are asking children to put in effort to overcome the obstacle and then the effort for the grade. That is a lot to keep asking.

This way of thinking helps us to position our support towards firstly, the underlying structures that aren't yet in place that are having to be dealt with through effort instead of ease.

These include physical dexterity that supports output skills. It also includes emotional development and social coping skills that often block success when effort is applied.

The second layer is supporting the effort required by making sure we align the child's way of learning with what outcomesl we want. To stop asking children to succeed in ways that don't support success. Finding their way of thinking and being and helping them hone those skills to achieve good outcomes.

14/02/2026

Founded in 2013 out of a parent's need for an educational approach that took the child into consideration FIRST, Omatas continues to serve the child before the system, before the rules, before the curriculum.

If we don't do this, we risk underserving the child. Not because we didn't have the capacity ot capabilities, but because a systemic rule or norm stopped us from doing so.

Education is not schooling. They are two different things.