Department of Education - Victoria

Shepparton Flexible Learning Centre is a campus of Wodonga Senior Secondary College, and is also one of four flexible learning centres that form the North East Victoria Flexible Learning Network. The North East Victoria Flexible Learning Network has centres in Wodonga, Benalla, Seymour and Shepparton with combined student enrolments over 400 in 2017. We believe that all young people should be able to thrive in mainstream school however we know that for a small percentage of students this is not always possible. Our Flexible Learning Centres provide educational opportunities for young people who have disengaged from school or where a mainstream school learning environment is seen to be inappropriate to meet the young person¿s needs.

We believe that most young people would like to be attending an educational setting and learning. We have a further strong belief that ¿students will give the best that they have got¿, in other words, if they could do better at school, they would.  The intention of our Flexible Learning Centres is to re-introduce students to learning to the extent that they are able to be successful, to build upon these successes, to develop their learning potential and plan for a successful adult pathway.

The background of students at our Flexible Learning Centres is diverse but they have in common the experience of trauma in their lives through for example, violence, family breakdown and associated mental health issues. Often young people may have not engaged in learning as a result of chronic anxiety, depression or specific learning or language difficulties.

Young people seeking enrolment at one of our Flexible Learning Centres will usually be connected with a range of mental health, child protection or youth workers and have been disconnected for some time from schools and teachers.  Our Flexible Learning Centres provide the opportunity for young people to reconnect with teachers and learning.

The programs are centred around a developmentally responsive personalised learning and pathway plan with a focus on the development of literacy, numeracy, social development, pursuing student¿s interests and the development of a career pathway through planned skill development and carefully managed workplace experiences. 

Prior to enrolment at one of our Flexible Learning Centres the student attends a series of meetings that enable our staff to better understand the young person in a case managed approach alongside parents, carers and other professionals. This gradual process also allows the student time to become accustomed to the school and teachers and to become aligned with the school values and processes.

This intake process is designed to ensure that when the young person starts at one of our Flexible Learning Centres they are prepared and ready to focus on learning.

 

SC1    Demonstrated knowledge of the relevant curriculum, including the capacity to incorporate the teaching of literacy and numeracy skills. Demonstrated capacity to respond to student learning needs.

SC2    Demonstrated capacity to implement high impact teaching strategies, guided by how students learn, and evaluate the impact of learning and teaching programs on student learning growth. 

SC3    Demonstrated capacity to monitor and assess student learning. Demonstrated capacity to use data to inform teaching practice and to provide feedback on student learning growth and achievement to students and parents.

SC4    Demonstrated interpersonal and communication skills. Demonstrated capacity to establish and maintain collaborative relationships with students, parents, colleagues and the broader school community to support student learning, wellbeing and engagement.    

SC5    Demonstrated behaviours and attitudes consistent with Department values. Demonstrated capacity to reflect upon practice and engage in professional learning to continually improve the quality of teaching.