SUSPENSION ‘LIKE BEING SENT HOME FOR A HOLIDAY’
FOR Gold Coast students such as Chas Henry, suspensions were considered a break from school, not a punishment to be feared.
Now employed as a barista, the 16-year-old says it was only the help of outside education options like the PCYC’s Booyah program and the Helensvale Learning College that helped him find his path.
“I enjoyed school but I wasn’t the sort of kid to be really good at class,” he said. “I’d just do stupid stuff without thinking.”
Chas was first suspended aged 12 at Wellington Point School for vandalising a teacher’s car.
“It was peer pressure and I was stupid enough to go through with it. It was even one of the teachers I liked.”
Chas said he spent the week at home completing the homework he was given, but soon ran out. “I did the work, but apart from that I sat around and waited.”
Two years later, Chas was suspended from Ormeau Woods State High School.
“I was sent home and really didn’t have much to do again,” he said. “There wasn’t anything practical about it. I always thought it was pointless to suspend us.
“I think a better step would have been not to send us home for a holiday, but keep us at school or check up on us while we are away.”
Chas’s mother, Louise Henry, also questioned the point of sending children home for non-violent issues.
“I know schools work hard, they do communicate with you, and I understand if the kids are a threat to other children,” Ms Henry said.
“But kids like Chas are also sent home with only a little bit of work, when all they really need is one-onone time to learn.”
Ms Henry said Helensvale Learning College and the PCYC Project Booyah had changed her son.
“I have seen a huge change in him, in his confidence and self-esteem,” she said. “They helped him blitz his classes, get his licence and found him a job.”
The Booyah project takes kids out of school and challenges them to develop through skill development, vocational training and mentoring. Chas hopes to start an electrical apprenticeship soon. THE student hangout The Hub at Southport is looking to expand next month as students celebrate the venue’s first birthday.
The Hub, a place for students to meet, study, hold events and connect with each other has proven popular with local and international university undergraduates.
The work is due to begin on August 23.
Study Gold Coast CEO Shannon Willoughby said more than 5000 students had visited the hub since it opened in August last year.
“Local and international students from 77 countries have used the space, not just as a place to study, but also to hold social events, case management for multicultural students as well as resume writing and job opportunity courses,” she said.
“We wanted the hub to be an extension of their living room, a place to share ideas and share their energy.”
Mayor Tom Tate said the hub was a place for students to “know they weren’t alone”.