“Without this, students would end up in unskilled employment”
Yeronga State High School, in inner Brisbane, was one of the first schools to receive funding via Schools Plus. Six months in to their Trade Training project, the school’s Head of Creative Industries, Gordon Collis, tells how generous support from donors through our Smart Giving program has given Yeronga’s students a much better chance at skilled employment.
“Without a project like this, many of those students would end up in unskilled employment after school,” Gordon says. “We’ve already seen an improvement in students’ grades through this real world approach [and] some of our kids have started to think about particular careers.”
Through the project, students – many from asylum seeker and refugee backgrounds – are gaining skills in engineering, building and construction, and furniture manufacturing. They have registered a business name, designed and built prototypes of furniture and will soon start manufacturing pieces for sale.
Without Schools Plus, Gordon says, Yeronga would not have had the finances to buy the commercial-standard machinery required for the courses. “We’ve been allowed to buy equipment and get on with what we need to do,” he says.
Your support for a school like Yeronga would give students facing disadvantage the opportunities they need to fulfil their potential. To see which schools need your support, visit our Schools Project page.