A five-year-old with communication difficulties transitioning to school. A student who needs a hoist to get from his wheelchair to the mat. A non-verbal child starting his first term in a mainstream class. These are memories of inclusion that four heroes on our team still think about from their time working in schools.
When the child gets lost in the paperwork
Carolyn, now Hero's product delivery lead, remembers a five-year-old she supported through his transition from preschool to school. He often communicated through screams or physical behaviour, but underneath that stress was a funny, affectionate little boy working hard to make sense of a big new world. With consistency between home and school, he settled in beautifully.
What stayed with Carolyn wasn't just the success. It was how easily he could get lost in the process behind it. Funding applications meant documenting his difficulties in painstaking detail.
"What I most wanted people to see was his progress."
The systems that helped most were the ones that built a genuine, shared history of the whole child, not just a record of concerns. When he later moved to a new class, that history travelled with him and helped his new teachers understand his communication, recognise his triggers and celebrate his progress.
When once a term isn't often enough
Bree taught for years before joining Hero as customer support manager. One student she supported needed extra help with her mobility, communication and learning. Once a term, everyone involved in her plan would meet: teachers, teacher aides, a physiotherapist, an occupational therapist, a speech therapist, her family.
"I was always amazed by the number of professionals involved in supporting this one child, as it should be. Collaboration like that is incredibly valuable, though the realities of a busy classroom don't always make room for it as often as we'd like."
A term is a long time to wait between conversations about a child who's progressing every week.
When a family needs reassurance, not just updates
Cara, a former deputy principal and now a senior education consultant at Hero, remembers welcoming a non-verbal student with physical disabilities into the school. His parents were anxious, wondering whether his classmates would truly accept him.
Cara set up regular photo and video updates from his class team, showing him fully engaged in the school day. It quickly turned into a genuine two-way partnership, with his parents sending videos back so the school could learn about his world at home too.
The updates captured the small things – classmates sitting with him at circle time, his Teacher Aide helping move him from his hoist to his wheelchair, and the pure joy on his face whenever someone reached out.
"Seeing him thrive, and giving his family that reassurance, is something I still think about."
When information doesn't travel with the child
Ginnie is also a senior education consultant at Hero now, but before that she was a principal and a parent of a child with special needs.
"I understand firsthand what it's like to navigate the school environment when communication doesn't quite join up. Vital details about a student can live scattered across different systems with different people, rather than centralised in one place."
For parents, that gap becomes a cycle: repeating the same story, reminding, informing, advocating for their child year after year.
"It's an experience that still shapes how I think about what schools and families need from each other."
Why these moments still matter
Four Heroes, four schools, one thread through it all – people who cared, working inside systems that didn't always do the best for the student. A once-a-term meeting. A record split across five different applications. A family waiting to hear how their child's day had gone.
Hero closes that gap, with one record building around each learner, shared between teachers, specialists and family, so a photo from the classroom can reach a family the same day it happened, and a new teacher can understand a child's history in minutes, not months.
Better systems give educators time back for what matters most: the children.
Curious how Hero brings this together for your school? Book a demo or meet the team behind these stories.
