Three days, three Partnership Forums and lots of fun in Sydney - 27/05/10

Stuart Osbourne writes:

The three amigos – myself, Sharon and Josh – set sail for Sydney town with a mission to deliver three Partnership Forums in three days. During our stay, we met close to 200 fascinating people, travelled loads of kms, answered a plethora of questions, and listened to way too many mispronunciations from 'Nora' on Josh’s GPS as she was directing us around Sydney’s maze of roads.

We left Sydney inspired and positively buzzing about the great work being done by so many people in the education and community sectors to help benefit our young people. We were thrilled that Sydney turned on three days of rain for us Victorians to help us feel more at home, and we were only a little bit exhausted and sick of the sound of Nora and the site of Sydney’s M5.

Monday, 24 May 2010 – Ryde/Parramatta Golf Club

From my perspective, the only disappointment about our visit to the Ryde/Parramatta Gold Club was that I did not have my golf clubs in the back of the car to have a hit. This outstanding venue is best described as plush and intimate - from the first vision of the gold writing at the entrance to the shiny display of trophies in our conference room overlooking the lush greens. Close to 70 excited and energetic attendees filled the room with enthusiasm and passion. As a result, questions and ideas flew thick and fast throughout the night.

We were privileged to hear from Parramatta West Public School and St Vincent de Paul about their homework club for refugee children, which received a $50,000 Schools First Impact Award in 2009. Only days before, their award win had been recognised by the education editor of the Daily Telegraph as “dux” for the week.

While the 'speed dating' networking sessions again worked well, one attendee was very disappointed that she did not meet a prospective husband! I suspect she may have interpreted that part of the evening too literally!

Tuesday, 25 May 2010 – Randwick Labour Club

As we watched the sun setting over Sydney from the elevated views of the Randwick Labour Club, we were joined by over 30 interested and passionate local schools and community partners.

Dianne Vince from Sylvania High School, one of our 2009 Schools First Local Impact Award winners, shared details of her school’s partnership with a local retirement village and how it has benefitted their students. She also shared how beneficial the $50,000 in funding has been to help build the school’s internal capacity to deliver their partnership through the employment of a part time teacher’s aide.

It was also great to have Colleen Hooker from Engadine High School speak about how winning the Seed Funding Award was the most exciting thing to happen to her since the Sydney Swans won the AFL Grand Final!

While Josh and I were upset to miss out on the $2 schooners that the venue were having on Wednesday night for the State of Origin, we were glad to see the back of an irate elderly gentleman who stormed into the venue half way through and complained loudly and vocally about our intrusion into his usual Tuesday nights bowls club venue! I don't think he will be applying for a Schools First award!

Wednesday, 26 May, 2010 – Bankstown SPORTS!

Kudos to the staff member at Hertz who obviously thought it would be amusing to provide this group of three Victorian Schools First representatives with a Queensland plated car to drive around Sydney during State of Origin week.

During the pounding rain on the day of the Origin itself, we found ourselves in the comfort and shelter of the Bankstown Sports complex relatively close to the venue for Origin 1. Despite this convenient scheduling, we had over 50 committed people attend and participate in another fascinating and informative forum – definitely for the three of us, and hopefully for all the attendees as well.

We were lucky to be joined by three students from Lucas Heights Community School who spoke about how they had personally benefited from their schools partnership with The Australian Centre for Microbiology. It was great to hear from the students themselves because, after all, they are the ones who are the real winners in all of the community partnerships that we come across throughout the country.

As we left the venue, which had arguably the best AV set up of any venue on the Partnership Forum run to date, we also left behind a number of conversations that were hopefully the nuggets of new and exciting partnerships between schools and community groups in the room.