Berry Street Web Docs BEST Centre Annual Report 2008

B.E.S.T
Centre
Annual
Report
2008

Berry Street believes all children
should have a good childhood
Berry Street also believes education is
essential for the restoration of hope
and trust to the lives of children
and young people who have
suffered abuse & neglect

The beginning of the B.E.S.T Centre
In 2001, the Department of Human Services conducted an audit of children & young people in residential care. The
results indicated a significant gap in educational services & confirmed the anecdotal experience of the residential care
field. Some of these finding included:
• 53% of young people 13 years & over living in residential care were not enrolled in school. They had no links to any
school.
• Only 18% of young people aged between 16 – 18 years were enrolled in either Year 11 or 12;
• 26% of children & young people in residential care had been permanently excluded from school. These young people
had been excluded from several schools across the system. Even if they were offered a place in school, the young
people themselves didn’t feel able to return.
Of those children & young people in residential care who were enrolled in school, there were often concerns in relation
to attendance & suspension. These young people were either excluded by the school or, as a result of their past abuse
or neglect, found it difficult to manage attendance & compliance with school expectations.
The results of the DHS audit prompted Berry Street to conduct a similar audit in the Southern Region. The results were
stark.
• 96% of young people in Berry Street’s Southern Residential Care program were either not enrolled or permanently
suspended from school.
• Young people in other programs within Berry Street also presented similar issues for the mainstream education
system. In fact, some of the young people in our non-residential programs presented the greatest challenge in
relation to educational/vocational opportunities.
Berry Street advocated widely for the establishment of an appropriate school for high-risk young people, but was
unsuccessful. The generous support of the Felton Bequest enabled Berry Street to establish an independent Registered
Special School, the B.E.S.T Centre, in June 2003.
The educational response at the B.E.S.T Centre had to work in a multifaceted
way including:
• Knowledge of the high risk adolescent population
• Understanding the case management, accommodation & protective context
• Having the capacity to connect & work collaboratively with other programs
within Berry Street
The Centre had to engage these young people in the educational process
where other schools had failed.
In 2007, a campus of the B.E.S.T Centre was opened in Morwell, informed by
the foundation work completed in Noble Park.
The B.E.S.T Centre offers a school program as one of a number of services that
Berry Street delivers to vulnerable & disadvantaged young people in the
community. The B.E.S.T Centre fits as part of a suite of service provision that
targets young people who are disengaged from education, have significant
issues within their family & are often marginalised within in our community.
The B.E.S.T Centre offers educational pathways & transition as part of a
holistic response to vulnerable & disadvantaged young people.

Noble Park
& Morwell
Campuses