Key College, Chapel School Campus (Merrylands) was opened in 2004 and offers medium to long term educational programs for young people. Many students are at risk of becoming disengaged as well as those who are already disconnected from mainstream education. Individual Learning Plans are developed to assist students in years 9 -10 to gain the knowledge and skills required to work towards achieving their Record of School Achievement (RoSA), or to access further training or employment.
Generally, there are 10-12 students to one teacher ratio with an emphasis on individualised quality teaching.
The majority of students are from a Pacific Islander, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander or Anglo-Saxon background. Other backgrounds include African, Iraqi, Lebanese, Vietnamese, Maltese, Italian and Chilean.
The school prides itself on its innovative approach to working with students who are unable or unwilling to participate in mainstream education. We provide disengaged and disconnected youth with an opportunity to continue their educational studies in a highly supportive, caring and nurturing environment.
Our School offers a broad curriculum catering for the academic, psychological and vocational needs our students. At the beginning of each school term Individual Learning Plans (ILP) are designed and implemented to facilitate learning needs and establish individual goals.
Many students require additional support to strengthen their basic language skills, and a variety of literacy and numeracy strategies are introduced to cater for a range of circumstances, including interrupted schooling, family breakdowns, drug and alcohol problems and cultural factors. Students’ literacy levels range from critical loss to average and occasionally, above average.
Programs are designed to have relevance to the lives of our students within a social context. Subject content is often integrated to allow essential scaffolding of knowledge for our students to maximise understanding and transfer of knowledge.