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About Us - Annual Report:

1. Profile

Leaps & Bounds is now located in the grounds of Bayswater Secondary College, with access from Neal Street. Leaps & Bounds consists of 2 mod-5 relocatable classrooms, a lock-up garage for storage of the school mini-bus, and a newly purchased storage shed. Unfortunately the student-built BBQ shelter/learning area and garden shed were not moved as part of the relocation and currently remain at the closed Heathmont College site. Leaps & Bounds also owns and administers the High and Low Challenge Ropes Course. This facility includes a relocatable site office, so that outside groups can utilise the ropes course with minimal interference to the Leaps & Bounds student program.

Since 1982 this alternative setting had existed in a number of sites as the Maroondah Teaching Unit, Ringwood TU and the Boronia TU. In 1993 it moved to Heathmont and adopted a more regional name as the Eastern Teaching Unit. This was in turn changed to the Student Development Centre – Heathmont. Originally, it was set up to help secondary school students who were experiencing learning difficulties. Some of these students also displayed behaviour problems. Today, Leaps & Bounds is located in Bayswater and focuses solely on adolescents who have displayed severe social and emotional problems in mainstream schools. While some have difficulties because of school refusal or depression, others have shown violent or criminal behaviour.

Students attend Leaps & Bounds for an initial 10-week period. Their progress, in regard to their Individual Learning Plan, is assessed and the Regional Placement Committee is then able to extend their placement, if needed. Although the students initially attend Leaps & Bounds on a full time basis, they remain enrolled on the books of their home school.

Leaps & Bounds provides a caring environment where students can develop behavioural management strategies, as well as social and academic skills that will help their successful integration into either a mainstream school, an alternative educational setting or into the workplace.

2. Staff

All staff have excellent skills in areas such as counselling, organization and behaviour management, as well as extensive classroom teaching experience. All of the staff have a commitment to the ideals of a strong public education system. The staff believe that all students have a right to experience success in their education.

Despite being on leave in Term 1, Marny Ackland has embraced her position of responsibility as the Professional Development coordinator. Marny liaises with client groups, assesses their needs and develops PD packages to bring about maximum outcomes. The depth of the programs and the excellent outcomes are reflected in the attached evaluations.

Maurice Perry has continued in his role as the coordinator of the challenge ropes course. Around 850 clients participated in the Challenge Ropes Course this year, the lower numbers than normal is due to the relocation and loss of bookings. Maurice has continued to train facilitators, match client needs to facilitator availability and oversee the safe operation of the course.

Lynden Bobbitt has born the brunt of the classroom programs this year. No replacement for part-time staff and time allowances for administrative roles has meant that Lynden has had to develop innovative and effective programs to cater for the range of abilities of the students.

This year Branka Jennens has continued as the 0.4 Domestic/Administration Aide. Brankas’ contribution has enhanced the teams effectiveness and professional approach to their duties. She has worked directly with our students in the kitchen and classroom as well as overseeing students in catering of PDs and ropes training courses.

In 2005 Adam Dickinson was appointed as our student counsellor. Adam was known to many ex-students in his ‘other role’ as wilderness professional. Adam has engaged the students effectively on a one to one and whole group level. His personal approach and professional skills have made his contribution a very valuable one this year.

The Leaps & Bounds Challenge Ropes Course requires trained facilitators so that outside groups can benefit from the facility. Leaps & Bounds has employed, via Bayswater Secondary College council, the following people on a casual basis to conduct programs with a variety of community groups; Graeme Perry, Matt Jones, Jacqui Mason, Ray Blanchfield, Erik Westrup, Brian Minett, Darren Feilding, Lance Ewing and Marcel Koper.

3. Students

During 2005, 34 students attended Leaps & Bounds from 18 Secondary Schools in the Eastern Metropolitan Region. Of these 34 students, 10 were female and 24 male. Table 1 outlines the home schools and student information.

Table 1. Student Information 2005

Table 2 Student Attendances 2005

*Note: These figures are only for students who attend Leaps & Bounds on any given day or attend work experience organised by the Leaps & Bounds. Any student who does not attend due to illness, meetings, appointments or is attending their home school for the day are NOT included in these figures.

4. Curriculum

This year we have reviewed the curriculum to align it to the principles contained in the Victorian Essential Learning Standards. Our aim is to assist the students to:
• manage themselves
• understand the world in which they live
• act effectively in that world.

The curriculum has been designed specifically to address the needs of our students. We plan individualised programs, use cooperative learning techniques, peer tutoring and small work groups. We negotiate work tasks, and have students participate in assessment and evaluation. Meaningful work requirements and goals which challenge are important factors in reducing behaviour problems in the classroom.

