Getting started means putting together a team within the school to support and implement the initiative. This might be in the form of an Advisory Group on which sit representatives from all the main stakeholders: school executive, welfare staff, school administration, school staff, parents, students, and community members.

Division/school partnerships have struggled where there is not strong support within the school and these projects are also not likely to be sustainable in the longer term.

Strong support means that several things are in place within the school:

1. There needs to be strong support from the school executive, as this is necessary to ensure that the general culture of the school is supportive and that resources are provided to support the initiative.
2. There needs to be a group of committed teaching and welfare staff. While one enthusiastic staff member can begin the project, it is only when other staff members come on board that the project truly gets underway and is sustainable. If only one staff member is driving the project, it will falter if this staff member can no longer provide the level of commitment that it needs. Ideally, all staff members would be supportive of the initiative, however, the reality is that this will not necessarily be the case: what is necessary is a core team of committed staff and general support within the wider school community, including parents, students and other community organisations.
3. School support has to extend to providing resources to free teachers and welfare staff from their usual responsibilities to engage with the new initiative. Staff need time out to attend meetings and to follow-up on actions. If staff members are attempting to engage in the initiative without this level of support, progress will be slow and unsustainable.