20+ Years of Impact

Our first program was the Youth Leadership Program which we created in partnership with Local Drug Action Groups LDAG Inc. It was initiated in 2000 to develop youth leaders, enabling them to be proactive within their communities. The Program included a two day training workshop for young people between 14 and 25 to help them be community role models whilst educating and equipping them with the necessary skills and confidence to raise youth awareness of alcohol and other drug related harm amongst their peers. They were then supported to run an alcohol and drug free youth event.

Impact: Over the ten years of this Program, nearly 1000 young people participated and ran over twenty youth events.

The Foundation has partnered with The Smith Family since they started in WA in 2001. Our main support is to the Learning For Life Fogarty Fund which provides additional funds to students involved in the Learning For Life Program. The fund enables students with a talent or passion to participate in educational, sporting, arts or leadership experiences that they otherwise could not afford. The Foundation has also supported The Smith Family’s Swan Extended School Hub program, bringing together four schools to best co-ordinate educational and life-skill programs. In 2018 the Foundation assisted with running their Community Engagement Workshop Series.

Impact: Hundreds of young people have benefited through pursuing their dreams, gaining social skills and building confidence. Much needed support and development has been provided to improve the capacity of schools in low socio-economic communities.

This program, established in 2002, recognises the essential role that teachers have in our society in delivering excellent educational outcomes. The program helps to develop teachers’ research capabilities through the Postgraduate Research Forum, and support and develop teachers through the scholarships and prizes. The Forum provides Higher Degree by Research students the opportunity to showcase their education-related research. Sharing this information with fellow students and across universities enables a broad and valuable dissemination of knowledge. The Program has provided scholarships for pre-service teachers through to those doing their PhDs in education, and the Prizes recognise excellence in teaching.

Impact: Hundreds of teachers have participated in the program. They are encouraged to aim for excellence in education and will be better equipped to positively impact the educational outcomes of thousands of students.

Created by Holyoake, Drumbeat is a music intervention program for at-risk youth. As participants learn drumming techniques using African drums, they are also learning social skills to help them improve relationships, increase co-operation and collaboration and improve their engagement with education. The Foundation first supported Drumbeat in 2003 providing funds to purchase drum kits, then for the production of an online training program so the program could be used in remote and regional areas. In 2014 the Foundation’s support enabled the creation of Drumbeat Quest, a video game helping educators and counsellors engage with young people.

Impact: Over two decades, thousands of young people have engaged in this program helping them to lead healthier and more meaningful lives.

The Centre was established in 2003 to improve teaching and learning in WA, through providing professional development in literacy and numeracy, clinical teaching experiences and conducting research into effective teaching. In 2015 the adjunct ECU Professional Learning Centre was opened at Roseworth Primary School to further support research with the university, and teaching and learning at the school. Scholarships are provided annually to teachers to undertake post graduate studies in Learning Difficulties and prizes are awarded to the most outstanding student in both the Graduate Certificate and Masters of Education Learning Difficulties.

Impact: Through the creation of the scholarships, ECU was able to establish the postgraduate courses in this very important area of Learning Difficulties. Over 150 teachers have received scholarships and over 200 pre-service teachers received experiential learning and provided support to students and their classroom teachers though the literacy and numeracy clinics, enhancing the training of these teachers in WA.

In 2004, the Foundation partnered with the University of Western Australia to retain and develop the brightest and most committed students in WA and provide one of Australia’s premier undergraduate scholarship programs. Scholarships are awarded each year providing comprehensive financial support for the entirety of their degree and a tailored leadership and enterprise program which gives them the opportunity to learn from and have access to, a network of leaders, to help them become the next generation of change makers. The Program has built a network of motivated young leaders who inspire and support each other. The Scholars are also supported to initiate their own ventures and take on leadership roles in their professions and the community.

Impact: 158 outstanding young people have been awarded UWA Fogarty Scholarships and are now contributing to our society in numerous ways including being recognised globally for their talent, gaining leadership roles in their chosen fields and becoming innovators and creators of jobs.

