Child School Leavers Frankston North

Pilot re-engagement program targeted at young people from 8-14 years. Funded by DEECD and the William Buckland Foundation

Partners Lead School Mahogany Rise Primary School Belvedere Park Primary School Kannonook Primary Banyan Fields Primary School Karingal Heights Primary School Aldercourt Primary School Elisabeth Murdoch Secondary College Monterey Secondary College McClelland Secondary College Mornington Secondary College

Staff Program Manager Senior Teacher Family Support Worker (+ back up to cover illness and leave) With this number of staff you can address the needs of approximately 40 young people over a school year. Continues into school holidays

Goal is re-engagement with education NOT providing longterm alternative solutions

Key features Three way approach between: the school the family/young person agencies By the development of individual re-engagement plans that focus on the specific needs of the young person That involves the family at every stage of the journey That maintains an involvement with the school

The location and participants determine the program which can consist of: Small group learning One on one in the home Experiential activities (one on one or small group) Supported participation in holiday programs Supported participation in school Family and young person activities Facilitated return to school Meeting at a safe place of the young persons choice Location and program

For this program to work the teacher and family support worker must both work with the young people, their families, the school and the agencies. They do this by: Attending case management meetings Assessing families in their homes Working with the schools on re-integration strategies Attending appointments with the young person Supported referrals to other agencies Advocating for the young person Teacher and Family Support Worker

Challenges

Success stories Strategies

Case Study 1 A 10 year old boy who has not been to school for 18 months. His family are refugees who arrived in Australia before he was born. He is the youngest (by 10 years of 3 siblings). He has Type 1 diabetes. He use the diabetes to get what he wants. His attendance at school has been sporadic since Prep. He is not involved in any activities outside the house

Case Study 2 She is a 14 year old girl in out of home care. She has been attending school on a modified timetable and has to carry a red behaviour book with her at all times. When she is at school she is frequently getting into trouble in class, fights at the back at the school and wagging and going to the park. She has regular contact with her mum that often escalates to fighting and has moved foster homes 3 times in the past 3 months.

Case study 3 He has always found school hard. His older siblings stopped going to school by the time they were 15. He gets anxious around groups of people. Primary school was ok but when starting high school he was overwhelmed by the people and constant changes. He stopped attending after 2 weeks. Mum lets him stay home.

Case Study 4 She is a Year 7 student who has refused to go to school since week 4 of the year. The school have held SSG and put in place a modified timetable. She attended for a further 3 weeks before refusing to attend again. Her mum suspects that she may have an undiagnosed behaviour disorder. Mum said that attendance was good at primary school but on further discussion it seems there was some issues with the primary school teacher which affected attendance.