Case Study: Hester Hornbrook Academy (HHA)

Overview

Hester Hornbrook Academy (HHA) is a fee-free independent Specialist Assistance School operating across five metropolitan Melbourne campuses, with a Geelong campus planned for 2027. It is governed by Melbourne City Mission (MCM), a long-standing community service organisation.

The school serves young people aged 15-25 who have disengaged from mainstream education due to significant adversity, including homelessness, family violence, mental ill-health, out-of-home care and sustained trauma. Many students arrive with extended gaps in schooling and complex wellbeing needs. HHA does not serve a middle-years cohort in the conventional sense; its youngest students are already in senior secondary years. It is included as a case study as an example of whole-school redesign centred on re-engagement. What mainstream schools treat as support services, such as wellbeing, outreach, crisis response, HHA treats as core business, structurally inseparable from education.

Enrolment has grown from approximately 170 students pre-2018 to 701 in 2025 (My School, 2026), with a growing waitlist. The school operates through its HOPE framework (Healing Oriented Program of Education), an evidence-informed model that positions safety, trust, agency and supportive relationships as prerequisites for learning.

What HHA Does Differently

Many students enrol after extended periods of non-attendance or negative prior school experiences. The school’s work therefore begins with stabilisation.

HHA offers year-round enrolment, flexible start times and hybrid attendance options. It does not operate through conventional cohort intakes or rigid timetables. Students may begin at any point in the year, recognising that crisis does not align with academic calendars. These features remove procedural and logistical barriers that would otherwise prevent participation.

The most distinctive structural feature is the multidisciplinary classroom team model. Each classroom includes a teacher, a youth worker and an educational support worker. This integrated model embeds wellbeing, outreach and literacy intervention within the classroom rather than layering them as external supports. The youth worker builds trust, supports attendance, and conducts outreach when students disengage, enabling teachers to maintain teaching continuity while emotional and behavioural needs are addressed in real time. Independent research from Victoria University found that the presence of youth workers in classrooms contributes positively to educational outcomes (Broadbent & Papadopulos, 2019).

Curriculum is delivered through the Victorian Pathways Certificate (VPC) and VCE Vocational Major (VM), alongside VETiS programs. Applied learning pathways are prioritised, reflecting students’ disrupted prior schooling and need for accessible qualifications. Literacy and numeracy intervention is explicit and embedded.

The HOPE framework shapes the environment, workforce and student experience. Physical campuses are deliberately domestic rather than institutional. Restorative practice replaces punitive discipline, emphasising relationship repair rather than exclusion. Allied health services, young parents’ facilities and practical supports (breakfast and lunch, laundry access) are integrated into school operations.

Assessment emphasises literacy growth, resilience, decision-making, collaboration and post-school transition rather than standardised testing. NAPLAN is not applicable to this cohort.

Evidence of Impact

HHA presents measurable outcome data (Hester Hornbrook Academy, 2024), which must be interpreted within cohort context. Students typically arrive after prolonged disengagement, so transition outcomes represent re-entry into education or employment rather than continuation of an unbroken pathway.

• 79% of graduates (2023) transitioned to apprenticeships, full-time employment, and TAFE programs.
• 75% of Living Learning participants improved literacy and numeracy to levels required for further education or training (Melbourne City Mission, 2024).
• 80% of Living Learning graduates transitioned to employment or further study (Melbourne City Mission, 2024).
• Enrolment growth from 170 (pre-2018) to 701 (My School, 2025).
• Persistent waitlist of 150+ students.

HHA has secured $3.6 million in Victorian Government funding for its Living Learning Program and participates in national policy submissions, positioning itself as both service provider and policy advocate (Melbourne City Mission, 2024).

Enablers

• Integration within Melbourne City Mission, providing allied health and social services infrastructure.
• Specialist Assistance School funding model enabling higher per-student investment.
• Fee-free enrolment ensuring accessibility.
• Multidisciplinary workforce (125 FTE non-teaching; 49.9 FTE teaching).
• Purpose-built campus design aligned with trauma-informed principles.
• Philanthropic and government funding partnerships.

Key considerations

Demand for places at HHA exceeds capacity, with a waitlist indicating unmet need. Expansion is constrained by staffing availability, funding and the relational intensity of the model.

The multidisciplinary classroom structure depends on recruiting and retaining youth workers and allied health professionals in a competitive sector. Workforce sustainability is an ongoing operational challenge.

Outcome data, including the reported 75–80% post-school transition rates, requires contextual explanation to ensure comparability with other schools. The absence of conventional system measures limits direct benchmarking.

More broadly, HHA operates as a specialist response to mainstream system limitations. Its resource-intensive model, supported by Specialist Assistance School funding and philanthropic investment, raises questions about scalability within standard school settings.