This information session, held on October 19th at Wangaratta Performing Arts Centre, was for parents and educators of young people with disabilities or learning difficulties in Secondary School in Victoria was a free event.
The session focused on options and supports that are available to students with a disability who transitioning from school in this region with a structured sequence of presentations.
Representatives from employment agencies, apprenticeship centres, further education, day programs, Centrelink and others were in attendance to answer specific questions.
The event aimed to empower families and educators with knowledge of clearly sequenced stages of transition planning from compulsory education and information about the available post school options and judging by participant evaluations we succeeded.
The event attracted over 80 participants from places such as Shepparton, Benalla, Mansfield, Albury/Wodonga, Mt Beauty and Myrtleford as well as locally.
Evaluation responses showed 98% of participants found the session informative with 82% of those giving it the highest rating of ‘Very Informative’.
Comments from the evaluation forms included:
-
Excellent forum. Great having each speaker give a very brief outline of how they can help.
-
A wonderful session that was very informative and extremely helpful. Well Done!!!
-
Great to hear from young people. Centrelink particularly informative, lots of support I wasn’t aware of
-
Great stuff- Thanks!
-
Well organised and a great way of allowing people to hear success stories as recounted by 4 very successful students who have had great transitions. Gives the other parents confidence to pursue all options suited to their child.
-
Very informative. Good response/ turnout. Great cross section of service providers, information.
-
Great. Just what I needed and very helpful
-
Fantastic!!!
-
Good networking
-
Thanks for the opportunity- as an out-of-towner, smaller communities often miss out on this type of opportunity. Congratulations on a well-organised & informative evening.
Evaluation responses showed 100% of participants agreed that they now knew where to access further information on post school options and 82% said they intended to connect with an organisation after the event with most of the remainder indicating they intended to promote the information and services to others.
We appreciate the offers from organisations to be involved in a future version of the event and the suggestions as to how to reach more local families with this valuable information.
(Please Note: Information in the session related to students with a wide range of disabilities including physical, learning, intellectual, sensory, neurological, psychiatric and chronic illness.)
This session was registered with VIT and can be used to count toward Professional Development hours for staff.
This event was a joint partnership between the NDCO program, NE TRACKS LLEN, Department of Human Services, Wangaratta District Specialist School, Wangaratta High School, Galen College and Cathedral College.
