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24,000 disadvantaged students to benefit from new funding to support their education

06 March 2017

The Australian government’s commitment of $48 million over four years to The Smith Family’s flagship educational support program is an investment in the future of thousands of disadvantaged children, says national children’s education charity The Smith Family.

“This will be life-changing for thousands of disadvantaged children across Australia,” said Dr Lisa O’Brien, CEO of The Smith Family. “This funding will enable The Smith Family to significantly expand our educational support activities to reach an additional 24,000 children living in highly disadvantaged communities.

“Right now there are 1.1 million young Australians living in poverty. For these children, there are many barriers to overcome. Too often, family struggles at home can affect a child’s schooling, yet we know education is key to setting that child up for life,” Dr O’Brien added.

As the largest charity providing educational support for disadvantaged Australian children, The Smith Family last year reached 33,195 students through the Learning for Life program, which provides a combination of financial assistance, personal support and targeted programs to ensure long-term participation in education. The support complements, and is in addition to, what is offered by schools – with most support provided outside of school hours.

Data gathered by The Smith Family over the last four years demonstrates the program is working, with students benefitting from higher Year 12 completion rates and improved educational and employment outcomes. In 2015, 84 per cent of former Learning for Life students were engaged in employment, education or training, a year after leaving the program.

“Given the scale of the need and the proven effectiveness of our Learning for Life program, this funding commitment from the Australian government will be transformational for thousands of disadvantaged children who will be supported throughout their schooling,” said Dr O’Brien.

“Already, as a result of the government funding, we have been able to extend the program to 3,000 additional students. Smith Family staff are now working with our partner schools to reach thousands more students in need.”

Dr O’Brien added that the Australian government’s decision to fund the program recognises The Smith Family’s proven ability to demonstrate effectiveness.

“We track the progress of all students on the Learning for Life program from the day they join the program to 12 months after they leave. This ongoing research and evaluation ensures that the program remains relevant and effective, and continues to make a measurable difference to the children and young people we support,” Dr O’Brien said.

“For some time now it has been our ambition to grow the reach of our program. Now with this new funding we can do this – and we’re thrilled that we can help another 24,000 disadvantaged young Australians to thrive in their education and create a better future for themselves.”

About the Learning for Life program

Parental engagement is central to the Learning for Life program, which provides support in three ways:

Financial assistance for core education-related expenses, including books and uniforms.
A local Coordinator who works with the child’s family and school to encourage and support their
long-term participation in education.
Access to a range of Smith Family learning support and mentoring programs, including literacy and numeracy, career and post-school pathways, as well as digital and financial literacy initiatives for parents and carers.

A unique feature of Learning for Life is the long-term nature of the program. Students can start on the program in their first year of primary school and continue right through to the completion of tertiary education. Referrals to the program are made through partnerships with hundreds of schools in over 90 highly disadvantaged communities across Australia where The Smith Family works.

Students on the Learning for Life program are highly disadvantaged and face the following challenges:

All are living in low-income families.

40 per cent of students and 50 per cent of parents/carers have a health or disability issue.
Over half live in a single-parent family.
Over 70 per cent have a parent/carer who is not in paid employment.
60 per cent have a parent/carer who has not completed Year 12.
One in five students in Years 5 to 12 has attended four or more schools.
Around 6,000 (18 per cent) are of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background.

Find out more about the Learning for Life program: https://www.thesmithfamily.com.au/programs/learning-for-life

Media contacts:

Andrew Dickson | National Media Manager (National) - 0421 285 529 | andrew.dickson@thesmithfamily.com.au
Carla Horton | Senior Media Advisor (QLD & WA) - 0423 618 776 | carla.horton@thesmithfamily.com.au
Reid Jermyn | Media Advisor (VIC, SA & NT) - 0412 803 566 | reid.jermyn@thesmithfamily.com.au
Ben Chenoweth | Senior Media Advisor (NSW, ACT & TAS) - 0413 346 934 | ben.chenoweth@thesmithfamily.com.au

The Smith Family is a national children’s education charity that helps young Australians experiencing disadvantage to create better futures for themselves through harnessing the power of education. We partner with around 800 Australian schools and work with over 162,000 children and young people experiencing disadvantage access our education support programs to help them overcome . For more information, visit thesmithfamily.com.au