UTS - Smith Family Partnership
- The Smith Family's Learning for Life program
- The UTS - Smith Family partnership
- NEWS: Volunteering opportunities
The Smith Family's Learning for Life program
The Smith Family is an independent, non-profit social enterprise that works in over 80 communities across Australia to promote educational opportunities for disadvantaged children and their families.
The Smith Family's Learning for Life program provides young people with educational opportunities across primary, secondary and tertiary education levels.
The Learning for Life program equips financially disadvantaged students for tertiary study by providing:
- financial scholarships to assist with education-related costs;
- personal support (including tutoring and mentoring);
- personal development; and
- literacy skills development.
The UTS - Smith Family Partnership
The partnership between UTS and The Smith Family was launched during the UTS 20th Birthday Celebrations in 2008 and it signals a new opportunity for UTS to continue the work of widening access to education.
UTS contributes to the Smith Family Learning for Life program through:
- financial contributions to the program's scholarship fund
- resources to expose students and their families to information and events that relate to tertiary study
- promotion of volunteer opportunities within the Learning for Life mentoring programs to UTS staff, alumni and students
- support for the Learning for Life program as a charity to which UTS staff and students may consider contributing, either through personal or university-sponsored activities.
News: Volunteering Opportunities
Christmas Merchandise Sorting and Packing Event: 6 - 10 October 2008
The Smith Family is calling for UTS volunteers to spend one day helping with assembly, sorting, preparation and packing of merchandise that will be sold in Woolworths stores nationally during the Christmas period. Merchandise sales will help to raise much-needed funds for the Learning for Life program.
Last year, the Christmas Merchandise campaign raised over $400,000 for The Smith Family. UTS is committed to supporting this year's campaign in order to raise further funds for this important educational program.
Interested members of the UTS community are invited to volunteer for one full day in the period Monday 6 October - Friday 10 October, 9am - 4pm.
Sorting and packing will take place at the Kelly Pavilion, Sydney Showgrounds, New England Avenue, Sydney Olympic Park.
Volunteers will be asked to assist with the following activities. Please note that some lifting will be involved:
- Unpack and empty pallets of flat pack boxes, merchandise items, bags and general materials.
- Assemble flat pack boxes; sort, count and pack Christmas merchandise into assembled boxes.
- Pack assembled and completed boxes onto pallets.
- Organise setup for the following day's activities.
Expressions of interest: Please contact Michelle.Sowey@uts.edu.au to express interest in volunteering. Early responses are encouraged as volunteering places will be filled on a first come, first served basis.
Mentoring schemes
The Smith Family is currently advertising for volunteers for various mentoring schemes within The Smith Family's Learning for Life program. UTS staff, alumni and postgraduate students are invited to volunteer in the following schemes:
- the Tertiary Mentoring Program, which focuses on the transition from tertiary study to full-time work and involves mentoring a university student over a three-year period. Mentors with specific backgrounds and work experience are needed to support students studying in higher education courses.
- iTrack, an online 19 week mentoring program which focuses on the transition from secondary school to further study or work.
- the student2student program which facilitates the development of literacy skills in primary school students through supervised mentoring by high school students.
