Fee-free Catholic special school for disengaged youth to be built at Davoren Park

A school that aims to help youth struggling with mainstream education will be built in Adelaide. And for students, it would be free.

Professor Denis Ralph, chair of the SA Commission for Catholic Schools, Gerard Keating, Principal of the Central West Flexi Schools Network, Dr Neil McGoran, director of Catholic Education SA and Rev Father Philip Marshall, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Adelaide at the vision launch at Davoren Park. Picture: Ben McMahon

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A new school for disengaged young people will be the centrepiece of a major initiative aimed at breaking the cycle of disadvantage in the northern suburbs.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide and Catholic Education SA will establish an education and community services village in Davoren Park, making a $14.5m capital investment to launch the project.

“We are expanding special assistance schooling options for young people in the northern suburbs requiring an alternative approach to mainstream schooling,” chairman of the SA Commission for Catholic Schools Denis Ralph said.

The new school, planned to open in 2022 with 65 students, would not charge fees and aim to “support young people aged 17-24 who are experiencing social, emotional or behavioural difficulties, with special programs to support their learning and development”, he said.

The school would grow to nearly 200 students by 2027.

In addition, an outreach program that has been running in Elizabeth would relocate to the Davoren Park site and take on more than the 70 students it now supports.

“There are more than 2000 young people currently disengaged from formal learning in Adelaide’s northern suburbs,” Vicar General Philip Marshall said.

“We believe there is a significant opportunity to break cycles of disadvantage by adopting new approaches to education.

“We will provide a range of services that will include early intervention and family support in a welcoming and inclusive setting.”

The “village” concept on the 4ha site will be developed over time with a primary school among services to be established later.

Indoor and outdoor learning spaces, community gathering spaces, places of worship, landscaped green spaces and sports and recreation facilities would “create a place of community”, Professor Ralph said.

“We are looking to partner with other services that can operate on or visit the site for both students and their families, such as counselling, allied health and medical services, Aboriginal community members and multicultural support groups, and other family support services,” he said.

Catholic Education SA director Neil McGoran said the project would help young people continue or re-enter schooling by offering a model outside the mainstream.

“It’s about trying to make school relevant and engaging to each individual, so they have the choices they should have as a fully flourishing young person,” he said.

Students at the new school will be referred by government departments and community services under criteria that would include refusal to attend school, learning difficulties, mental health, poverty, homelessness and family conflict.

The outreach program, a “flexi” school would be run by Edmund Rice Education Australia.

Both schools would offer SACE subjects, internal and external VET courses and other vocational training.

Operational costs will largely be met by federal and state funding.

An existing building on the site will be refurbished for the outreach program with a new learning facility for the school to follow.