2019 has been the first full school year for the Collective ed. initiative at Port Dalrymple, and it has been a year full of activity for us both within and beyond the school gates.

 A lot of our efforts this year have been focussed on building the foundations for Collective ed. to succeed, as well as developing our understanding of the opportunities and challenges experienced by young people in George Town. This has included workshops with all school staff to identify what is helping and hindering young people to succeed at school; a survey of all Year 8s and Year 10s, conducted by the Peter Underwood Centre, to help better understand their experiences of life and school; and a half-day session with this year’s Year 10s to help them identify their aspirations, and to design what a dream school might look like. A particular highlight was supporting the Port Dalrymple Year 10 Leaders, with contributions from a group of young George Town residents currently experiencing unemployment, to develop a Young People’s Theory of Change for George Town. We were blown away by the insights and mature contributions that all of the Leaders provided into this process, and incredibly grateful for the time and effort they gave to the work. We are looking forward to progressing and this Theory of Change into action with our new 2020 Year 10 Leaders, as well as with other groups of young people from across the school and the broader George Town community.

 In addition to this development work, we have been working closely with teachers, school staff and the school leadership team to implement a number of activities that will help support our students and strengthen the pathways available to them after school. As the provider of nearly 50 per cent of the jobs in our municipality, we have been working particularly closely with the businesses in the Bell Bay Advanced Manufacturing Zone to build and strengthen learning opportunities for our students. This has included site tours and career panel discussions with company CEOs and executives, which have highlighted the wide variety of career pathways available right on our doorstep. Working closely with KEEN Partners, we have also been very excited to help develop a new school-based apprenticeship program, which will commence in 2020. More broadly, we have helped to facilitate a number of career pathway activities for students at Port, facilitated by the Beacon Foundation, which we hope to grow and offer to more students next year.

 As a collective impact initiative, Collective ed. has also been focussed on building the foundations for success in the broader George Town community. As mentioned above, this has included creating more and closer connections between the school and key business and community partners. A key achievement, though, has been our emerging partnership with the George Town Future Impact Group. Through this group, we are hoping to foster the collaboration and shared responsibility that will be required for us to help all young people in George Town to thrive; as well as to bring the voices of young people and other community members into the centre of our decision-making. The initial focus of the Group is the theme of Pride, which is a critical ingredient for the success of our young people. We are excited about the potential projects and activities that will emerge from this theme as we move into the new year.

 Our sincere thanks to the staff, school leaders, parents and community members who have assisted with Collective ed. this year. Our biggest thanks, though, are reserved for all of the young people in George Town that have participated in or contributed to Collective ed.’s work: this initiative is all about you, and it is your amazing contributions that have and will continue to make Collective ed. a success. We hope that you all have a lovely and restful summer break, and look forward to working with you all again in 2020.