CENTAUR Primary School turned blue on Friday in support of World Autism Awareness Day.

With kids wearing blue and a canteen full of blue food, the day was celebrated in style by students, including several of whom are living with autism.

One of those students, Pixie Hodgson, who was diagnosed with Autism at three years-of-age, was head to toe in blue, and mother Lucie said it was wonderful for the school to support children like her daughter who are affected by a stigma that exists in the wider community.

“I just want to raise awareness and Centaur has been great for that and they’ve gotten on board with the day,” Mrs Hodgson said.

“It’s a controversial topic and generally people are pretty good but acceptance is needed and the stigma is what we want to change.”

Mrs Hodgson said that getting on top of Pixie’s condition early had made a huge difference to her development and continual support, funding and awareness was needed to raise the profile of autism.

“I’d never have known about World Autism Awareness Day and there might be parents experiencing bad behaviours in their children but may not know much about it, so these days help to unite people and raise awareness,” she said.

“It gets the community talking about autism and it helps with lots more than just acceptance and awareness and it’s a great community experience.”

Centaur principal Mark Downward said the Banora Point school cared for several autistic children and would welcome further support of the condition.

“We have three support classes dedicated to supporting kids with special needs and staff who are specifically trained in the area which adds to the quality of what we do here,” Mr Downward said.

“We’d love to do days like this more often.”

Held every year on April 2, landmarks such as the Sydney Opera House are turned blue in support of the day.

Autism now affects one in 68 children and one in 42 boys across the world.