gwunspoken - Beyond the Plan
gwunspoken: Beyond the Plan
Hear the person beyond the plan.
This podcast is where NDIS participants, families, and supporters reclaim their narrative. We dive into life beyond the diagnosis, beyond the reports, and beyond the plans—exploring identity, strength, and voice.
Whether you're a parent seeking connection, a support worker craving understanding, or someone walking their own NDIS journey, this space is for you.
Because labels don’t define people—stories do.
gwunspoken - Beyond the Plan
What Happens When School Meets Podcast?
What happens when you set up recording equipment in a school library and sit down with an eight-year-old? Magic, that's what.
In this groundbreaking episode, we venture into uncharted territory by hosting our podcast from Arie's school library – something neither of us had done before. The excitement in his voice is unmistakable as he contemplates his friends' reactions to his podcast stardom, sharing that he was looking forward to returning to school specifically for this recording opportunity.
The conversation gently weaves through the fabric of Arie's life, revealing significant changes on the horizon. His father is moving to Banyo where his mother also lives, a development that Arie pragmatically notes will make "changeovers a lot easier." The timing couldn't be better, with the move scheduled for August 1st – just one day before Arie's ninth birthday. His birthday wish? An electric scooter capable of reaching a whopping 70 miles per hour, complete with safety gear that he can list without hesitation.
Among the most heartwarming segments are Arie's reflections on the "Boys on the Land" program, where he participated in making damper bread and creating "squarms" – a delicious campfire concoction involving crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate. Beyond the activities themselves, what stood out was Arie's eagerness to help others, a quality that earned him special recognition. As we wrap up this unique school-based recording session with plans for a competitive game of Jenga, we're left with a profound appreciation for the unfiltered wisdom and joy that comes from conversations with children. Subscribe now to hear more unexpected perspectives that remind us of life's simple pleasures.
Welcome to another edition of GW Unspoken Connect Beyond the Plan, and I'm here with Ari and I'm here on behalf of EngageU. But, ari, where are we? What's going on?
Speaker 1:We're at my school.
Speaker 2:How does this work? I can't believe this. We're actually at your school doing a podcast. This is the first time I've ever done this. Is this the first time you've ever done this? Yeah, where are we? Which part of the school are we at at the moment?
Speaker 1:The library the library.
Speaker 2:Now you were telling me before how many times did you, how many years have you been at this school for?
Speaker 1:Four years.
Speaker 2:So what grade are you in? Again?
Speaker 1:Three.
Speaker 2:I've got a question for you. What would your friends think if they knew you were in here doing a podcast? Do you think they'd be a little bit envious? Do you think they wish they were doing this too?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I wonder if we should one time film it and then let them see it, or they'd be going oh, that's not fair, ari, I want to turn it doing that. Do you think they'd do that?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, mate, it's great to see you. I'm going to ask you we're going to check in again. Remember how we see, how we were feeling. So one means we're feeling terrible, and then there's two, three, four and five means we're feeling excellent.
Speaker 1:How are you feeling?
Speaker 2:right now, five. You're a five. That's good. That's good. And what's something that you're really grateful for? What's something you're really thankful for in your life that I get great things?
Speaker 1:What are some of the things that are great that you really like Because that's a good answer that I get blocks of fruits and Christmas gifts, oh, christmas presents and birthday gifts.
Speaker 2:Now, when's your birthday? Tell the listeners when your birthday is 2nd of July, 2nd of July.
Speaker 1:So you've just had your birthday, 2nd of July 2nd of July, so you've just had your birthday. No.
Speaker 2:August. I was going to say you've just had it. Your birthday's.
Speaker 1:soon your birthday's like in three weeks' time, did you?
Speaker 2:know that. No, yeah, because it's July. I'll tell you exactly. I'm going to open the computer here while we're talking here. I'm going to have a look. July, I'll tell you exactly. I'm going to open the computer here while we're talking here. I'm going to have a look. The 2nd of August is in less than three weeks away and it's on a Saturday, so it's not this Saturday, not the next Saturday, but the one after that. In three Saturdays, tom, it's your birthday. How old will you be then? 15, 16?, nine, 19?, nine, 19?, nine, oh, nine, you're nearly 10. That's nearly two figures. Wow, did you know that? Did you know it was your birthday soon? Here's a question for you Do you know what you want for your birthday? What?
Speaker 1:would you like for your birthday? A?
