St Mary’s Flexible School is part of Edmund Rice Education Australia’s network of schools providing young people with an opportunity to engage in education in a flexible and supported learning environment. The school is an independent Catholic school in the Edmund Rice tradition.
The school’s vision is to walk with young people to empower them to live full and hope-filled lives. We aim to provide a safe, welcoming and enriching school community which meets the needs of Young People whose needs have not been met in the traditional education system.
At St Mary’s Flexible School, we work relationally on Common Ground and within the four principles of Respect, Honesty, Participation, Safe and Legal.
Student success is supported through opportunities to re-engage in learning, achieve qualifications including Certificate II level TAFE courses, and to transition into work or further study opportunities. The wellbeing of Young People is supported through a focus on individual needs with a collaborative team of educators, youth workers, administration officers, kitchen co-ordinators and pathways transition support coordinators.
Importantly, young people are encouraged to participate in decision making processes that affect the school community, their own lives, and the society in which they live. Learning is focused around the individual needs of young people and progress is carefully documented and monitored. Young people, in conjunction with their teachers and youth workers, draft personal learning plans with articulated education pathways. Each of our classes function as a small community lead by a teacher and youth worker who operate as a partnership to facilitate learning options and support young people’s wellbeing and social development.
We have established strong supporting relationships with community services and agencies that provide additional value to our programs and opportunities for our young people.
St Mary’s Flexible School offers an inclusive and non-discriminating learning community to young people who, for a variety of reasons, are disenfranchised from mainstream education. Our young people come from a variety of language, cultural, and religious backgrounds with sensitivity to Indigenous culture and/or socio-economic disadvantage. Young people are exposed to learning experiences that support their development, understanding, and appreciation of the diverse cultural values that constitute Australian society with specific focus on the needs of young people and families in the Western Sydney/Nepean region.
