WAVE Campus
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About WAVE Campus
WAVE is a Flexible Learning Option (FLO) that supports students aged 13 to 18 from a wide range of backgrounds – including young parents, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, and those managing intellectual or mental health challenges.
WAVE offers students a chance to reconnect with their education, build friendships, gain skills, and take steps toward further study, training, or employment. Our focus is on growth, belonging, and helping each young person move forward in a way that works for them.
Students are placed into the program that best suits their age and level of schooling, with consideration of their individual circumstances and needs taken into account.
We work closely with local organisations such as Brophy Family and Youth Services, Worn Gundidj, the Western Region Alcohol and Drug Centre, Western District Employment Access, and Victoria Police. Together, we provide wrap-around support, counselling, and real-world learning opportunities.
How to Find WAVE Campus
WAVE Campus is located at 91 Hyland Street, Warrnambool.
For directions or further information, please contact the campus on 5562 9279 or by emailing us here
Newsletters
WAVE publishes its own newsletter throughout the year. You can view the current issue, as well as previous editions, on our newsletter page.
Junior Program
The Junior Program caters for students in Years 7-9. The focus of the six-month program is on building their social and emotional capabilities as well as skill and knowledge in literacy and numeracy.
The program operates across four days a week (with an ability to support students with amended timetables), with small class sizes, one dedicated teacher, and an Educational Support worker.
Activities are designed to build a student’s resilience and stamina for schooling.
The program incorporates life skills and learning outdoors themes with literacy and numeracy outcomes that are designed to build student’s resilience and stamina for schooling.
This program offers a broad range of learning experiences, including:
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- self-awareness
- understanding the world around them
- social interaction
Students explore local issues to deepen their connection to the community.
Senior Program
Our Senior Program delivers the Victorian Pathways Certificate (VPC). The VPC is an inclusive, flexible option to complete secondary schooling.
This program is designed for students who, for various reasons, aren’t able or ready to complete the VCE or VCE VM.
The VPC will help you prepare for:
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- VCE and VCE VM
- entry-level VET (which could be at TAFE)
- going straight into the workforce
- an apprenticeship or traineeship
Work experience or a VET course can also be completed as part of the VPC.
We offer small class sizes, four days a week, with intensive support to help students achieve success.
Wellbeing
All students at WAVE are supported by our wellbeing worker. Support can be given in the classroom or in the wellbeing space. Referrals can also be made to external agencies when required.
Referral and Transition to WAVE
Step 1: Referral to WAVE
Referrals to WAVE can come from several sources, including:
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- The student’s current school
- Parents, families or caregivers
- External agencies such as Navigator
Step 2: Getting in Touch
We welcome enquiries by phone, email, or by visiting WAVE in person. Our staff can attend Student Support Group (SSG) meetings when needed to discuss options.
We also offer a campus tour, where families and students can learn more about our programs and decide if WAVE is the right fit.
Step 3: Transition Process
Once a student and their family decide to proceed:
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- A Flexible Learning Options (FLO) consent form must be signed by the parent or guardian
- The student’s home school submits the referral to the Region’s Assistant Principal
- The referral is reviewed and approved by the Region before enrolment begins
For details including student eligibility criteria, FLO referrals and appeals processes, please see the department’s Flexible Learning Options (FLO) Policy:
Why WAVE?
At WAVE, we understand that every student’s story is unique. Our programs are designed to support young people who may not thrive in traditional school settings by offering a smaller, more flexible, and understanding environment.
Here’s why students and families choose WAVE:
Mental Health
We recognise that no two students are the same and that individualised support is key to success.
Absenteeism
We work closely with students, families, and agencies to rebuild engagement and improve attendance.
Disengaged
The flexible and supportive nature of our programs helps them re-engage and experience success.
Diagnoses
Distracted
Our team helps students to quiet the noise and refocus on their learning and achievements.
Can't
At WAVE, our smaller, calmer setting helps them regulate, rebuild confidence, and succeed
History
WAVE (Formally known as “Warrnambool Alternative VCAL Education”) Campus was established in 2010 as a satellite of Warrnambool College. Originally formed through a strong community partnership between Brauer Secondary College, Mortlake College and Hawkesdale P-12 College, WAVE was created with a clear purpose: to re-engage young people who found traditional schooling challenging and to provide them with a supportive, flexible pathway to success.
However, the story of WAVE stretches back much further.
Before 2010, the campus was known as the Warrnambool Alternate School (from 1999), and earlier still as the Warrnambool Community School, founded in 1974. For over five decades, this learning community has evolved to meet the changing needs of young people in the Warrnambool region, always grounded in the belief that every student deserves connection, dignity, and opportunity.
Today, WAVE continues this proud tradition by offering an inclusive environment where students are known, supported, and challenged in ways that suit their individual strengths and goals.
Our Archive
In 2018-2019, former teacher Christopher Szaday returned to Warrnambool with a purpose, to document and preserve the story of alternative education in our community.
Chris first taught at the school in 1977. After retiring from his career in education, he chose to return and complete a history project that would capture the origins, evolution and impact of what began as the Warrnambool Community School and later became WAVE.
The result is A Scrapbook of Newspaper Articles and Other Documents – a carefully compiled collection of media reports, photographs and historical records that trace more than four decades of alternative education in Warrnambool.
Chris’s work ensures that the voices, challenges and achievements of past students and staff are not lost. His contribution reflects the enduring connection many educators feel to this place – and the lasting impact the school has had on the lives of young people.