The Scholars are supported to develop their leadership qualities by establishing new initiatives or by taking roles in projects they are passionate about. These include the Fogarty Scholars Association, Fogarty Futures Conference for school age leaders, Bloom student start-up accelerator, Teach, Learn Grow: tuition and mentoring for regional school students, WASTV: Australia’s first student TV station, Futuristic Skills: helping secondary school students develop critical skills and capabilities for the future workforce, Purposeful: helping young people create meaningful futures, and ASEAN: Australian Strategic Youth Partnership.

Impact: Through these initiatives and more, the Scholars are developing their leadership abilities, making a contribution and are really exemplifying the ripple effect in action.

In 2006 the Foundation partnered with Surf Lifesaving WA (SLSWA) to establish the Life Skills For Life Program which provided the life skills of First Aid and CPR training to every year 7 student in Catholic schools throughout the state, and then extended the program to government and independent schools as well. The program included resources for teachers to continue the first aid and resuscitation learning in the classroom. The program provided work experience and leadership opportunities for young SLSWA leaders to deliver the schools training.

Impact: Over five years more than 20,000 students learnt the valuable life skills of resuscitation and first aid and the confidence to step up in an emergency.

In 2005 the Foundation supported Mission Australia to establish the Pathways to Prevention Program which developed seven supported playgroups in a low socioeconomic and culturally diverse community. The program supported young children, their families, schools and communities with early intervention programs designed to support parents in challenging situations and help children to be school ready. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds can start school more than two years developmentally behind their wealthier peers. Without intervention, this gap grows, decreasing the educational outcomes and so the life opportunities for these children.

Impact: Supported playgroups over six years, with over 100 children and 100 parents and carers assisted each year. These children were able to transition more easily to school and their parents were more able to engage and support their children’s learning.

This was developed in 2008 by the Community Development Foundation. With the support of the Fogarty Foundation the Program developed an attendance strategy to engage with the most at-risk students and parents by encouraging and rewarding parents and carers to assist in varied activities across the school. Attendance and participation were exchanged for points which could then be redeemed for incursions, excursions, schools uniforms or food from the canteen.

Impact: By 2011 the number of schools in the program grew to over 70 and expanded nationally, impacting thousands of children and their families. In addition to improved attendance rates, parents developed important life skills and were more able to help their children with their education. The program also expanded to work with other sectors affecting the school community including sport and health.

The Foundation originally supported PICA, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts with Growing Futures Innovators, a scoping study which developed into Spark_ Labs. Spark_Labs utilised contemporary arts to encourage and promote innovation in school students. PICA provided interactive exhibition tours, performances, hands-on workshops at the Institute and at schools, combined with professional learning for teachers. These were designed to develop innovation skills such as creativity, self-efficacy, leadership and risk-propensity.

Impact: Over the three years of the Spark_Labs program more than 100 teachers were able to develop their teaching skills and resources. The Program engaged each year with approximately 30 schools, and over 3,000 students developed much needed skills for their education and further careers, while fostering a more innovative workforce for WA.

Fogarty EDvance was initiated by the Foundation in 2012 to significantly improve the educational outcomes of students in challenging circumstances. It is a three year school improvement program that builds the capacity of school leadership teams to transform the educational outcomes of their students. It is an evidence based program that provides mentors, rich data sets, a cohort of peers and instructional advisers. EDvance is context specific enabling each school team to identify effective practise and translate that practice into their schools. Through the success of EDvance the Foundation now has evidence based practise of successful school leadership and improvement and the needs for teacher education and ongoing development which are required to improve students educational outcomes.

Impact: 148 schools, 500+ school leaders, 63,000+ students. All schools in the program have improved educational outcomes with over 60% demonstrating significant improvement.

Dreamfit created an organisation which enabled engineering students from UWA to provide innovative ideas to develop life changing solutions to people with disabilities. Projects undertaken included a modified ski boat, a trimaran which allows access for an electric wheelchairs, and a bicycle that could be used by children with no arms. The program developed the young engineers’ skills in communication, financial management, practical design and teamwork.

Impact: People with disabilities received life-enhancing equipment, empowering them to overcome challenges and pursue their dreams more actively. Meanwhile, students honed their skills and grew into better engineers.

