“The first time they feel like they belong”: Montague School is turning lives around

By Katie Johnson

With hundreds of students and intense academic pressure, many kids fall through the cracks of mainstream school.

For those with a mild intellectual disability or a troubled home life, it can be even more difficult to keep up with the demands of being a teenager.

Montague School principal Nathan Vogt said that for kids who hadn’t experienced success at mainstream school, Montague provided a safe and supportive environment for them to thrive.

“We’re unique to most schools in the way we operate as we focus on individualised learning plans for students aged 15 to 19 who have a mild intellectual disability or who have disengaged,” Mr Vogt said.

“All of our students through no fault of their own have not had success in mainstream schools, so we work on re-engaging them.”

The Montague School currently has 42 students enrolled, with an average of eight to nine pupils per class.

The curriculum is tailored to each student but focuses on providing a pathway to post-school life via successful completion of the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL).

Mr Vogt said that by working with each student personally, the school had been incredibly successful in transitioning kids into apprenticeships or employment.

“Our teachers work with the students one-on-one to create a bespoke program which has been incredibly successful,” Mr Vogt said. “We work to understand who the student is as a person and how they learn and tailor the program so that instead of having them sit in a classroom where the teacher is talking to the group.”

As part of the individualised program, the students have a large amount of voice and agency in designing how they learn.

The school offers a plethora of speciality classes including cooking, art, yoga, dance, sport, as well as creative strategies for teaching numeracy and literacy.

Mr Vogt said that by focusing on the students as individuals they have been able to re-engage students who were bullied or had trouble with group work.

“For a lot of these kids this is the first time they’ve found a school where they feel like they belong,” Mr Vogt said.

“We had students who hated school and now they love it, which is a testament to the hard work teachers put in and the relationships they’ve created with the students.”

The Montague School has undergone many shifts since the building was established in 1886.

Initially opening as State School No. 2784 with 373 students, the school became the Bell Street Special School in 1913 after a push by the Victorian government to establish more special schools in the state.

A polio epidemic in 1938 then saw classrooms at Montague used as a paralysis clinic and later as a school for the victims of polio.

The Montague School was renamed in 1977, and currently stands as one of the oldest specialist schools in Victoria.

Mr Vogt said it was a “fantastic” experience working in a specialist school due to the close relationships formed with each student.

“I love working here, we have a great group of interesting and diverse kids,” Mr Vogt said.

“The teachers here are also some of the best I’ve ever worked with, too.” •

For more information: montague.vic.edu.au