How the old school tie is making its mark in the public system
Private schools cop a lot of flak for their extensive rules and stuffy traditions, but this is one their public counterparts are jumping on to help benefit their students.
VIC News
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Caroline Milburn always valued her schooling at Newcomb Secondary School in Geelong, but it wasn’t until she was filing newspaper copy that she gained greater understanding and insight into Victoria’s public school system.
For a decade, Milburn was an education reporter, specialising in early childhood and school education, but in 2012 she decided to pursue one of her key learnings.
“One of the things I noticed as a reporter was that private schools have done very well in developing their alumni communities and reconnecting alumni with their school to benefit current students and fundraise for scholarships or a particular project,’’ she says.
“Many private school students do have a connection with their old schools and feel proud to be part of a supportive alumni community.
“I was very aware that we didn’t have that tradition of connecting with former students and developing our alumni community in the same way private schools do and I thought, ‘Gee, we should think about doing that for our school’.
“I thought I’d really love to give back to the public school sector which gave me so much, as an individual in terms of opportunity and having fabulous teachers, relatively fond memories of my time at school and how important that was shaping me as a young person,” Milburn says.
“I felt there’d be many other public school graduates who felt the way I did and perhaps wanted to give back to their school, but there was no easy way to do that or system in place to do that because very often public schools are quite under-resourced and naturally focusing on the core business of educating young people.
“They haven’t had that tradition of developing their alumni communities in the same way private schools have been doing for so many generations.”
And so, Ourschool was born in the form of a pilot program with the financial support of philanthropists plus state government backing.
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In just a few years, the program delivered by the Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals has grown to include 19 schools across the state, from Sunshine to Camperdown, that are forming strong alumni communities where ex-students have a chance to give back. That includes facilitating work experience placements, returning to speak to students or contributing financially.
The tyranny of distance hasn’t precluded alumni from visiting their old stamping grounds in regional Victoria.
Maria Whitmore, alumni development manager at Warrnambool and Camperdown Colleges, has used Skype to connect students past and present.
This year, 2006 graduate Will Coverdale, a Facebook product designer, beamed into the year 10 visual communications class, while 2013 alum Dominic Dwyer, an aerospace engineer undergraduate with Daimler in Germany, has chatted with year 10 advanced maths students.
“We wanted to make it easy for them to give back in meaningful ways — advising students about careers, providing work experience placements and establishing scholarships,’’ Milburn says.
“Students rarely got a sense of their school’s history and achievements or the chance to be involved in a bigger, supportive alumni community they could feel part of.
“Investors had vision and courage to back this idea, being a not-for-profit program and the first service of its kind in Australia. They took a chance on us and I’m incredibly grateful for their vision in supporting our program.”
Nine schools are currently part of an intensive program where an alumni manager works on site one day a week.
Eventually the program will feature an option for alumni to leave a gift to their former school in their will.
Milburn says feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with current and past students, schools and teachers reaping benefits.
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“The impact of these alumni career sessions in our schools has really taken off,” she says. “Teachers will ask to find a lawyer or policewoman to come and speak to a legal studies class or for a professional to talk about settling into university or TAFE after VCE and that’s proven very popular.
“It’s inspiring for current students to see former students who have sat in the same classrooms come back and talk to them about their pathways, jobs and opportunities the current crop might not be aware of and hearing about different jobs and what it takes to be successful at work. I’ve been really surprised at how enthusiastic the alumni have been about the program.”
Keysborough College principal John Baston says more than 50 former students have returned to the school since it joined Ourschool 18 months ago.
“That number has far exceeded what we expected and our alumni are a range of professionals — doctors, lawyers, research scientists to professional athletes — which have appealed to all students,’’ he says.
“We really want to build our students’ aspirational view of the world and what they can become once they leave school and the best way for them to be able to see and appreciate it is to hear from ex-students who have achieved some really amazing things after graduating.
“Too often alumni associations are seen as a way of fundraising and one thing I made really clear is that for us it’s the value of the ex-students returning to school. Its value here is immeasurable because it’s about the effect it’s had on the lives of our current students, nothing to do with bank balances.”
The Melbourne-born concept is going global, with principals from state schools in New Zealand keen to replicate the program.
Milburn says it’s just the beginning.
“We’re starting an international partnership with some charities in the US, UK and Africa that are doing similar things and developing an international alliance of not-for-profit organisations,” she says.
