Success Story: Palmview State Special School QLD
My name is Kate Cloete, and I am the Deputy Principal at Palmview State Special School on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. We are a Prep to Year 12 special school with an Early Childhood Development Program (ECDP) and are co-located with Palmview State Primary School and Palmview State Secondary College.
We support students with intellectual disabilities, many of whom require additional support with communication, physical and health needs, emotional regulation, and the impacts of trauma. Our students have a diverse range of strengths, abilities, and support requirements, making individualised and relationship-based approaches central to our practice.
The challenge:
Palmview State Special School opened in 2021, and Team Teach has been part of our school’s approach from the very beginning. As a result, we have never experienced operating without the Team Teach framework.
Each year presents its own challenges. We welcome new staff members who may be unfamiliar with Team Teach and the shared language, values, and practices that underpin our approach. At the same time, students are transitioning into new classrooms, building relationships with new teachers and teacher aides, adjusting to different peer groups, and becoming familiar with new routines and expectations. Equally, staff are getting to know the strengths, needs, communication styles, and support requirements of new students.
This is why Team Teach training on our student-free days at the beginning of each year is vital. It provides a consistent foundation for all staff and ensures that everyone starts the year with a shared understanding of behaviour support, relationship building, de-escalation, and trauma-informed practice.
We see the impact of this every year. As relationships are established, trust develops, and classroom structures become embedded, leading to a significant reduction in behaviour incidents.
The impact of strong relationships, consistent routines, and proactive support can be seen in our school-wide behaviour data. Between Term 1 and Term 2 of 2026, Palmview State Special School recorded a 43.6% reduction in behaviour incidents overall, decreasing from 227 incidents to 128 incidents. This includes a 42.6% reduction in major incidents (129 down to 74) and a 44.9% reduction in minor incidents (98 down to 54).
While a range of factors contribute to this improvement, we believe the consistent implementation of Team Teach principles plays a significant role. As staff build relationships with students, establish clear expectations, and create predictable learning environments, students feel safer, more understood, and better supported. The data reinforces what Team Teach promotes: when relationships, communication, and proactive support are prioritised, positive outcomes follow.
Rather than being a once-a-year training program, Team Teach provides the foundation for how we support students and staff every day.
Why did you choose Team Teach?
We chose Team Teach because its values align with what we believe good practice should look like.
The Team Teach framework places relationships, communication, understanding and de-escalation at the centre of behaviour support. It recognises that behaviour is a form of communication and encourages staff to look beyond the behaviour itself to understand the needs of the individual.
Importantly, it also acknowledges that there are occasions where physical intervention may be required to keep people safe, but these situations should be reduced wherever possible and approached with dignity, respect, and the least intrusive response available.
For us, Team Teach is not just a training package. It provides a framework that supports a positive behaviour culture across our whole organisation.
While a range of factors contribute to this improvement, we believe the consistent implementation of Team Teach principles plays a significant role. As staff build relationships with students, establish clear expectations, and create predictable learning environments, students feel safer, more understood, and better supported. The data reinforces what Team Teach promotes: when relationships, communication, and proactive support are prioritised, positive outcomes follow.
Rather than being a once-a-year training program, Team Teach provides the foundation for how we support students and staff every day.
What do you like about the approach of the training?
What I value most about Team Teach is that it focuses on the everyday interactions that make the biggest difference.
The training is practical, relevant, and easy for staff to connect with because it reflects real-life situations they experience in their own settings. It helps them understand the importance of communication, relationships, environmental factors, trauma-informed practice, and reflective thinking.
The emphasis is always on prevention and de-escalation, and staff leave with strategies they can use immediately to support students before situations escalate.
I also appreciate that when physical techniques are taught, they are presented within a strong ethical framework. Student dignity, student safety, and staff safety always remain at the forefront. The message is never about restraint; it is about reducing the need for restraint through understanding, proactive planning, and skilled support.
What would you say is the biggest impact Team Teach training has had on your setting?
The biggest impact has been the development of a shared understanding and language across our school.
Staff are more confident in understanding behaviour as communication and are more likely to respond in a calm, supportive, and consistent manner.
Conversations have shifted from “What did the student do?” to “What might the student be communicating?” and “What can we do differently to support them?”
Team Teach training has also strengthened our focus on proactive strategies, planning, debriefing and reflective practice. This has helped create a more supportive environment for both students and staff.
As a trainer, one of the most rewarding pieces of feedback I receive is from staff who tell me that the training makes sense in their context. They can see how it applies to the students they support every day and leave feeling more capable and confident in their role.
What would you say to other settings like yours that are looking at investing in using the Team Teach approach?
I would encourage them to look beyond Team Teach as solely a training provider and consider it more as a framework for supporting positive culture and practice.
The value is found in the focus on relationships, understanding behaviour, reducing risk, supporting staff, and creating environments where individuals can be successful.
For organisations supporting people with complex needs, Team Teach provides a practical and evidence-informed approach that helps staff make better decisions, respond more effectively, and maintain the dignity of the individuals they support.
In my experience, when the principles of Team Teach become embedded in daily practice, the benefits extend well beyond behaviour support. It strengthens teamwork, improves confidence, and helps create safer, more positive environments for everyone.
As a result, we have been invited back next term to deliver a further day of training, which I see as a reflection of the value that the Team Teach approach can bring across a variety of educational settings.
