About the School Focused Youth Service
The School Focused Youth Service (SFYS) program is available to students in years 5 to 12 across select government, Catholic and independent schools each year. It aims to address student disengagement and chronic student absenteeism.
The SFYS program is delivered by 34 local agencies around the state, which are funded to work with selected schools each year to deliver:
- targeted short-term interventions for students who are vulnerable to, or showing signs of, disengaging from school
- capacity building for schools and families to better support identified students at risk of disengagement and chronic absenteeism.
Accessing the service
The Department of Education’s regional offices work together with contracted SFYS agencies to nominate schools in each department area to receive the SFYS program.
The SFYS program is then offered to the selected government, Catholic and independent schools, which includes planning and delivering short-term interventions that are targeted to student engagement needs.
For more information on accessing the SFYS program, please contact the Wellbeing Health and Engagement Division at sfys@education.vic.gov.au
SFYS agencies
The agencies that deliver the SFYS program are comprised of local government, community health and community sector organisations. These agencies have expertise in delivering or facilitating programs that support young people and their families in their local communities.
Below are the current SFYS agencies by department region, area, and local government area (LGA).
South-Eastern Victoria Region
North-Eastern Victoria Region
North-Western Victoria Region
South-Western Victoria Region
SFYS and Navigator programs
The SFYS program operates alongside the Navigator Program, an initiative funded to enable a holistic case management approach to supporting vulnerable young people who have already disengaged with education.
Navigator is targeted at supporting young people who have already disengaged from education and do not attend school, where as SFYS targets students who are still attending school, to provide support to prevent further disengagement.
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