Motivation stems from feeling a positive sense of importance, from having the opportunity to succeed, as well as from being rewarded and recognised for ones’ efforts. Students are given tasks that take into account their existing skills levels. It is important that the students are able to see what they are doing as relevant to them, either now or in the future.

The table below outlines the curriculum at Leaps & Bounds and attempts to cover as much of the Victorian Essential Learning Standards within our limited resources.

Table 3 : The curriculum structure at Leaps & Bounds
of the essential learning strands

This year we continued to trial the WhyTry program in a variety of formats. This personal development program, consisting of 10 visual analogies, experiential activities and related music, was developed and is successful in the USA. All staff were trained and have been actively involved in delivering the program to our students as well as conducting workshops for other interested teachers. Our feedback to the Oztry Foundation has encouraged them to extend the trials in Australia.

The majority of the students at Leaps & Bounds come from disadvantaged family backgrounds. Because of this, and coupled with their behaviour, they have not had the opportunity to participate in activities or camps in their home schools. Many students have little experience of constructive leisure time activities. The camps are designed to build on the students’ sense of achievement and self-reliance and focus them on setting personal goals. Due to our relocation and staffing restrictions we did not operate a camping program in the first semester of 2005.

Term 3, 2005: A 3-day High Challenge camp in conjunction with the Victoria Police. Our students and police recruits worked together to solve problems, develop teamwork and trust, and re-evaluate some negative attitudes toward each other.

Term 4, 2005: A 5-day bushwalking journey through the Mt Baw Baw National Park. Once again Leaps & Bounds engaged the services of TOE (The Outdoor Experience) to facilitate the wilderness journey bushwalks. The safety and wilderness skills of the TOE staff coupled with their experience in dealing with difficult clients have made these camps very successful over the years.

In addition, a second Police High Challenge camp was conducted in Term 4 as part of the Transit Police On-Track program. We were approached by the transit police to run the On-Track program this year. In the course of this program our students visited the set of Blue Heelers and the police driver training grounds, successfully completed an accredited First Aid course, took part in a treasure hunt and most importantly established positive relationships with a number of police officers.

Our ICT program is only possible through the support of the Victorian Government RePC program, where we have received surplus government computers. Russell Hanch has generously continued to volunteer his time and expertise to assist in the smooth operation of our computer network.

2005 has seen a continuation and fine tuning of the Real Game program. This Canadian founded program assists students in addressing work related topics in a user friendly and interactive format. For many students this program is an eye-opener into the world of work.

5. Service Delivery Model 2005

The service delivery of the Leaps & Bounds is divided into three components:

• In-house Program
• Outreach Support
• Professional Development Delivery

5.1 In-house Program

Leaps & Bounds offers a full-time, 5-day per week program for students prioritised through the Regional Placement Committee. We aim to provide placement of up to 10 full-time students at a time, in addition to the part-time placement of other students who have started gradual reintegration back into school. We offer on-going support to all past students and schools. I believe that our in-house program, fine tuned over the years, offers the best opportunity to assist students in changing their behaviour so that they can maximise their on-going educational opportunities.

5.2 Outreach Support

5.2.1 Direct Student Support:

When a student is referred to Leaps & Bounds, outreach support is offered to the school. Leaps & Bounds staff will discuss specific needs of the student and assist in planning behaviour management strategies and uniform classroom discipline procedures to help manage the student until a place becomes available in the In-house program. Through this process some schools have successfully managed a student and subsequently declined an ‘in-house’ placement when it was offered.

When students are reintegrated back into mainstream educational settings after their initial placement at Leaps & Bounds a range of outreach support alternatives are offered to the students, schools and parents. We attempt to remain in contact with all parties for as long as our support is required. Students usually undergo a gradual reintegration back into their schools where intensive support is offered to school staff. Often students continue to attend Leaps & Bounds on a part-time basis if all involved believe that this is the most effective strategy to keep the student engaged in positive education. At any stage the schools, parents or students can negotiate further support from Leaps & Bounds. If students are suspended from their mainstream school we request that they serve their suspension at the Leaps & Bounds so that we maintain involvement in the welfare/discipline cycle.

"The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives"
~Robert Maynard Hutchins.

