The AYCE (Access Yea Community Education) is a program of the future operating today, run by Yea High School. It is a program that enables teenagers to complete their entire secondary curriculum (Yrs 6 – 12) outside of mainstream schools. We, as adults, are able to access VCE subjects through day and evening classes and still have the freedom to pursue other interests in our lives. Our teenage children should also have this choice in life – the AYCE program gives them that.The AYCE program is a multi-purpose program. It is available to young people who for many reasons need a break from attending school on a daily basis – this could be anything from 6 months to several years. If needed – teachers at Yea will council and encourage these children to return to mainstream schools. The AYCE program is also an independent program in itself and students are able to complete their entire secondary curriculum if that is their aim.

Adolescence is a tough time in a young persons life. Its a time when young people are deciding what to do with their lives and to do this properly they need large doses of privacy, solitude and independence. They need time to discover and follow their passions in life. Unfortunately mainstream schooling allows for none of this – their entire days and weeks are completely taken up with the schools’ demands. This program gives young people options. They have the freedom to follow the many interests in their lives while keeping in touch with the state curriculum if they wish.

Because of increased violence and bullying in schools these days many parents are reluctant to send their children to high schools – particularly for the early years which appear to be the most traumatic years for some. Many young people start out with the AYCE program and then go onto secondary schools for last few years.

There are many more reasons that parents and young people have opted for the AYCE program in the past few years. Some of these are:

Home Education.

Home Education is an incredibly popular choice these days. Many young people are growing up free of the influence of institutional learning and if their choice is to go onto University there are many paths to take to get there. The easiest of course is to sit for the VCE. Many have chosen the program for just this. They mostly choose to enter at Year 9 or 10 even Year 11 to do their course of study.

School Refusals

Attending mainstream schools – especially secondary schools is often devastating for many young people – mainly because of bullying and increased levels of violence in schools. They can suffer all sorts of emotional problems and end up refusing to go to school at all. These young people desperately need time to themselves – lots of it. They need to rediscover who they are and what they like about life. The AYCE program provides access to the full curriculum in a non-threatening community setting that suits many emotionally disturbed young people. AYCE Centres are mostly situated in community centres and not schools. If the students wish to return to mainstream schools – teachers at Yea will council and encourage them to do so.

Learning Disabilities

Young people with learning disabilities such as Autism, Aspergers Syndrome and Dyslexia all successfully attend the program. Many people involved in setting up the program have backgrounds in teaching disabled children. As the Department of Education funds AYCE, special aides are available for one on one teaching where necessary.

Young people diagnosed with ADD or ADHD also attend the program. Often these children flourish when removed from the school setting. It is recommended that parents also work side by side with teachers to achieve the best results for the child – after all it is the parent who knows the child better than any teacher and can help overcome any difficulties faced.

HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS

Young people are required to attend classes one day a week from 10a.m. to 3 30p.m. at a centre of their choice. These classes are small – varying from 2 – 6, never larger. They meet with the teachers and other pupils in their chosen subjects. Classes for each subject have no set time limit but often last about 45 mins. They are then given work to do from home and have access to teachers via e-mail and phone if need be. Generally parents are encouraged to oversee the work during this time.

Students are required to travel to Yea High School twice a term also between 10a.m. and 3.30p.m. for meetings between teachers, parents, students and administration. This day also allows for some classes, some practical work, contact with other students and parents, access to your teachers and resources held at the school. Attendance on this day is essential to the success of the project. Some of the classes held last year were Drama, Home Economics, Woodworking and Art. These days are a lot of fun and for parents there are pleasant coffee/craft shops in town and plenty of quiet spaces to relax for a while.

Students are required to enrol in Yea High School to be eligible for the program. This is a requirement of the Education Department who fund the program. Why Yea High you may ask? The founders of this program live in Yea and have worked at the High School for many years. It is the administrative base of operations.

Enrolment and Information

Unfortunately because of the type of funding AYCE receives, students are unable to transfer from their school to the program. The easiest way for parents to access this program is to remove the child from the present school stating that they will be homeschooling their child.(This can be for a week or just over the summer holidays) They are then free to enrol them in AYCE. Enrolments like this can only happen at the beginning of the year. If you wish to access it during the year, the only way currently is if the principal of your childs’ school can organise a transfer. If you are involved with a welfare service or child psychologist, they can also organise transfers. If you wish your child to access the AYCE program during the year and if school has become unbearable for the child it is advised to homeschool your child until they are able to access the program the following year. This time out will benefit an unhappy child.� Hopefully future funding for this program will allow entry all year round.

If you would like to enrol in this program please call Yea High School AYCE program on 9758 6604 and leave details, address, etc. and they can send you out an information package containing enrolment forms. You can also fax them on 9758 6510 or email ayce.yhs@bigpond.com

If you wish to discuss the program itself or have any other questions you can call the Program Manager – Annette Scales Telephone: (03) 9758 6604

David Grey – Program Creator.

I first proposed the concept of the AYCE program as one answer to what I still believe to be a need in our society, that is one that provides educational opportunities for people who for whatever reason are outside the traditional systems. This of course has a huge scope, and I was focussed initially on people whose� social, medical or emotional circumstances precluded them from obtaining their education in the usual way. As the program pilot began it became obvious to me that there was also another group of people I had not initially considered in the design, who had chosen not to be a part of traditional systems and were receiving their education from home.

Unlike many educators I have always respected the people with whom I have had contact who had made this choice and as a private educational consultant for many years in Gippsland have often been used as a resource in this process. Consequently perhaps, as the program has evolved I have continually tried to employ as much flexibility as possible in order to keep the program relevant to the needs of individual people and still meet the requisite standards and statutory obligations set by the DOE. This as you can imagine has been quite a balancing act and for the program to have been as successful as it has to date, has taken a great deal of work and cooperation by many people.

But successful it has been in many ways and I do not measure success simply as academic achievement, even though we have experienced a great deal of that success as well. I have seen the way we have been able to encouraged people to experience, be involved in and succeed at things they wanted but thought were out of their reach. We have been sometimes in the privileged position of seeing some people excel, and yet others to complete something perhaps for the first time in their lives. Many of our past students have been assisted to continuing and tertiary education, to other educational setting that could equip them to achieve their new found goals and others to apprenticeships and work settings. What I find satisfaction with is that this program is meeting the needs of many people and in some cases offering the flexibility necessary for their potential to be realized.

Thoughts about the program

We have asked both parents and students to write about their experiences with the program. We will gradually put them on this site as we get them.

From Josh (student)
The Yea programme has enabled me to learn more than in school, in a more interesting way and in less time.

From John and Lyn (parents)
AYCE is an excellent way of allowing more flexible learning at the student’s own pace and allows for their own learning style. We’ve seen a great change in our child having pleasurable learning and proceeding at his own pace because of the flexibility available in this programme. Creativity is much more possible as it can be part of each day and not squeezed in after school when the children are tired. We highly recommend this programme, particularly to children who don’t learn well sitting 5 days a week in an institution.

Parent:
My son has just completed his VCE with the AYCE program. He has been home educated most of his life and like many home educated kids tried school and was very frustrated at the amount of time wasted and the stop-start method of presenting lessons. He started the AYCE program in Year 11 and once again he was an independent learner – able to schedule the time to study when it suited him and had more free time for other interests.

He enjoyed the company of other VCE students on the contact days and forged some very special friendships with both students and teachers.