19/6/02
The State Government will give $600,000 over four years to a project which is improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged students through closer links with students' families.
Education Minister Alan Carpenter made the announcement today at the official opening of The Smith Family's Learning for Life Centre at Maddington's Yule Brook College.
The Smith Family was established in WA in 2001. It is an independent organisation founded in the Eastern States in 1922, and aims to help disadvantaged Australians participate more fully in society.
Mr Carpenter said the Learning for Life centres, which were established this year at bases in Midland, Kwinana and Maddington, were already achieving excellent results.
Government support would come from the State Government's $3.994million Family Links initiative, which was aimed at increasing the involvement of parents in their children's schooling.
Family Links encourages schools to work collaboratively with parents and the school community in order to achieve better outcomes for all. The initiative enables schools to employ school community liaison officers, establish projects to improve partnerships with parents, involve community groups in the school community, encourage extended family members to become involved in the school community, and reduce truancy.
Mr Carpenter said the $150,000 a year allocation from the Department of Education's Family Links funding would help support the development of Learning for Life Scholarships in WA.
The Smith Family is expanding its commitment to disadvantaged children in WA and is in the process of employing three additional Learning for Life Education Support Workers. This will provide scholarships for another 700 children.
Scholarships range from $204 to $2,000 a year, and are funded by individuals, families or organisations in the community.
"Each child in the Learning for Life Program is allocated an Education Support Worker who supports the student and their family on the best use of scholarship funds and other educational matters, and provides a liaison between the family and the school," Mr Carpenter said.
"Learning for Life provides students and their families with financial assistance to help pay for all the extra expenses associated with going to school, such as uniforms, text books, and excursions.
"These extra expenses and activities often have to be omitted by disadvantaged families as they are seen as optional extras, although they have a significant impact on the child fitting in with, and feeling part of, the school."
The Minister said the Learning for Life Program was a major part of the work of The Smith Family in WA. It already provided scholarships for 800 school-aged children in WA.
"Learning for Life grew out of a survey of Smith Family clients in Sydney in 1988 in which clients were asked what type of support they felt would be most beneficial to them and their families in the long term," he said.
"They nominated education for their children."
Minister's office: 9213 6800