DOMINIC GAVIN
Trainee surgeon, former Keysborough College student
When trainee surgeon Dominic Gavin met a work experience student in the corridors of the Royal Melbourne Hospital this year, he had a light-bulb moment.
The student was from Melbourne Grammar and Gavin, a 2009 graduate from Keysborough College, pondered why the opportunity for private school students wasn’t on offer for their public counterparts.
“It was a real turning point for me,” he says. “I did a Google search and came across Ourschool. It was a bit of an inspirational moment.
“I’ve always wanted to do some mentoring with kids from lower socio-economic backgrounds and this helped me put something into action.”
Within weeks, the first students from Keysborough visited the hospital to complete their placement with a success story from their own school.
Gavin, 26, undertook a bachelor of biomedicine at Melbourne University, then completed a degree in medicine two years ago. He is now a resident at Royal Melbourne, this year aceing a graduate diploma in surgical anatomy as part of his career progression.
“I’m hoping to get a little program happening for work experience, through Ourschool, which is a recurring thing rather than a one-off and it’s important to spread it across other specialties as well,’’ he says.
“Those opportunities haven’t been there for public school kids. The barrier is being aware of the opportunity or having the confidence to apply for it as a year 10 student. I know myself I would’ve been hesitant to do that without a mentor.”
EMMA ZAMMIT
Electrician, former Sunshine College student
A self-described “tradie lady”, Emma Zammit loved answering the questions students fired at her when she returned to her old school, Sunshine College, for the first time.
“There were five of us in different professions who spoke and a lot of girls asked me, ‘How do you lift heavy things?’ and ‘Do you have to lift heavy things?’ ’’ Zammit says.
“I told them when I first started I was very small as well and if you aren’t able to lift something heavy or do something there’s always someone to help you. Being big and strong isn’t a requirement of the job.
“My experience working in a male-dominated environment has been a supportive one and my advice for the students was, if you’re interested or passionate in a trade or certain field, just
go for it.”
The 28-year-old is an electrician and trainee signal maintainer for the Australian Rail Track Corporation, working on the railways occupied by freight trains.
In year 10 at Sunshine College, Zammit’s interest in trade became a reality when she took on a school-based apprenticeship where she attended school twice a week, got experience on the job for another two days then went to trade school on the fifth day.
“It was a really good way to go, it broke up the week, gave me a taste for it and some real life experience,’’ she said. “I did a five-year apprenticeship, which I completed in 2012.
“I finished, then stayed on at the same company, a local electrical company, doing industrial maintenance.
“Reconnecting with my school has been great for me and seeing my old teachers. I was chatting to my old science teacher, who said once students finish you never really see them again or hear what they’re doing.
“This way everyone wins — schools, current and former students.”
MANISHA BLENCOWE
Lawyer, former Princes Hill Secondary College student
With two young children about to take their first steps into the education system, Manisha Blencowe’s mindset has shifted.
The 40-year-old lawyer’s thoughts have returned to schooling for the first time since she rose through the ranks at Princes Hill then Monash University.
“My experience at school was a positive one and I’ve always felt the quality of education I received at Princes Hill, along with the supportive environment for me and all of my friends and fellow students, was great, so I endeavoured to remain in touch to some extent,’’ Blencowe says.
“Now at the age where I’ve got two young children about to start primary school, my mind is more attuned to schools and education issues again.
“I recently attended the funeral of one of my music teachers from the school who was a very influential teacher for me and many people and that was a powerful opportunity to reconnect with some of the teachers who remain at the school and to think again about the importance my schooling experience had for me on my life journey.”
Blencowe has provided a work experience placement at her firm for a year 10 student at Princes Hill, returned with other alumni to speak to pupils and delivered the valedictory speech on graduation night.
“I was very honoured to be asked and happy to do that,” she says. “Attending that event and seeing the group of year 12 students was both eye-opening and impressive.
“It’s been a rewarding experience and encouraged me to want to be involved in the Ourschool program. I was really keen to be able to provide a work experience opportunity because I’m conscious that so much of the experience of schooling is about the community that it connects you to and the opportunities you see and the perspective you have on life by virtue of the community that you’re involved in.
“I’m particularly conscious, having done a law degree, that can be quite exclusive when you step out of a school context and into a bit of a different world.
“It’s important for me to do whatever I can to support public schools and be an active part of my own school and provide opportunities, support and perspective.”
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