Regional Victorian school's $500K national win for students and agricultural community

24 NOVEMBER 2011

Tyrrell College, in the remote Victorian town of Sea Lake, was last night announced the 2011 NAB Schools First National Award winner and awarded $500,000 for the impressive student outcomes achieved in partnership with their local agricultural industry.

Tyrrell College was recognised for its three-year partnership, a student-business mentor program, with AWB Grainflow and Agrivision, two leading agricultural businesses within the rural Sea Lake district.

In a hands-on environment, students in years 10, 11 and 12 learn about the agricultural industry upon which their local economy is reliant. Interaction with agricultural specialists and vocational experience extends across a range of activities such as cropping, researching and marketing.

NAB Schools First is a partnership between NAB, the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA) and the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) that recognises and rewards outstanding school-community partnerships. The awards are based on research from ACER that proves young people benefit when they are engaged with their community throughout their education.

The results of Tyrell College’s school-community partnership have been outstanding, with some key achievements including:

• A substantial increase in student engagement - in one student’s case, attendance has risen from 16% to 90%
• Increasing student interest in the agricultural industry has led to the school offering Agriculture as a VCE subject
• Increased self-confidence levels from participating students
• Development of tangible career pathways for students
• The program continues to expand as more students enrol in the program

The awards ceremony was attended by NAB Group CEO, Cameron Clyne, Chair of NAB Schools First, Andrew Hagger, Victorian Minister of Education, the Hon Martin Dixon, and various highly respected members from the education and community sectors.

Andrew Hagger said that the 2011 NAB Schools First National Award winner is an outstanding example of how young people can benefit when schools, communities and businesses work together and pool their resources.

“NAB Schools First celebrates and rewards schools and community groups who work together to improve the lives and education of young people.

“Tyrrell College is a deserved national award winner because of the outstanding impact its program is having on students, the local agriculture industry and the community at large, but also for its potential to grow further with this award funding and impact more positively on more young people.” Mr Hagger said.

The school will receive $500,000 as National Award winner and is planning to use its award winning funds to purchase a front wheel assist tractor and a direct drill seeding system which will help to minimise student reliance on farmers who cannot always accommodate requests for the borrowing of equipment. It will use the remaining money to develop a succession plan to safeguard the future of the program.

This national accolade is part of more than $5 million in NAB Schools First award funding to be shared among 110 award winning school-community partnerships this year.

To date, NAB Schools First has awarded over $15 million in funding to 310 Australian school-community partnerships. In the first three years of the program, NAB Schools First has generated award applications from 26% unique Australian schools confirming the need to reward and nurture school-community partnerships.

Other State and Territory Impact Award winning schools vying for last night’s National title, each of which has been awarded $100,000, include:

• NSW: Beverly Hills Intensive English Centre with the Multicultural Heath Services and the South Eastern Sydney Local Health District
• NT: Millner Primary School with Save The Children, ALF NT, Corrugated Iron Youth Arts, Children’s Development Team and Danila Dilba
• QLD: Cooktown State School with Cape York Health Service District and Department of Communities
• SA: Adelaide Hills Vocations College/Mt Barker High School with SA Police, Juvenile Justice Board, Adelaide Hills Community health Service, District Council of Mount Barker, Adelaide Hills Council and the Adelaide Hills Youth Sector Network
• TAS: Northern Support School - St Georges with Ravenswood Community garden, NRM and the Inspirations Garden Centre
• WA: Clontarf Aboriginal College with Ertech Holidings Pty Ltd and Polytechnic West

Read more about this National Award winning school-community partnership