Students play it cool in extravaganza

They spent much of yesterday preparing for tonight's end-of-year concert at Waves at the Towradgi Beach Hotel - the second the school has held - and were cool, calm and collected according to principal Bruce Rowles.

"Because we're having it for the second time in the same place, all of them went 'oh, we've been here before' and that's made it a lot easier," he said.

Children from the Corrimal school - which caters for students with autism spectrum disorder - and its satellite classes across the Illawarra have been working on their performances for more than a term, practising their singing, dancing, percussion and poetry-reading skills.

Teachers have also been helping the students deal with any nervousness or anxiety they have around performing.

The school has created visual story books to help the students learn how the night will progress, and will set up quiet sanctuaries in the room in case students need a break.

"We have things they like ready for them in what we call their 'go bags', things the children like to play with as a distraction, we might have earmuffs for children more sensitive to noise, so we try to make it as less anxiety-inducing as possible," Mr Rowles said.

He said the annual concert was a great way for students to work on their confidence and thank the people and groups who had supported them over the year, particularly the Innerwheel Club of Wollongong and the Golden Stave Foundation, which sponsor the music program.

"I think the whole idea of performing is good for any student's confidence, overcoming any fears and anxieties, but it's also that sense of achievement they get, and for their families to see their children up on stage doing the things they can do," he said.

After, the students can join a disco put on by the hotel.