Wednesday, 29 October 2025

 Steve McGHIE (Melton) (10:00): Over the last couple of weeks I have had the great opportunity to get out into Melton to visit some of our local schools offering non-traditional learning environments. I was able to visit both Djerriwarrh Community & Education Services and Melton Secondary College to check out their Next Step program. I know that the traditional school environment is not for everyone, and let me tell you, the kids in these non-traditional programs are thriving. At Djerriwarrh, after checking out the incredible construction works taking place to build new state-of-the-art classrooms for these kids to learn in, we headed into a great morning tea to chat with some of the students at the school. The students spoke openly about their experiences before joining Djerriwarrh, sharing how they rarely attended school. Now they are showing up every day and kicking goals. I look forward to returning to the school at the end of the year to see the progress of the construction and again in 2026 to see the students settled and learning in their new classrooms.

I was also blown away by the Next Step program and their pilot graduates for 2025. Next Step is a program run out of the lead program at Lendlease in conjunction with Bendigo TAFE. Of the 18 students at Melton Secondary who started the 15-week program, 17 have graduated. These were students who were disengaged from school, but since starting the program they have had attendance of 80 per cent. Now many of the students want to seek apprenticeships, and they will be able to do so at the new Melton TAFE. Over 15 weeks these kids learned how to use power tools and create picnic tables for both their school and the Melton hospital crew to enjoy. I look forward to seeing it continue and grow into the future, hopefully beyond just construction and into other areas.