Corporate mentor program helps Plumpton High School students

There has been a drastic improvement in attendance, behaviour and grades at one of Sydney’s most disadvantaged high schools since students forged friendships with corporate executives as part of an educational experiment.

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Students at one of Sydney’s most disadvantaged schools have the city’s top business bosses on speed dial as part of an education experiment that has radically improved attendance, behaviour and grades.

Youth unemployment in Plumpton, in Sydney’s west, is twice that of suburbs in Sydney’s northern beaches. Yet 99 per cent of teenagers who graduated from Plumpton High School last year are in jobs or studying at university or TAFE.

The phenomenal success has been achieved with the backing of big business, which has exposed students to the top end of town and given them the confidence to be successful after school.

Plumpton High School students (from left) Faqeeha Amal, Jemima Neemia and Nafeesa Rishad are benefiting from a new mentoring program. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

The school’s leading students are mentored by top executives from investment banks and finance corporations JP Morgan Chase, UBS and American Express, technology giants Google and Microsoft, and 30 other companies.

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Every Year 10 student, regardless of their marks, sits mock interviews with a company that matches their interests to help identify what skills they need to work on and what subjects they should take to achieve their goals after leaving school.

Global investment bank Citi Group regularly sends up to 50 new recruits to sit down with students to hash out their future plans.

Plumpton High School Year 9 students Bryce Kinsey and Shaibah Hussain (front) test DNA samples in their forensic science class. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

And since joining forces with NSW Police, only Plumpton High and exclusive private school The Kings School have the expensive DNA machinery and expert teachers to run a forensic science course as part of their curriculum, which encourages more kids to pursue science in Year 12.

The scheme is the brainchild of principal Tim Lloyd, who has turned the school around since taking over. The school’s HSC results are the best they been in 20 years and the school is among the state’s 10 best for lifting students up the ATAR league tables.

Five years ago, the average HSC mark for a student from Plumpton High was 10 points behind the state average. Now it is on par.

Plumpton High School principal Tim Lloyd has helped turned the school around.

Suspensions have plummeted by 64 per cent in the same time, from 289 in 2014 to 103 last year.

Mr Lloyd, who was named public school principal of the year at the Australian Education Awards last month, said: “I’ve always believed passionately you need to show kids what the world beyond school looks like.

“We needed to prove to our kids that they have the same capacity as people who work for big corporates, it’s just a matter of hard work and rigour.

“We needed to open their eyes to what they’re capable of and help them get access to networks they didn’t know existed.”

Plumpton High School students are being mentored by top corporate executives. Picture: John Feder

Faqeeha is hellbent on smashing the stigma that Pakistani immigrants like her only work in shops or drive taxis. She makes regular calls to a top finance executive from an insurance giant based in the CBD to discuss her dream of studying medicine and opening medical clinics across the third world.

“We have a stigma how Pakis are 7-Eleven attendants or taxi drivers. That was the expectation for me,” Faqeeha, 16, said.

“My dad’s an Uber driver and I’m proud of him. But my parents are supportive of my dream to become a doctor.

“The big corporates have sat us down and explained what skills we need in the workplace, which we’re working on at school.”

Faqeeha Amal (left) wants to study medicine. She, along with fellow students Jemima Neemia and Nafeesa Rishad, have corporate mentors. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Mr Lloyd said: “For most of our kids, the chances of them working in the corporate world was nil because they didn’t know what opportunities existed.

“These kids have grit, determination and resilience and are just as capable of working in the corporate world as anyone, provided they have the opportunity.”

STUDENTS REAPING BENEFITS

Plumpton High School graduates who forge business contacts at school reap the benefits long after their HSC.

Aspiring businesswoman Jessica Szakacs, 18, is still in regular contact with her mentor, JP Morgan investment bank director Elizabeth McAlpine.

Jessica’s dad was out of work for the entire time at high school and she knew no one from the business world, which made her mentorship especially valuable.

Jessica Szakacs, 18, graduated from Plumpton High School last year.

“I was really lost and didn’t know what I wanted to do after school and Elizabeth helped me find a career path,” Jessica said.

“None of my family went to university.

“Talking to someone from the industry you want to go into is more motivating than hearing advice from teachers.”

Jessica’s mentor is still helping her choose the right uni subjects and introducing her to business recruiters.

Edith Yankuba, 18, arrived from Sierra Leone six years ago with no parents and limited English. Her dad was killed in Sierra Leone’s civil war and her mum died of an illness.

She was school captain last year and earned early university offers from Macquarie University, Sydney University, UTS and Western Sydney University.

Edith was mentored by ABC senior executive turned media trainer Michele Fonseca, and she hopes to be a newspaper reporter once she finishes her Bachelor of Communications and International Studies at Western Sydney University.

“My senior years of school were stressful because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but my mentor took me into the ABC to see how the journalists work, which inspired me,” Edith said.

Originally published as Corporate mentor program helps Plumpton High School students