Brophy Family and Youth Services
Education
A collaborative response to youth disengagement in regional Victoria
Case Study: Mornington Peninsula Foundation
ProjectThe Western Port Learning Guarantee Project
Amount$200,000
Date2021
ProgramEducation
| TRUST OBJECTIVES | PROJECT OBJECTIVES |
|---|---|
| Reducing inequality | Increasing educational attainment and building social connections |
| Enabling sustainability | Supporting schools and services to restructure systems, retrain staff and renew cultures in order to sustainably achieve better outcomes for students and families |
| Building organisational capacity | Restructuring how schools and services work together; supporting the sector to measure outcomes. |
| Collaboration and partnership | Western Port Secondary College, Crib Point Primary and Tyabb Railway Station Primary, Western Port Community Support Centre, Willum Warrain, Dept of Education, Dept of Health and Human Services, Dept of Premier and Cabinet, Mornington Peninsula Shire, The Ross Trust and Mellett Family Foundation |
Changing a community narrative from negative to positive
In the Western Port region, an average 70% of students enrolling in year 7 at Western Port Secondary College are not at required academic levels and less than 50% will complete year 12. Recognising that the current system is not working and a collective response is required, a cluster of local schools and services have come together to address both the academic and non-educative factors that impact the outcomes of young people in their community.
Image A student in the Learning Guarantee Project.
The Western Port Learning Guarantee Project is a significant place-based, systems change initiative to support the educational opportunities of vulnerable children and young people to complete secondary school in the Western Port region of the Mornington Peninsula. Focussing on early intervention and constructing links between primary and secondary schools, it is one component of a long-term, multi-agency undertaking which is seeking to create better outcomes for this community.
Snapshot:
- The Western Port Learning Guarantee Project aims to build long term benefits by restructuring how schools and support services work together; changing the community narrative from negative to positive and supporting the sector to measure outcomes.
- This project takes a multifaceted approach, recognising that flexible and responsive wrap-around support is vital to shift the dial.
- Mornington Peninsula Foundation plays a coordinating role to bring the various partners together in support of a collaborative approach to this issue across multiple sectors.
- The initiative focuses on students in years 4, 5 and 6, and Year 7.
- All parents enter into an agreement with the school that would see their children supported with whatever it takes to be on track by Year 10.
- Real time data collection is a critically imperative aspect of the whole initiative.
- The initiative is based on the highly successful collective impact model developed by the Harlem Children’s Zone in New York.
"We believe every child is worth it. We believe that your postcode should not determine your outcome. We believe in not starting something new but ending chronic intergenerational disadvantage." Emma Slater, Principal, Tyabb Railway Station Primary School.
