A new Australian Technical College run by the Sydney Anglican Schools Corporation is set to change the widespread perception that Anglicans are "middle class'.
One of 25 Australia-wide, the Australian Technical College (ATC) Western Sydney opens its doors to its first intake of students this month.
"This is something new, something radical," Dr Scandrett, CEO of Sydney Anglican Schools Corporation (SASC), says. "These kids are the backbone of Australia. They'll be the ones running small businesses in ten years' time."
Dr Scandrett sees the college not only as an opportunity to provide a new kind of education, but as a chance to change the perception of Sydney Anglicans as "middle class'.
"We had initially decided we wouldn't bother [tendering for the college]," said Laurie Scandrett . "But in the end we were approached by the industry partners and we realised that we could make the college happen."
Sandra Langford will be the college's Interim Principal for at least the next 12 months. She sees the college opening up new possibilities for mission.
"We want to set this school up so that Christian values are embedded in what we're doing," she says. "Basically, it provides a whole new mission for Anglican schools in an area that they've never been in before."
Mrs Langford says that the Australian Technical Colleges are a "whole new concept of school'.
Until now, the corporation's focus has been establishing low-fee K-12 Anglican schools, seeing them as a "most important' element in the Diocese's mission.
SASC runs 14 schools across the Diocese, with a total enrolment of over 9000 students. Nine have been established since 1995.
But the ATC is a new kind of venture. Each college around Australia is a partnership between industry groups " like the Master Plumbers Association " and educational providers " like the Sydney Anglican Schools Corporation.
"You really are providing business skills that are necessary, not just to be a tradesman, but to be a businessman as well."
The intake this year will be 25 students, and the college will operate out of Rouse Hill Anglican College until plans to build a new, separate campus are realised.
ATC students will undertake school-based New Apprenticeships, and the school year will be structured differently, allowing full-time study as well as periods of "block release" " getting paid for on-the-job training with their employers.
At the same time, students will complete their HSC, studying senior-level subjects including Christian Studies, with an emphasis on employability and business skills.
"Like all our schools, we'll have an open enrolment policy," says Dr Scandrett. "The ATC students will be strongly encouraged to take part in Christian fellowship groups."
But he says that while the ATC offers a great opportunity to present the gospel to a new group of students, he doesn't expect it to be easy.
He points out that the corporation's K-12 schools offer continuous Christian community and teaching from the beginning.
By contrast, each year the ATC will take in 150 new students who will only remain for years 11 and 12.
The plan is that the western Sydney ATC will be established on a separate site in 2008, but the exact location has not yet been finalised.
Dr Scandrett says that there is potential for expansion.
"We'd like to see it grow," he says. "I'd like to see three campuses spread across western Sydney."
