By Esther Lauaki
A new program connecting Manor Lakes students with the community is bearing fruit.
Manor Lakes College VCAL students have been mucking in for the past few weeks on a garden upgrade at The Smith Family children’s charity headquarters in Werribee as part of the WynTasker program.
WynTasker – a play on the outsourcing app AirTasker – offers assistance to community groups and businesses that need tasks completed.
It was the brainchild of The Smith Family partnerships for education manager Kristy Gray.
“The Smith Family has a strong presence in the Wyndham community, and recently we have been working with Manor Lakes College to connect their VCAL students with local community groups and businesses,” Ms Gray said.
“We wanted to create a program that helped students who were at risk of disengaging and leaving school early make the most of learning opportunities outside of the normal school environment.”
She told Star Weekly that she hoped through WynTasker, students could apply the skills and knowledge they learned in a broader environment. “With engagement being a core component of WynTasker, participating students are invited to have direct input into the projects they are involved in – with the inaugural project being an upgrade of the garden in The Smith Family Werribee office,” Ms Gray said. “Students planned and pitched ideas before work began.” Ms Gray said the success of WynTasker has been “impressive”
“Not only just the visual results of the students’ hard work but, more importantly, there have been increases in attendance and work output by those participating,” she said.
“The new endeavour has already led to one student already being offered an apprenticeship.”
