OUR STORY

Yuille Park Community College is a multi-campus school providing an innovative curriculum based around an inquiry model from pre-school to secondary school.

Two additional Yuille Park Community College campuses provide flexible learning opportunities for Ballarat youth.

The Yuille Park Young Parents Campus offers young pregnant or parenting students the opportunity to study at a Senior Secondary Level including VCAL. The success of the program is due in part to the ‘holistic approach from staff and community partnerships that support the students learning and social and emotional wellbeing.

Students and their babies are supported by an individualised learning plan (ILP) developed by teaching and educational support staff. To be eligible you need to be under 21, pregnant or already have a child and not have completed VCE or higher than a certificate III. 

Peter Innes founded the ‘Young Mums Program’ in 2006, aiming to connect and engage pregnant or parenting teenagers in an educational setting. He designed a program around the barriers to success which included the following domains: wellbeing, financial, legal, transport, housing, education and material needs.   

The foundations of this program still underpin the ‘Young Parents Campus ‘today.

The design of the YPP Campus is specialised to support the needs of parenting students. A crèche area which allows students to bring along their babies/toddler is an addition to the facility. Learning areas include a big registered kitchen from which students hone their hospitality skills and prepare for the pop-up café that the students operate each week at the local Ballarat Community Health Centre, Lucas. There are also some other cosy learning areas that enable students to fully engage in small learning groups with access to great IT and to a wide range of project specific equipment.