A P-12 college on Victoria’s surfcoast has partnered with a local business to not only provide outdoor education to its Year 9 students but to nurture their employment skills, strengthening ties in the community.
“When can we go back?”. It’s a question that Lorne P-12 College’s Health and PE Co-ordinator often hears from students following a visit to Live Wire Park, the first completely off-grid elevated adventure park in Australia, located in Lorne.
Mr Simon Scholtes has been a teacher at the school for 14 years and has established a unique program with Live Wire Park director Mr Luke Nisbet for Year 9 Outdoor Education students. The partnership, now in its fourth year, recognises the importance of groups in a small community, working together to improve opportunities for young people.
“Our Year 9 students visit Live Wire Park and experience the range of activities on offer, add go through an ‘employee’ induction process. A group of our primary-age students then visit as participants for the Year 9’s to act as pseudo employees of the park,” Mr Scholtes says.
Lorne P-12 College’s Outdoor Education program, which Mr Scholtes has developed over many years, aims to develop students as a cohesive team and individually, to become active members of the local community.
“In Years 9 and 10, all our students are exposed to an outdoor element. In Year 9, it’s one day a week, based on the idea of developing students’ personal and social capabilities, utilising the local environment as our classroom,” he says.
“I focus on progressive development throughout the year; from the start of Year 9, where there’s a lot more guidance, through to the end of the year, where students design and plan a camp for five days, and then go on that camp.”
He continues: “Across the whole year, we look at different attributes and employability skills, and developing them as an ongoing continuum.”
Before they undertake the program at Live Wire Park, in Term 1 Year 9 Outdoor Education students develop their open water awareness, confidence and competence which includes lifesaving skills and surfing, culminating in the students running a surf lesson for the schools’ primary-age students.
Mr Scholtes says Lorne P-12 College, which has 146 students and 35 staff, is the original surf school in Victoria, started by 10-time Bells Beach Champion Gail Couper and Murray Walding in the late 1970s. The first surf program at the school took place in 1979. It has progressed and developed into the current secondary program.
“In our surf ‘school’, half the objective is for the students to develop and grow and to become better versions of themselves and to challenge themselves. The other objective is developing employability skills and attributes, where they then need to provide their learning as an experience for another junior group,” Mr Scholtes says.
“That’s the benefit of being a coastal P-12 school in a small community; we can take our primary-aged students out for a surfing day and the Year 9’s run a surfing lesson for them.
“That’s their first introduction to running an event for someone else. It takes the focus off their performance individually. The beach and surfing are the resources we have access to, learning employability skills and traits, developing as a cohort and providing an experience for others are the key outcomes.”
The next stage is going to Live Wire Park and doing a similar program there, using an external provider with employees as role models, he says.
A partnership evolves
The partnership between Live Wire Park and Lorne P-12 College initially started with the College taking students to the adventure park as a ‘one off’ experience when it first opened six years ago.
“I got to know Luke (Nisbet), and we had conversations about the park and the opportunities that exist. He talked about wanting to make sure the park was looking after the local community,” Mr Scholtes says.
“The cogs in my brain started turning. Knowing we’ve been running the similar surfing program for 10 years, where students practise then plan a surf lesson for a primary class, I could see the potential to transfer that model into another experience.”
At the same time, Mr Nisbet was asking Mr Scholtes about a pathway for local young people as potential employees.
“We worked out that there was a mutual benefit, where we could set up a training program where the students would get to experience Live Wire Park, but at the same time they would also gain experience in the operations of the park,” Mr Scholtes says.
“Luke and I both developed the structure of our Live Wire program together. The first few years were based on our surf model as proof of concept. Then Luke and I sat down to forge a program that we could replicate and develop further each year, with curriculum structure that follows Live Wire employment practice.”
Over the course of the four-week program, the Year 9 students learn about Live Wire operations and what it takes to be employed. Students work with Live Wire’s skilled team, many whom have come through the school’s Outdoor Education program.
Once the Year 9’s have experienced and practised OH&S requirements and operations, the Year 4-6 students are invited as participants for the Year 9 class to operate as ‘employees’ of Live Wire, under the guidance of Live Wire staff.
Tasks students complete under the supervision of Live Wire staff on the assessment day include safety inspection of the park grounds and equipment, setting up harnesses for participants, guiding participants through the harnessing process, completing the safety briefing for the courses, supporting participant needs, guiding them onto and through the courses, maintaining a safe environment, packing equipment away, reflecting with participants and finally, reflecting on the experience.
“As part of the assessment, we have a competency checklist; ‘Did you follow Live Wire’s employee expectations of OH&S, presentation, equipment preparation, the briefings, active supervision, culminating in ‘Are you competent to be an employee at Live Wire?’.
“We try and get to the point of all students demonstrating their competence, and for Luke to be able to say, anyone can apply for a job. He’s doing a really good job of supporting the local community and the kids.”
A lot of Live Wire Park’s employees are past students who have come through the school’s Outdoor Education program.
“There’s a very close connection with the school. We’ve got past students who have been a part of this exact program mentoring current students through their experience. It’s a very positive experience for all the students, and attendance is always high,” Mr Scholtes says.
“Students are enjoying the experience and reflecting on it positively. They’re asking, ‘Can we go back? Can we do another week?’. I think that speaks for the experience of being at Live Wire Park itself, but also the positive relationship that they have with employees and Luke. On the last day of the program, I had students asking, ‘Is Luke here? I want to ask for a job’.
“As a school, we focus and pride ourselves on our relationships with community groups; Live Wire Park, and Luke, is an exemplar. Our programs cannot run without these partnerships and community relationships – we value that above everything else. We really appreciate their support and generosity and ability to run these programs.”
Visit Live Wire Park’s website for more information.
