Berry Street Web Docs BEST Centre Annual Report 2009 | Page 2
Berry Street believes all children should have a good childhood.
Berry Street also believes education is essential for the restoration of hope and trust in
the lives of children and young people who have suffered abuse and 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
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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
and transition as part of a holistic response to
vulnerable & disadvantaged young people.