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Prioritising school engagement with a little help from our friends at Telethon7

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Posted on 10/05/2024

When a Mum in WA’s great southern region confirmed that their child no longer needed support from our Pastoral Care Engagement Officer (PCEO) program, we were delighted. That meant that another student has successfully completed the program and had returned to regular class attendance and engagement.

Regular attendance and meaningful engagement with school and the educational journey is critical to positive outcomes for almost all young students. Recognising this, YouthCARE’s Training Innovation, Partnerships and Programs team saw the opportunity to create and pilot the PCEO program. This meant that we were able to focus on helping students at risk of disengaging with school, and work through a tailored process of removing barriers to regular attendance.

Schools across WA have shared the need for assistance to engage and support the increasing number of students with attendance rates below 80%. Research conducted by the Telethon Kids Institute identified there is no safe level of absenteeism before impacting students’ education outcomes as well as impacting potential education opportunities into the future

Telethon7 shares our vision of building a brighter future for WA children and so we were delighted when they provided us a grant to support our PCEO program. Being a Telethon7 recipient means that we can accelerate our efforts to reengage students in need with their learning journey at school.

PCEO Mitch Williams has been with the program since the inception of the successful pilot phase in the regional centre of Albany, WA, and has seen first-hand, the benefits derived by students on the program.

“Sometimes, what is most helpful is having the time, experience and patience, to understand the circumstances facing the students and working patiently towards building that motivation to re-engage.”

Commencing in Term 2, 2023, in collaboration with the Western Australian Department of Education (DoE), the program has helped support schools, students, families and the wider community to achieve a common focus on wellbeing and achievement.

What the PCEO program does for the school community

This program provides support to students by increasing their engagement and attendance in school and promotes positive social and emotional development. The program adopts a multi-faceted approach to provide pastoral care to benefit both the students, families and wider community. The way it does this is by:

  • Focussing on enhancing mental health and wellbeing by strengthening family and student support structures, fostering stronger ties within the community and social networks, thus cultivating a sense of belonging and mutual support.
  • Emphasise the benefits of using a holistic approach to build resilience, equipping students with valuable tools to seize future opportunities.
  • Increasing engagement at school enables greater access to support for physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs thus providing a sense of belonging for vulnerable and disadvantaged students.
  • Providing a sense of ownership and connection with their school whilst giving greater opportunity at a brighter future.

The story so far and what it has meant to students

YouthCARE’s primary goal is to create a positive and enriching educational environment that fosters student engagement, growth and success. Since its launch, there has been increased requests to the school principal for other students to be included in the program. School staff and parents of the students involved in the program have shared the many benefits the program is having in the education and wellbeing outcomes. Happily, we have seen some key impacts that highlight the positive changes:

  1. Increased positive interaction between the parents and students with the school which has enabled healthy dialogue to develop a holistic approach with parent involvement and commitment to reaching outcomes for their child.
  2. Increased attendance has created excitement and a sense of belonging, which has led to healthier habits being formed towards their work and learning outcomes. 3 out of 8 students have shown a 28% improvement in attendance at school since the commencement of the program.
  3. The program has seen a strengthening of social and emotional skills, with students participating in the program forming positive friendships at school.
  4. The program has extended beyond the classroom. Parents have become more engaged in their children’s education outcomes and are willing to attend meetings with the PCEO and school to discuss future educational opportunities and other supports required.

Our aim is to increase the impact we have on attendance and engagement and eventually decrease the number of students that require the support of the program as we continue to help increase attendance statewide.

So, we look forward to hearing from more grateful parents and carers, that their children no longer need support from our PCEOs.

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