Ardoch’s 2021 impact

2021 was a difficult year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with volunteers unable to visit classrooms, students unable to attend excursions outside school grounds and incursions not being able to physically take place at schools. However, this did not stop us from delivering our education programs to support more than 20,000 children.

With a focus to future-proof Ardoch’s program delivery through the use of technology (60% of Ardoch’s program delivery was able to be done virtually in 2021), our 1136 volunteers provided over 1300 volunteer hours of support to help children pushed into disadvantage.

There were five main areas of Ardoch’s strategic adaptation in 2021, which included:

• Virtual programming and learning: there was a focus on Mock Interviews, Writer in Residence, Project Rockit, Wildlife Xposure, Project Magnify, Learning Through Lunch and Literacy Buddies and Numeracy Buddies.
• Re-aligning education partnerships model: we built a new partnership cost model, re-naming and re-grouping partner sights in hubs, new Early Years coordinator role.
• Increased focus on building “added value” partnerships: these included Tool Box Education, Precious Plastics; TOM; a paid photographer, Diggers Foundation, Ultimo TAFE in Sydney and seven regional TAFES in Victoria.
• NSW expansion: we built partnerships with the first three Ardoch partner secondary schools and expanded the number and diversity of program delivery.
• Program development focus leading to increased efficiency and flexible delivery in 2021 and beyond: this year represented the first year of two new roles: Program Development Coordinator and Early Years Coordinator.

Our impact
We were thrilled to see the impact of our education support programs via a selection of survey results. Some of these included:

• 98% of students at Learning Through Lunch named new foods they tried at the event.
• 77% of students participating in Speed Careers said the program will impact on decisions they make about school subjects.
• 48% of students participating in Mock Interviews said they think they are more likely to try to get a part-time or full-time job.
• 84% of teachers reported they noticed students cooperating with one another during and after the Broadening Horizons STEM excursion/incursion.

Going forward
Despite challenges, the difference Ardoch programs are making by working with vulnerable children is clear, and we aim to make an even bigger impact in 2022. To make a difference and support our children’s education charity, consider becoming a regular donor, https://give.ardoch.org.au/nowmorethanever