5.2.2 High & Low Challenge Ropes Course:

The value of the ‘Challenge Ropes Course’, under the coordination of Maurice Perry, has continued to be recognised by the wider community. Many groups re-use the course on a regular basis reflecting the positive outcomes for their clients. Leaps & Bounds has a bank of casual staff who can be utilised to facilitate outside groups on the ropes course. Maurice coordinates extended safety training as well as hours of experience to ensure that the programs offered by Leaps & Bounds on our course are of a high professional standard. Maurices’ expertise was again recognised this year as he continued to assist in the development of state-wide Ropes Course Industry Guidelines.

Table 4
Leaps & Bounds Challenge Ropes Course
Usage 2005

Although the overall numbers of users were down in 2005, this reduction was due to the inability take bookings due to the uncertainty of the move and the actual time lost in the relocation process. We are currently liaising with Bayswater Secondary College and the Departments legal team to formulate operational guidelines around the use of the course.

5.3 Professional Development Delivery

Over the year the Leaps & Bounds staff have once again been actively involved in the provision of Professional Development to teachers and support staff in the Eastern Metropolitan region and beyond. Marny Ackland has continued to coordinate the personal PD for our staff as well as the professional development program that we deliver for the region. The feedback via evaluations has been excellent giving the Leaps & Bounds staff a sense of achievement as a reward for the extra effort they put in. In addition the PD delivery has contributed significant funds to the Leaps & Bounds program.

Table 5
Provision of Professional Development by Leaps & Bounds in 2005

Leaps & Bounds has continued to organise a PD program in the EMR in which primary and secondary schools can target individual staff members. Many educational settings from the EMR and beyond have benefited from our range of Professional Development Programs in 2005. The evaluations from these programs can be found in Appendix A.

"Skools iz intended to be places where ideas and imformation iz hexchanged and it iz amazin what u can learn in da classroom if u ain’t disstracted by da teacher"
~Ali G

6. Management

Day-to-Day: Host School

The Bayswater Secondary College Principal, Trish Arico, as well as the Assistant Principal, Rick Emonson, have been supportive of the Leaps & Bounds operation and staffing. I have met regularly to discuss issues relating to Leaps & Bounds, such as staffing, finances, administration and program approval. Sandra Downie, the Bayswater Secondary College Business Manager, has been valuable in maintaining financial and budgeting structures to assist our program.

Bayswater School Council has supported Leaps & Bounds by approving our camps and activities programs and overseeing the operation of our centre.

7. Recommendations for 2005 and beyond

Staff Wellbeing

Leaps & Bounds has proved to be an excellent educational resource over the years. The staff are passionate and committed to ensure that the facility remains effective in the future.

The reestablishment of the Leaps & Bounds facility at Bayswater has required much additional time and effort from the staff. All of the Leaps & Bounds staff have engaged professional and personal support over this time. The key factor in the success of any small educational setting is the staff themselves. To remain a dynamic resource, staff wellbeing needs to be addressed and planned in a cohesive and ongoing way. Currently there seems to be a spot-fire approach to staff wellbeing. Problems are dealt with as they arise rather than building support structures that will continue to strengthen the team as a whole as well as each individual staff member.

"Children need love, especially when they do not deserve it"
~Harold Hulber

8. Acknowledgements

I would personally like to acknowledge the professionalism, dedication and passion that all of the Leaps & Bounds staff demonstrate on a daily basis. When things are difficult and days are hectic the staff model resilience to the students by bouncing back with renewed enthusiasm and vigour. Many of the programs that we offer only operate because staff are prepare to work above and beyond award expectations. Their only reward is the satisfaction of knowing what we do makes a difference.

We rely on the broader educational community to support our programs and acknowledge our outcomes. Teaching and administration staff in schools, as well as the region have provided this support.

Many local individuals and businesses, as well as larger philanthropic organisations, such as the Education Foundation, Unilever Foundation, The Outdoor Experience, Regional Extended Families Services and Variety Club, recognise the strength of Leaps & Bounds and contribute to make our programs the best that we can deliver. I would like to acknowledge the support of Robyn Murray at Glen Park Community Centre for providing Leaps & Bounds with a temporary home during our relocation, and putting her hand up to help us out whenever we need some support.

We are fortunate to be in a position to help bring about change to young peoples lives. We have the opportunity to plant seeds of change that can make huge differences to the lives of others. Over the years many ex-students return to share their stories with us. They return to tell us about their jobs, their awards, their experiences and their families. We often remain a significant part of their lives. We celebrate their achievements and share with them their disappointments, grief and losses. I thank the young people for choosing to allow us into their lives.

Scott Jennens
Co-ordinator
Leaps & Bounds
Student Development Centre

“Youth must be served in its day or not at all.”
Robert Gordon Sproul