Brighter Futures, Summer 2020
News from A Start in Life for the people who make it possible
Good news straight from our families, the support plans behind it, and how A Start in Life is helping students affected by bushfires and drought return to school.
Every story from the 4-page printed newsletter is written out below, so it reads well on a phone and works with screen readers.
In this edition
This edition at a glance
- students in our 2020 support plans
- 200
- schools, plus 15 universities and TAFEs
- 116
- tutor hours planned with 54 tutors
- 1,080
- weeks of work placement supported by our new grants
- 104
Source: Brighter Futures, Summer 2020, pages 3 and 4.
Two-way communication
Families share their stories
The good news stories parents, carers and students send us show what support makes possible. One student started at an agricultural college and is learning wool classing and leather making. Another, after a rough patch, placed an ad for an apprenticeship and now has a boss ready to enrol him at TAFE.
It's the first report we've read together. We sat chatting for half an hour about it!A parent
Individualised support
The support we provide
Every student has a tailored plan each year. That might mean transport to a specialist school, a winter jumper and sports shoes for a Year 2 student, online reading practice, college accommodation for a first-year university student, or fabric for a textiles student's designs.
Three in four of our primary students receive a voucher to choose their own books. Comics, fantasy or non-fiction, we don't mind as long as they're reading.
Program development
Three parts of our program growing in 2020
We now support a program run by teachers at a specialist school, which has helped 46 students build friendships and manage their emotions. We fund tutors to fill gaps in English and Maths before they snowball. And our new work placement grants have supported 104 weeks of placements in fields from radiology to aviation.
Bushfire and drought relief
Support for all
The summer bushfires came on top of drought in many rural communities. We are prioritising support for students whose school, home or family has been affected, including students who never needed our help before, and replacing resources that were destroyed or left behind.
The newsletter as printed
Tap a page to open the PDF at that page, or download the whole edition.
Page 2
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Help a student make a smooth return to school
A gift today funds the essentials, tutoring and skills programs that help a student from a family doing it tough stay at school and believe in what they can do.
22 April 2020
