City LLEN News
What Else Does the LLEN do?
As well as the stories we publish for a specific program or event, the LLEN is always working behind the scenes with our schools, youth services, the City of Melbourne, employers and just about any type of organisation you can think of if they have any interest in; work with, employ or educate young people. This work varies from advising an organisation of the contemporary issues impacting young people today, especially those at risk of early school leaving or disengaging. We also help organisations with:
- knowing who to talk to and meet with about a specific youth issue
- Who delivers what services in the City of Melbourne?
- What ideas do we have to help support various issues impacting different youth cohorts.
We also help families and parents of individual students with advice and counselling on how to navigate the education system both on an ad hoc basis and via formal transition forums for parents held in the community. From time to time, we also submit responses to Parliamentary Enquiries if we can find the time! Keeping up to date with the data and statistics for the young people in our local government area is also an important component of our work so we can inform our partners as well as the work we deliver. Other functions we perform include; running networks, meeting with other LLENs on joint strategies, attending other organisations program/steering & governance committees in advisory roles and liaising with the Department of Education and Training to share information and provide advice about issues impacting our schools and their students. All our work is aimed at maximising retention and achievement for all students, which is after all our main goal.
Alternative Education Provider Network
The City LLEN works closely with a number of alternative education providers within the City of Melbourne. Through discussion with a number of these providers a need was identified to create a network for staff from the schools to come together to:
- Share experience and expertise on how to support vulnerable young people to engage successfully in education
- Identify areas of common concern and develop new strategies to address them
- Identify community resources that can assist these strategies
- Organise and support professional development opportunities
- Provide a collegiate support to staff often working in small settings
- Raise awareness of the programs at each school to create new enrolment opportunities for students
- Share best practice, research and guidance on how to prepare students for the jobs of the future
The first meeting of the network took place on the 14 September at The Huddle in North Melbourne and was supported by staff from:
- Hester Hornbrook Academy
- Kensington Community High School
- Parkville College Flexible Learning Centre
- River Nile School
- St. Joseph’s Flexible Learning Centre
Participants were enthusiastic in their support of the network and already there has been much information shared and new relationships created. Two more meetings have already been planned for Term 4. For more information about the network please contract Andrew Smith, School-Community Engagement Officer at andrewsmith@cityllen.org.au
MCG Careers Day
On the 15th of October the City LLEN arranged an industry immersion day attended by senior students from Kensington Community High School, University High, the Victorian College for the Deaf and the River Nile School at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Students heard from several guest speakers covering various careers in food and hospitality and learnt that there are a much wider range of jobs and careers available at our most famous sporting ground they had ever thought of before. People can work in Engineering, as Grounds People (they were preparing 7 wickets for the summer cricket season when we there), Security, IT (someone is entering the data to change those football game scores), Event Management and many more. Spotless, part of the Downer Group deliver all the food, drink and restaurant services at the G and employ thousands of people. The Head of Human Resources explained how students can apply for part time work as well as detailing all the components of his role and others he has worked in over the years.
Shane Freer, Chef de Cuisine explained to the students what the expectations were for an apprentice and how the students could secure one. The students were very interested in his career, what a typical day looked like and how he came to do be doing his job after leaving school early. Many employees were sports lovers who obtained qualifications in fields as diverse as Human Resources, Humanities and Commerce but dreamed of using their skills for an organisation that meant they could work at the MCG all year round. Students were able to ask questions of all of our guest speakers to learn more about what was involved in each profession and how to gain entry into their chosen field. Presenters spoke about the skills, demeanour and attributes that would help the students succeed in their industry.
After the Industry immersion component of the day, students were given a tour of the grounds and visited the Sports Museum – also an employer and a chance to learn more about the careers directly related to various sports.
On Track Connect
Every year the City LLEN together with all the LLEN’s state-wide deliver the On Track Connect program between June and August. This initiative is designed to capture all those students post Year 12 who have not gone onto tertiary studies or found work as well as Year 11 students who decided not to return to complete Year 12 (Early School Leavers). Participation in this program is voluntary and relies on parents or guardians ticking the box that says they are willing be contacted after leaving school when they fill in the enrolment forms for their child. We have been delivering this program since 2002, there are some interesting observations we have noticed for the students attending schools in our LLEN, these include:
- As time goes on, less and less students are either ticking the box to participate or the other explanation is more students are actively engaged post Year 11 or 12. In other words our referrals have been decreasing
- Back when most students relied on a land line at home (pre – 2008) as their main way to be contacted (this is asked for when completing the agreement to participate form) it was relatively easy to contact students and speak to them
- As more and more students have their own mobile phones and as students and the general population screen calls in response to scammers it has become more and more difficult for us to speak to students
- To make it easier for students to respond to our queries we are relying more on emails with a quick 4 question survey
- For those students who are not engaged in anything post Year 12, the most common reasons include a mental illness emerging post school or dropping out of university before census date/not liking their course and being unable to find work.
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