Bendigo FLO

Bendigo Flexible Learning Options (BFLO) is a small government school that provides specialised support to youth who are at high risk of not continuing with their secondary education.

The Bendigo Flexible Learning Options (BFLO) is a partnership between the five government secondary schools and Kalianna Special School in Bendigo.

BFLO opened on the first school day in February 2017. BFLO provides specialised support to secondary school-aged youth, who are enrolled in one of Bendigo’s government secondary schools, but are at risk of not completing schooling. BFLO supports these students to get back on-track with schooling. If you know of a young person, or you are a young person who does not attend school or feels as though you will drop out of school, BFLO can help turn things around. BFLO’s success is measured by the number of students who move on from BFLO to happily return to their local school and go on to complete Year 12 or do further training leading to employment.

Bendigo Flexible Learning Options (BFLO) is a small government school that provides specialised support to youth who are at high risk of not continuing with their secondary education.

BFLO is administered by Weeroona College Bendigo (WCB) on behalf of Bendigo’s six government secondary schools: Bendigo Senior Secondary College, Bendigo South East College, Crusoe Secondary College, Eaglehawk Secondary College and Kalianna Special School. Therefore, BFLO is a second campus of WCB; all BFLO students are enrolled by WCB. All BFLO’s policies, have been endorsed by the Principal and the College Council of Weeroona College Bendigo.

Enrolment is by referral. All referrals are considered by the BFLO Intake Panel: this panel convenes each term to consider the merits of all referrals. This process ensures that ultimate responsibility to engage students, rests with the six government secondary schools in Bendigo. It also ensures that only students in genuine need of specialised support, beyond that which mainstream secondary schools can be reasonably expected to provide, are referred.

Approval is based on evidence provided by: the referring school, the student, the family or carer and external services that are supporting the young person. This evidence is used to determine whether the transfer to BFLO is in the best interests of the young person. Approval also takes into account what steps have been taken by the referring school to maintain the young person’s engagement in the mainstream setting.

Only the 6 government secondary schools may refer students to BFLO: candidates must be enrolled in one of these schools (see Conditions for Referral to BFLO). Each referral must be endorsed by the school’s Principal. By signing the Principal’s Endorsement, the Principal of the referring school, is making a clear commitment that the referred student will be welcomed back to school when the student is able to successfully participate in schooling.

The BFLO Team (leadership, teachers and paraprofessional staff) work closely with the student and the significant people in their lives (family and carers, case workers, etc.) to plan their safe and successful transition into BFLO. Some students will begin with a full 4-day-week schedule. Others will begin with a smaller schedule, comprising of just one session on each of two days in the first week. The intention is to create positive experiences from the beginning and build on this success. So, students on partial schedules (half days, some days of the week) will increase their BFLO contact time as they develop their capacity to participate positively in the program.

Students referred to Bendigo Flexible Learning Options (BFLO) are at high risk of discontinuing their secondary education.

Eligibility for Bendigo FLO extends to students for whom:

• The Principal of the child’s local secondary school is prepared to endorse the child’s referral. and
• The referring school can demonstrate that all other educational options and reasonable adjustments to engage the student in school have been exhausted, or
• Reintegration into school environments is no longer a feasible option due to a long history of school disengagement, poor experiences of school, school exclusion or irretrievable breakdown of the student-school relationship, or
• A school-based learning environment is seen to be inappropriate to meet the child’s needs, or
• There is a high level of complexity, including co-occurring risk-factors. This may include situations where the child requires individualised attention, as they may place themselves, or other students, or teachers, at risk of harm.

Enrolments at BFLO are not time-limited: some students may be ready to return to their local secondary school within a semester, while other students may need BFLO’s support for two or more years. Students’ readiness to transition back to school is decided collectively with the student, the significant people in their lives (family and carers, case workers etc.) and their destination school’s Wellbeing, Teaching and Leadership staff. Note: the destination school is the school/organisation that best meets the current pathway needs of the student and, therefore, may not be the school that referred the student to BFLO.

At BFLO, we believe that unconditional positive regard is a maxim of education seated within a safe, kind and inclusive environment. BFLO promotes positive behaviour by relationships that are wholesome, consistent, helpful, secure, and trusting. Positive behaviour is learnt and occurs when teachers explicitly teach and then model safe and kind habits to students and students have multiple opportunities to practice undertaking these safe and kind habits. Habits which include: accepting, encouraging, listening, negotiating difference, respecting, supporting and trusting.

BFLO supports students to develop the personal capabilities and the literacy and numeracy skills needed to successfully navigate the many relationships, expectations and learning tasks met every day in secondary school.

BFLO values S.K.I.L.L. and Empowerment. Our community is:

Safe:
Everyone’s wellbeing is of equal and high importance

Kind:
We treat ourselves and all others with unconditional positive regard

Inclusive:
We respect diversity and community

Learning 4 Life:
We strive for fulfilment through personal growth and sharing our skills, knowledge and wisdom

Empowerment:
We can be who we chose to be; we can make choices that improve the quality of our lives and the lives of our loved ones and our community.