College Initiatives Page

Western Cape College  manages various initiatives across all three Campuses focused on improving education outcomes.

Service Guarantee

Western Cape College  is committed to a Service Guarantee Initiative that ensures all High School children upon graduation receive either an OP score, complete a School based Apprenticeship or Traineeship, be on a clearly articulated Vocational Education Training pathway or gain employment.

The College was instrumental in the development of the Service Guarantee Strategy across the Torres Strait and Cape and has been successfully fulfilling the policy since 2006.

Testament of the success of the program is the number of students who have achieved employment across various industries such as sport and recreation, business and trade areas as well as the number of students pursuing a career at the University or TAFE training level.

Centre for Leadership and Teaching Excellence (CLTE)

Research clearly points to the fact that it is the teacher that makes the difference to student outcomes. As we know teacher turnover and facilitating the effective delivery of professional development in the Cape poses some specific challenges.

The Centre for Leadership and Teaching Excellence is a strategic response that has been developed as a partnership between Western Cape College and the Indigenous Schooling Support Unit designed to overcome some of the difficulties associated with delivering appropriate professional development to EQ staff in remote indigenous settings.

The Key Performance Indicators for the CLTE relate to the development of a website and online materials, face-to-face workshops for teachers and workshops designed specifically for teacher aides and parents.

For more information, please visit our website

Parents as First Teachers (PAFT)

An initiative of Western Cape College Weipa Campus in 2007 Parents as First Teachers (PAFT) is a community engagement program that aims to increase awareness of the value of education and the positive life impact that school completion can have on economic independence, health and life outcomes to the close-by Napranum community.

To achieve this PAFT have been working hand-in-hand with community service providers to build relationships with families and hosting various activities to engage parents with their children’s education, such as homework centres and workshops with visiting professionals.

DARE

The Dreams, Aspirations, Respect and Education (DARE) team is made up of staff and teachers across the Western Cape College Campuses that wish to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education, students, families and the community of the College.

The DARE Team was established in 2004 and coordinates activities that support academic learning as well as the So Solid Leadership Team. Some of the key initiatives undertaken by the DARE Team include developing a program that allows senior students to gain a Certificate II and III in Radio Broadcasting as well as hosting cultural awareness workshops for staff.

Work-Readiness

The Work Readiness Program commenced in 2008 as an initiative of Western Cape  College to help Indigenous students prepare for an employment pathway.

Programs are offered across all College Communities such as Napranum, Weipa, Mapoon and Aurukun and include hand-on activities that utilise skills in the areas of building and construction, landscaping and maintenance and hospitality.

So-Solid

So-Solid is a student Leadership Program based in Weipa where students across Middle and Senior Year levels work on developing responsibility, leadership skills, values and self esteem.

As part of the project motivational speakers are secured to visit the College and development workshops are held with visiting professionals to inspire and motivate students and help them employ positive life outcomes.

Students involved in So-Solid are also offered the opportunity to participate in planning College functions such as NAIDOC celebrations or attend National functions in Canberra.

Another aspect of the So-Solid strategy is to build parental and community involvement and various activities are held annually to help establish and build these relationships.

The Transition Support Services Program

Transition Support Services is an initiative of the Department of Education Training and the Arts established to support young indigenous people to make the transition to and through the secondary phase of schooling.

The key clients are young people (from Cape York, Torres Strait & The N.P.A.) their families, the community schools they make the transition from and the destination schools they make the transition to.

The Programs main goal is to prepare and support students and their families to select, apply to, attend and stay enrolled at schools that are prepared for them.

Transition Support Services  main location is at FNQ ISSU (Far North Queensland Indigenous Schooling Support Unit) on the corner of Mulgrave Road and Severin Street  Cairns. The service employs a team of Transition Support Officers who are based throughout Queensland in the major centres of Cairns, Townsville, Rockhampton and Brisbane.

The Transition Support Officers  carry out weekly visits to students from remote communities in their boarding schools. Transition Support Officers work with boarding school staff and other agencies to support students in ways that enable them to remain enrolled at school, connected to their families and communities and to complete year twelve.

Transition Support Services also funds Community Support Officers in the communities of Cape York. Community Support Officers are usually based at the local community school and mostly work part time in their role to support students in year seven and their parents to select, apply to and transition to year eight. Community Support Officers also work with older students in communities who are not engaged in the secondary phase of schooling with the aim of re-engaging them in a schooling option.

For further information about other services available through Transition Support Services  please contact Transition Support Services Program Manager Sandy Russo ([email protected]) or phone 4044 5621.

Fore more information about the program please visit the ISSU Transition Support Program Site

WCC-RTA Forum

A partnership between RioTinto Alcan and Western Cape  College, the Forum was established in 2006 to create school-to-work pathways for Western Cape College Indigenous students.

The mine identifies opportunities for Apprenticeships and Traineeships and Western Cape  College find students with matching areas of interest.

Some of the opportunities available to students include Diesel Fitting, Mine Operations, Engineering and Business Administration.

The high levels of job satisfaction and the number of students entering into the program is a testament to the programs succes.

RATEP

RATEP is a community based teacher education program for Indigenous students that was started in Queensland in the early 1990s. It has operated in this area since 1994 when it was started at Napranum, moving to Weipa at the end of 2005 when Jessica Point State School was closed. It is a partnership between Education Queensland, James Cook University and TFNQ TAFE. There have been a total of 127 teachers who have graduated through the RTEP Program. In 2009, there are 20 centres throughout Queensland with 50 students enrolled in Bachelor of Education degrees through James Cook University, Townsville and 105 enrolled in Certificate or Diploma courses through Tropical North Queensland TAFE in Cairns.

For more information about RATEP-please visit the RATEP Page.