Following a full evaluation in June 2000 by the Education Department, the program and partnership with Fairbridge has been recommended to continue. The aims of the program are to assist young people not accessing education to become regular attendees, to assist those young people not experiencing success in traditional educational settings achieve improved literacy and numeracy outcomes, and provide the support to young people so they are able to achieve the minimum standards necessary to access further educational and vocational options, or employment. The program generally has a maximum of ten students enrolled at any one time. To date we have had over 30 students come through the program. The atmosphere of Fairbridge and the rural environment sets a positive tone for students and they enjoy doing their schoolwork at the Village.
Students work at their own pace, and, as a result, are happy as they make positive progress.
An important element of the program is the interaction of students with other Fairbridge staff in learning vocational skills on site to gain an understanding of the work environment and the behaviors and skills needed while at the same time assisting Fairbridge with maintenance and renovation tasks. One of the students who successfully completed the program was employed by one of the local businesses. This year we have focussed on improving the infrastructure for the EcoTrack program so that the outcomes for the students continue to improve. This has involved accessing funding to upgrade Classroom 5 to provide a permanent base and to obtain funding for a bus so that the teacher has a dedicated vehicle to transport young people from throughout the region to Fairbridge Village and to work experience sites. The EcoTrack program is an access and bridging education program that is designed as a second chance for post compulsory aged students to achieve their Leavers Certificate.