Creating individualised pathways for every child is key to education success, according to Judy Brewer AO.
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The farmer, educator, activist and former Sacred Heart College student will return to Ballarat this week to speak at Damascus College's Bright Futures Fundraising Breakfast.
The breakfast will raise funds to expand the Bright Futures Scholarship to support more Year 7 students each year.
"I think education has changed and now we understand that each child needs a unique pathway," Ms Brewer said.
"Having scholarships for children to be able to access choice is just vital. If you can give children a chance to play to their strengths and have an education that develops them in the area they are motivated in, it goes a long way towards making a very good human."
The Bright Futures Scholarship is a 50 per cent tuition fee waiver currently offered to one Year 7 student for their six years at Damascus College.
It was set up in 2018 to support students and families who are experiencing financial or personal disadvantage, and who demonstrate a strong commitment to social justice activities and contribute to their local community, but may not otherwise be able to afford a Catholic education.
If you play to the strengths of someone and create the pathway for someone to use the skills they have as a strength not a deficit, amazing things are possible.
- Judy Brewer AO
Ms Brewer, the widow of former Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer, will speak at the fundraising breakfast about her time at Sacred Heart College, how education shaped her pathway and the importance of focusing education on children's strengths.
She began boarding at Sacred Heart College in Ballarat at age 11, a long way from the family farm at Mudgegonga in north east Victoria.
While it was a difficult time of transition with the closure of the boarding school and a desire to be back at the farm, Ms Brewer said she developed resilience and formed lifelong friends.
"I was there from Year 7 to Year 10, then I decided I wasn't going back to school," Ms Brewer said.
"I had always been a farm girl and I was so desperate to get back on the farm. I actually ended up doing my Year 11 and 12 by correspondence, which is a bit unusual but it was the compromise we came to."
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Ms Brewer is a nationally recognised speaker and writer on issues relating to neuro-diverse families.
With two adult sons, one of whom is autistic, she has been actively involved in many autism and carer organisations and is a life member of Autism Spectrum Australia, convenor of the Autism Future Leaders program, founder of Autism Asperger's Advocacy Australia and chair of Autism CRC.
"There is probably no community that has more diversity in it than the autistic community," Ms Brewer said.
"I have learnt so much from them that if you play to the strengths of someone and create the pathway for someone to use the skills they have as a strength not a deficit, amazing things are possible.
"Education is different for every child. It must be so individualised. I learnt that through what I did. I was one of those kids that didn't quite fit the box and I had to find my own way through."
Sacred Heart College amalgamated with St Martin's in the Pines and St Paul's Technical College to form Damascus College in 1995.
Tickets are still available for the Damascus College breakfast at www.trybooking.com/BGZVS.
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