Grants 2025: Project Summaries

Ascot Vale Heights School

Ascot Vale Heights School is a small special school, located in Ascot Vale in inner north-west Melbourne, catering to students with intellectual disabilities spanning Foundation to Year 12.

The grant will be used to create a sensory garden, providing a therapeutic outdoor space for students with diverse needs. The garden will include tactile plants, aromatic herbs, colourful flowers, and sensory pathways to stimulate sight, touch, smell, and sound. Students will actively participate in designing, planting, and maintaining the garden, fostering skills and confidence. Long-term benefits of the sensory garden have the potential to be profound for the students. The garden will support social and emotional development and offer a shared space where students can practice cooperation and communication during group activities. The garden will also boost physical health by encouraging movement, fine motor skills, and outdoor engagement. For students with sensory processing challenges, regular exposure to a sensory garden can gradually increase their tolerance for various stimuli, enhancing their ability to navigate everyday environments.

Cire Community School

Cire Community School is a co-educational independent community school located in the north-eastern region near the Yarra Valley.

The school will use the grant to develop a bushland space within the school as a retreat and supplementary learning area. It will fund the purchase of native plants and materials and provide cultural experiences to enhance students’ understanding of environmental and Indigenous perspectives related to their local environment. Studies have shown that more time in nature improves mental health. This project will enable students to spend time in nature and learn and contribute to its growth, giving them a sense of ownership and care. The project will provide hands-on learning experiences to support students’ skill development and relationship with the community. By building connections with local environmental and outdoor groups, students will develop crucial work-ready skills.

Mansfield Secondary College

Mansfield Secondary College is a coeducational government secondary school located in north-eastern regional Victoria.

The school will use the grant to provide start-up funding for VCE Vocational Major (VM) student-run small businesses as part of integrated Personal Development Skills (PDS) and Work-Related Skills (WRS) projects. The money raised from the small businesses, will be used to transform two classrooms into an ‘Applied Learning Hub’ dedicated to VCE VM students. Students will work in small groups, each dedicated to a particular fundraising campaign. From designing and selling their own merchandise, to operating a snack cart, hosting barbeques, and planning the hub’s design and launch, the project will help the students by integrating teamwork, problem-solving, and communication skills into every task. It reflects what applied learning is all about: taking knowledge and skills from the classroom and using them in meaningful, practical ways to prepare students for their future careers and pathways.

Mount Erin College 

Mount Erin College is a co-educational government secondary school located in south-east metropolitan Melbourne.

The school will use the grant to fund the establishment of the ‘It Takes a Village’ program. It will involve student-led applied learning engaging VCE VM and Victorian Pathways Certificate (VPC) students in a range of intergenerational hands-on recreational activities in collaboration with residents of a local retirement community. Designed with student agency at its core, the project will give students the opportunity to shape and deliver activities that align with their individual strengths, interests, and career aspirations. This initiative will strengthen community ties and offer immediate benefits by teaching practical skills in customer service, business management and teamwork. Long-term, students will build confidence, feel valued, and gain a sense of purpose through real-life successes.

Nepean School

Nepean School is a co-educational government secondary school catering for young people with a physical disability located in south-east metropolitan Melbourne.

Nepean School VPC students will use the funding to launch a clothing label informed by lived experience of disability and passion for contemporary design. The project aims to train students in all facets of small enterprise, building skills that will transfer directly into their early careers. The initiative will encompass a total-operation experience, including market research, brand conception, budgeting, design, batch production, advertising and fulfilment. The funding will primarily be used to attract quality business mentorship and to provide the capital to enable the production phase of the operation. This is key to opening the full range of project tasks to student participation. Providing concrete experience brings a reality and significance to learning which cannot be encountered in theoretical modes of teaching. 

North Geelong Secondary College

North Geelong Secondary College is a government co-educational secondary school located in south-western Victoria.

The school will use the grant to fund the creation of a student-led podcast they plan to call ‘Rising Voices of NGSC’. This will involve VCE VM students creating content, learning how to use industry-grade equipment, and teaching others. Students will interview members of their local community regularly, broadcasting stories from people around Geelong. The school has arranged community connections with Catholic Care and Plus Radio Network in Geelong and will engage podcasting mentors from the local area. The podcasting project will offer a unique applied learning opportunity to expand the ways VCE VM students can engage with their education and community. The funds will support low socioeconomic, EAL and disability inclusion VCE VM students to gain skills in the broadcasting industry and grow their confidence in teamwork and communication.

Somerville Secondary College

Somerville Secondary College is a government school located in south-eastern metropolitan Melbourne.

The school will use the grant to fund a project in which VCE VM students will collaborate with the Rotary Club of Somerville Tyabb to restore 18 garden benches for the Peninsula Health Palliative Care Unit. Students will sand, repair, and repaint the benches, enhancing their practical skills and contributing to a meaningful community project. The project will be highly student-centred, giving participants ownership of planning restoration tasks, allocating resources, and solving problems, drawing on their unique strengths and interests. This personalised approach will offer students opportunities to explore potential careers in trades, project management, or community services. It will foster student engagement, community partnership, and a sense of accomplishment while creating a lasting positive impact on the local community.

Stawell Secondary College

Stawell Secondary College is a co-educational government school located in western regional Victoria.

Stawell Secondary College VCE VM students will use the grant to design and build a seed-to-harvest edible garden, enabling them to extend their skills and knowledge in horticulture, sustainability and maintenance. The students will bring the grown produce to local markets and ‘pop up’ school cafes, where they will also learn hospitality and marketing skills. This initiative will establish student pathways in a diverse range of areas, including design, horticulture, plumbing and irrigation, building, business, marketing and accounting, retail and event and project management. The project will also teach students how to grow, harvest and prepare healthy food. Experienced mentors will share their knowledge and skills in a fun, hands-on and sociable environment of community markets and student-run cafes.

For more information, visit the Lynne Kosky Memorial Applied Learning Grants page.