Mornington Peninsula Foundation
- Project: Western Port Learning Guarantee Project
- Amount: $850,000 over two grants
- Year(s) Funded: 2021 and 2023
Changing a community narrative from negative to positive
In the Western Port region, an average of 70% of students enrolling in Year 7 at Western Port Secondary College are not at the required academic levels and less than 50% will complete Year 12. Recognising that the current system is not working and a collective response was required, a cluster of local schools and services came together to address the issues that impact young people in their community.
“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
”The Western Port Learning Guarantee Project is a place-based, systems change initiative to support the educational opportunities of vulnerable children and young people, with the objective of completing secondary school. Focussing on early intervention, the project is one component of a long-term, multi-agency undertaking which is seeking to create better outcomes for the community.
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. The 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 will see their children supported 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.