Speaker 2:scooter oh, that would be cool. How fast do they go?
Speaker 1:Like 70 miles per hour.
Speaker 2:That's dangerous. How many helmets are you?
Speaker 1:going to wear One and some protective gear. What?
Speaker 2:kind of protective gear do you have to wear for a scooter Knee pads? For a scooter Knee pads, elbow pads hand pads, oh yeah, like gloves and stuff, yeah. And can you go bare feet? Or should you wear shoes in case you fall off? Sure, shoes, yeah, it might rip your feet apart. Hey, yeah, wow. Imagine getting an e-scooter for a bit. Can you ask one for me too? We could go scootering together. That would be fun, wouldn't it? No, oh, boo.
Speaker 1:Just kidding.
Speaker 2:They do go fast, don't they? Yeah, and also, there's e-bikes too, isn't there? Yeah, because e-bikes go fast as well. Yeah, would you like one of them?
Speaker 1:Five, 50 miles per hour.
Speaker 2:That's like. What's that like 100 kilometres an hour, 80 kilometres an hour, that's fast. That's like a car Zoom. That means you could sleep in and then, if you got up late, you'd get to school and just go zoom straight to school. Yeah, mum would say, and dad would say you're running late. No, I'm not Zoom. Yes, that would be cool. All right, now I've got a few things up on the board here. We've talked about where we are. We're actually at your library, at school, which is really cool. Tell me what you did on the weekend before you came back to school. Oh, I've got to ask this question first. I'm going to go off the plan Ready. Here's a question for you. Last night, when you went to bed, being the last day of holidays were last night, when you went to bed being the last day of holidays, were you still looking forward to coming to school today? Yes, that's good. Why?
Speaker 1:Because I wanted to do a podcast A podcast.
Speaker 2:You're very good at doing a podcast. Were you also looking forward to seeing your friends? Yes, yeah, that's cool, that's awesome. And have you seen them this morning? Yeah, who's some of your friends you're seeing here this morning? Billy Lachlan Lachlan.
Speaker 1:Levi, and that's all.
Speaker 2:Okay, lachlan and Levi's here, that's cool. And Sienna, and Sienna is here. Did you get to say hello or not? Yeah, because you've only just started school and I've taken you out of class already. It's 10 o'clock and I've taken you out already. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What were you doing when I took you out of class? I don't know, I forgot. Weren't you having breakfast or something? Were you having a late breakfast? Yeah, yeah, cool. All right, now tell me weekend. What did you do on the weekend?
Speaker 1:Dad is moving.
Speaker 2:Dad's moving from Northgate. Where's he moving to?
Speaker 1:Banio.
Speaker 2:Now, I believe Mum lives at Banio too. Yes, and that's going to be pretty cool, because then they'll be close together. Yeah, that's good, so you're not going to be too far away from both houses. Yeah, so changeover is going to be a lot easier, isn't it? Yeah, now tell me about his new house. What's it like?
Speaker 1:It has a balcony where the washing machines are.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So Dad doesn't have to go downstairs and do it. Yeah, okay, and there's three beds.
Speaker 2:Three beds. This time Is it three rooms. See, everyone gets their own room this time. That's cool, because last time there was only two, wasn't there? Yeah, yeah, because sometimes you had to snuggle in with Dad, didn't you? Yeah, yeah, so is that good? You've got your own room now. Yeah, that's cool. So it's a bit bigger place. Yes, is it? Because I'm trying to picture what it looks like. Is it like one storey or is it two storeys? Two storeys, it's still two storeys. So it's got two levels. That's good.
Speaker 1:It only has two units.
Speaker 2:Oh, there's two units. Okay, yeah, yeah, cool.
Speaker 1:Bottom is not ours the top is ours.
Speaker 2:Oh, so you guys own the top bit. Yeah, you guys get to rent the top bit Cool. Yeah, you got to get to rent the top bit Cool. Well, that's good, and so when do you get to move in?
Speaker 1:How long? Three weeks.
Speaker 2:Ooh. So did you go to Bunnings on the weekend and got lots of stuff?
Speaker 1:ready boxes to box up the house. No, to box up some of the stuff that my nan doesn't need.
Speaker 2:Oh, and give it away to charity or take it to the dump and stuff.
