Glendyne educating Hervey Bay youth for 20 years
It opened on a former pineapple farm at Nikenbah with just five students, and now Carinity Education Glendyne is celebrating 20 years of educating Fraser Coast youth.
The co-educational independent school in Hervey Bay provides education, vocational training and lifestyle enablement skills for students having difficulty succeeding in traditional mainstream schools.
The school welcomed its first students in 1998, five young men who had experienced extremely adverse life circumstances.
“When it opened, Glendyne was a Youth Training Centre and was solely funded as a Baptist Community Ministry,” Carinity Education Glendyne Principal Dale Hansen says.
“Lessons taught beneath the pineapple farmhouse consisted mainly of literacy, numeracy, practical farm skills and welding, delivered under the umbrella of the Brisbane School of Distance Education.
“Despite their history, the initial student group of five disadvantaged young men expressed the same desire to make a success of their lives. And that’s the same of the students who have since attended the school.”
Fast-forward two decades and 120 young men and women now attend the school, which has delivered hundreds of positive educational outcomes for students who previously struggled in mainstream schooling.
Carinity Education Glendyne caters to students in upper primary and secondary school, Years 6 to 12, including at-risk and disengaged youth who have struggled to overcome personal barriers and challenges.
“Students benefit from a welcoming environment, smaller class sizes and a specialised curriculum and enjoy higher levels of staff support that is usually not available in mainstream schools,” Dale says.
“The school has helped disadvantaged youth and students who have been suspended or expelled from other schools, to transition to become valuable contributors to their community.”
Students at Carinity Education Glendyne, formerly Glendyne Education and Training Centre, can undertake accredited vocational training courses in fields such as hospitality, construction, retail, outdoor recreation, engineering, furnishing and IT, as part of their senior curriculum.
“Often students who may struggle with regular academic school work in the classroom have an aptitude for hands-on work skills, and flourish while undertaking vocational training,” Dale says.
“Being able to give our older students the opportunity to undertake vocational training opens up many more career pathways for them once they graduate from secondary school.
“As well as obtaining the industry skills and knowledge required to make them job ready, the Certificate courses will also teach students valuable life skills they can take with them into the wider community.”
Carinity Education Glendyne is operated by Carinity, a not-for-profit outreach of Queensland Baptists. It is one of Carinity’s four schools, the others being at Rockhampton, Gladstone and Brisbane.
“We hope to educate students and teach them a range of life skills, to bring purpose and direction into these young people’s lives and hope for a better future,” Carinity CEO Jon Campbell says.
To find out more about Carinity Education Glendyne or to enquire about enrolments visit www.glendyne.qld.edu.au or phone 4128 6199.