Fogarty Teaching Intensives focus on high-impact instructional strategies for teaching literacy and numeracy in the early years and middle primary. There is evidence to support the successful application of explicit and direct instruction, particularly for students from disadvantaged communities. Many practitioners are keen to develop skills in this area as part of the ‘toolkit’ for successful teaching. The core aim of the intensives is to provide teachers with both a deep understanding of this evidence based approach and hands-on experience in the delivery of high-impact instruction.

Impact: 600+ teachers and preservice teachers are better equipped to deliver better teaching outcomes to thousands of students.

Waarda is a series of six book which support the literacy needs of indigenous children in primary school by providing them with stories with indigenous characters written by indigenous authors. The series also introduces non-indigenous children to the richness of indigenous stories and storytelling. The series was produced by Fremantle Press. The Foundation funded the printing of 1,000 copies of the Waarda books which were given to eight remote aboriginal communities making them available to children with the least access to literacy resources.

Impact: Indigenous authors were supported to write their stories, children were able to read stories that they could relate to and non-indigenous children learnt stories about our society from a different perspective, while improving literacy skills.

In 2013, with little opportunity for young people to learn computer coding, the Foundation established CoderDojoWA to enable young people aged 7 – 17 (Ninjas) to be creators and not just consumers of technology. The Dojos are part of a global movement of free, volunteer-led, community based computer programming clubs for young people The Foundation provides training, support and networks for the Dojos to be run in schools, libraries, universities, businesses and community centres. What all Dojos share is a uniquely unstructured social learning environment that unleashes the creativity and initiative of young people as self-directed learners.

Impact: To date we have had 150 + Dojos in WA supported by approximately 300 Champions and 600 Mentors with over 4,000 Ninjas now coding and creating

BOOST is a literacy program created and delivered by the Dyslexia SPELD Foundation. It teaches parents of children in Kindergarten through to Year Two about how literacy skills develop and how they can help their children learn to read. BOOST provides workshops and take home materials, developing practical strategies and activities to build their children’s literacy skills, thereby enhancing their learning ability during school and beyond. The Foundation has supported DSF since 2016 to deliver the program free of charge to schools in disadvantaged communities, with a number of them EDvance schools, thereby reaching families most in need of support. From 2020 we are supporting DSF’s Talk4Writing program as well.

Impact: Delivered BOOST to 21 schools reaching 250+ families improving essential literacy skills

The Future is now. The Foundation believes that to drive WA’s long term prosperity we need to be an active participant in the information age. Through EDfutures we are supporting learning that prepares young people for the dynamic and complex challenges of the 21st century: We are exploring the skills that young people need and how education can change to enable world class, engaging and relevant learning. We do this through our EDfutures Community – connecting educators, highlighting great practise, facilitating explorations and developing workshops for future ready classrooms. CoderDojo WA – enabling essential digital skills, and Enterprise – developing initiatives for young people to be able to THINK like an entrepreneur and understand how to BE an entrepreneur, so they can create long term, sustainable economic and social impact.

Impact: Limitless …

Perth Festival brings the world to us through the arts, opening our eyes to new ideas and new ways of looking at life. In 2018 the Fogarty Foundation became the inaugural Patron of the Perth Festival’s Creative Learning Program. This Program is not just about the opportunity for students to attend performances but also to connect with and learn from local and international artists, be part of workshops and for some to create their own work and have it showcased at the Festival to thousands of people. What really drew us to being part of this Program is that it is extending these opportunities to students who wouldn’t normally have this access to the arts – and for some, this is a life-changing experience.

Impact: Each year the Festival connects with at least 50 schools, reaching over 4,500 students, with five of the Festival partnership schools being Fogarty EDvance schools.

Fogarty Literary Award was established to encourage and support young and emerging writers to tell their stories and those of our community. This new award is one of Australia’s most prestigious awards for emerging writers. The Foundation is pleased to be partnering with the Fremantle Press, a leading not for profit publisher who has been producing books in WA promoting our culture, heritage and our stories for over 40 years. The Award includes a significant cash prize and a publishing contract with Fremantle Press. The winner is supported to visit schools and regional areas promoting reading, the writing of books and the telling of Western Australian stories.

Impact: The Award will encourage excellence in writing and assist new Western Australian writers in the development of their career while inspiring and encouraging other young writers in their field.