Speaker 1:No, the shelf Dad's keeping. We wanted it to go to the charity but they didn't want it.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, all right. Well, that's still okay, isn't it? Yeah? Now here's a question for you, because I can't stand doing all that boxing stuff. But do you like doing that boxing stuff? Yeah, do you? Yeah, oh, my gosh, it's like you're putting all things in a box and it's all done and dusted, nice and neat. Yeah, yeah, that's cool, all right. So you move into Dad's in two or three weeks' time? Yeah, probably just in time for your birthday. That's pretty good.
Speaker 1:Imagine being moved in July the no, august the 1st.
Speaker 2:The 1st. So hang on, dad moves in on August the 1st and your birthday is August the 2nd, the next day. That's good. You have to tell Dad you have to have a housewarming and a big party for your birthday. How cool is that? That's good, all right. Well, look, you're speaking very well again telling us about your weekend. Thank you, we did something on the holidays together. Let's talk briefly about that. What was it called?
Speaker 1:Boys on the Land.
Speaker 2:What did we do on Boys on the Land, do you remember?
Speaker 1:We made some damper.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:What was that thing with the marshmallow and chocolate?
Speaker 2:Oh, are we telling everyone about that secret naughty food we ate? Yeah, like little squirms? I think yeah. Do you remember how we made that? Like there was a tin foil, what did we put on the bottom?
Speaker 1:Um.
Speaker 2:What was the first layer we put down? It was crunchy. They got a little bit burnt on the fire. Little crackers, yeah. Little crackers and biscuits, yeah. And then we put marshmallows on it.
Speaker 1:Yes, and chocolate.
Speaker 2:And chocolate on top, and then we put the lid on, put it on the fire. We made some nice coals. How many fires did we have?
Speaker 1:Two.
Speaker 2:Two. And then we put that in the fire and the chocolate melted through the marshmallow into the biscuits. Yeah, was it yummy? Yeah, you know, I've got some photos of you eating your squirm and it looked like you had a big smile on your face. So we made fires, we made damper, we made squirms what? So? We made fires, we made damper, we made squarms. What else did we do? Oh, can you remember what else we did? We went down to the dam. What did we do there? We went doing skipping, yeah, skimming, skimming the rocks on the water. Could you skim it? No, no, but you practiced, didn't you? You were throwing big rocks in the water towards the end, weren't you? Yeah, I thought like a fish would come up you might have. No, no, but you practiced, didn't you? You were throwing big rocks in the water towards the end, weren't you?
Speaker 1:Yeah?
Speaker 2:I thought like a fish would come up, you might have knocked the fish out with a big rock. And then we played some indoor games, yeah. And then we went outside with the puppies and some people made a tent, pitched a tent, yeah.
Speaker 1:It was good, wasn't it? And then it was the end. It was the end, and it was the end.
Speaker 2:It went really fast, didn't it? Yeah, would you do that program again? Yeah, yeah, it was good, wasn't it? Yeah, it was good. Yeah, I was really proud of you that day. I got lots of photos of you and working hard. And do you know what I loved about you that day? What you were doing, what I liked, how, every time that someone was asking for help, I'll help.
Speaker 2:So, whether it's getting more sticks or helping with the marshmallows or whatever it was, you're always helping out. So I'm proud of you for that. Well done. Yeah, it's good helping other people, isn't it? Yeah, makes you feel good. Yeah, all right. Well, look, we're back at school. We're going to have a bit of a break from the podcast. We might come back into another one soon you so?
Speaker 1:oh, are you going to sing on the podcast today?
Speaker 2:No, Nope, not at school. Not at school. Okay, but we're going to have a game of Jenga. Yeah, now you know the rules of Jenga, don't you? Yes, there's a special rule about Jenga.
Speaker 1:Don't make it fall.
Speaker 2:That's the rule. That's right. Whoever makes it fall the other person wins, don't they? Yeah, Now, the special rule with Gary's rule, jenga, is that Gary has to win every time. Yes, is that true? Yes, does that mean you have to let me win? Yeah, no, I don't want you to let me win, I was only joking. I want to see. I reckon you'd be. I've actually seen you play this on Boys Lane. You're actually very good at this game, yeah, so yeah, is there anything else you want to talk on the podcast before we play? No, should we play the music? Yeah, all right. Well, let's see how we go. But well done on your first podcast at school. This is this crazy thing about Ari on the podcast everyone Ready First person to sing and first person to a podcast in the school environment. Yeah, crazy, you're just a man. Well done and we'll hear from you again soon. Bye.