Not all high school students are able or want to go on to tertiary studies. For students who are unlikely to stay at school for Years 11 and 12, the City of Gosnells has an alternative education programme to help those young people find a new path. The Sense of Place programme gives them a chance to explore environmental issues in the metropolitan area with a focus on developing their employment opportunities.
The format corresponds with standard school terms and covers four topics based on the coastal environment, permaculture, the hills environment and industry. The programme takes a maximum of eight students – two from each participating school – and where possible, they are encouraged to commit to the full year programme.
Many of the young people involved with programme are considered to be ‘at risk’ of dropping out of school or have simply not adapted to learning in a structured school environment.
For this reason, the Sense of Place ‘classroom’ is anything but traditional. The programme is hands on and involves minimal reading, writing and theory work. It also provides an incentive to attend school and improve behaviour in the regular classroom.
Recently, the students discovered the meaning of teamwork, leadership, effective communication at a sailing course in Fremantle. At the end of the three week programme, Southern Cross Sailing School presented each student with an Introduction to Sailing Certificate.
This term, the Sense of Place team is working on new set of skills as they build a permaculture garden at the Kenwick Youth Resource Centre. The students have been learning about permaculture principles, making compost, the importance of worms in gardens, seed planting, monitoring plant growth and designing and building new garden beds and frog ponds.
Once the garden is complete, the students will receive their Introduction to Permaculture Certificate.
Sense of Place runs each Wednesday at the Kenwick Youth Resource Centre.
