A GROUP of young people who may have felt ‘on the outer’ in mainstream education and unable to tolerate the demands of the normal school regimen have, nevertheless, achieved success in the classroom. This week they graduated as Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning students at the Local Education and Employment Program (LEEP) at Longbeach Place Community Centre, Chelsea. LEEP is a campus of Westall Secondary College that caters for young people who do not fit into the normal education groove. “A number have faced multiple hurdles in their lives and, for them to choose education and to complete their senior…
Author: Stephen Taylor
WHO to believe? Either Kingston’s crime rates are rising, falling or staying the same. But an assessment of claims by Liberal and Labor candidates contesting this month’s state election certainly doesn’t make the situation any clearer. Kingston police declined to comment, perhaps mindful of the turmoil that surrounded former Victoria Police commissioner Simon Overland’s release of crime statistics on the eve of the 2010 state election, when law and order was a similar politically sensitive issue. Mordialloc MP Lorraine Wreford says crime is down 9.9 per cent since 2009, or 2.9 per cent last year, while her opponents, the ALP…
THE School of Hard Knocks Frankston Chapter choir had its first “come and try” day last Wednesday, with around 55 prospective choir members, volunteers and agency workers attending the launch at the Uniting Church in High St. “It was the first day of engaging with the choir and it was very exciting,” patron and choirmaster Jonathan Welch said. It will be running every Wednesday until mid-December. “We still have a few hurdles to overcome but the important thing for us is that we are able to rely on the support of community groups. It’s about the community getting together to…
DETECTING on average one melanoma each business day on patients from Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula has made Peninsula Skin Cancer Centre one of the busiest clinics in Australia. But it’s an achievement that leaves Dr Sally Shaw* cold. “A large number of baby boomers have grown up tanning at the beach or in solariums in their youth and are now presenting with skin cancers,” she said. “And we are seeing many young people presenting with basal cell cancers on their faces.” The clinic was last week named overall winner and best personal services winner in the Frankston Excellence in…
A SEVERE physical disability hasn’t prevented Frankston High School student Adam Goodridge from completing his Year 12 studies. He inspires his classmates – and even his senior campus principal, Helen Wilson. And, as a salute to his achievements, Adam has been presented with the school’s Optima Semper award reflecting the motto, ‘Of Best Always’. Adam has had athetoid quadriplegic cerebral palsy since birth, due to damage to his brain while it was developing. Even though he is unable to physically speak or write, he uses a speech device as well as a laptop to communicate with his teachers and fellow…