Community Engagement Conversations: August 2019 - Where to After School

The Community Engagement team have been busy attending Post School Options Expos across the state. At these expos, we meet many worried parents and carers and equally excited students. Not to mention dedicated teachers and Principals!

All life transition stages can be daunting, as most mean changes to routine and at least some services and supports.

The transition from school to post-school activities is an important period for young people. To make informed decisions about their future after leaving school, young people and their families and carers need access to comprehensive information about their choices.

Many young people with disability require additional planning and support to ensure they successfully transition from school to post-school activities.

For all students, regardless of your current funding status, the Post School Options Expo held regionally throughout NSW are amazing "one-stop-shops", full of resources, information and connections with local employment, vocational training and tertiary education providers.

If you are interested in attending one in your region, ask the Careers Teacher at your school or jump onto the events calendar. They are free to attend.

If you are a participant of the NDIS, there is the School Leaver Employment Supports (SLES) program, which is an early intervention approach for Year 12 school leavers. It is designed to support transition from school to employment. Providers who deliver SLES help young people prepare, look for and gain employment. They also work with them to provide meaningful, individualised capacity building activities so they can achieve their employment goals. Funding for SLES can be included in a participant’s NDIS plan. The aim of SLES is to build a participant’s ability and confidence to work with a Disability Employment Service (DES).

For those students who are interested in employment who are not NDIS participants or do not have or require SLES funding there are a number of services available to assist students to find work, transition to work and with support at work.

These services include:

• Centrelink
• JobAccess
• Job Services Australia
• Disability Employment Services (DES)
• Australian Disability Enterprise

To find out more about any of these services or to get a list of DES providers in your region contact our FREE Info line on 1800 029 904. You can also do your own directory search via our website.

Choose from the subcategory list on the left and adding your postcode on the right before clicking on search. Easy!! For those students who wish to go onto tertiary education, a Disability Coordination Officer (NDCO) Program aims to assist working-age people with disability to be better supported to successfully transition to, and participate fully in, tertiary education and subsequent employment. There is a NDCO in every region of the country, and we can assist you to find the NDCO in your region.

There is so much support out there if you know where to look.

All the very best to those students moving on from school this year.