In November 2025, we opened the new Craig Davis College campus at the University of Wollongong.
The occasion was attended by Helen Partridge, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Education), University of Wollongong and Alison Byrnes MP, alongside staff, current students and family members.
“Being here at the university’s Innovation Campus sends a powerful message about the places that education can take you. Whether that’s further education or discovering a new career path you haven’t thought about before,” said Judy Barraclough, Youth Off The Streets’ CEO.
“Craig Davis College’s move here is a promise to our students: your education matters, your future matters and you belong in places that spark the imagination.”
Craig Davis College, University of Wollongong
Currently catering to 45 students in Years 9–12, the new campus will allow for an additional 21 students, contributing the Youth Off The Streets’ ambition to expand our reach and strengthen our impact on the lives of children and young people in need.
“Some of our students have experienced homelessness and, some of our students come from very stable homes but have become disengaged from mainstream education because they may have been bullied, for example” says Paula Brown, Craig Davis College’s School Manger.
Illawarra Mercury | The ‘game changing’ move for Youth Off The Streets to the Innovation Campus
“[The move] provides a different setting for our young people in order to allow them to be more inspirational about their thinking,” says Aaron McDonald, Youth Off The Streets’ School Principal – South Cluster.
“We’re moving to a university site, so it’s that concept of ‘if you can see it, you can be it’. We’re showing our young people that being on a university campus and being closer to the public doesn’t have to be scary.
“Taking that fear factor away to allow them to go, ‘Hey, I’ve actually got a chance to break the cycle that I’m in’.”
Being located within the University of Wollongong’s campus has added benefits, namely the partnerships that will form between Youth Off The Streets and the university.
“It allows us to build partnerships with a range of services that are on the Innovation Campus site,” says Aaron. “Like childcare centres, the future aged care centre. There’s fitness centres, there’s cafes, so our young people can get work experience without having to leave their school site.”
“We want our young people to feel safe and feel like they belong and this will allow us to build that on a site that has other opportunities for them.”
In addition to the educational and work experience outcomes achieved by the relocation, there are also emotional and wellbeing benefits to the new campus. These include a short walk to the beach, surrounding parklands and sporting fields.
Youth Off The Streets independent schools
Craig Davis College is one of six independent Youth Off The Streets high schools in New South Wales. All schools offer an alternative education model, with a focus on meeting each student’s unique educational and wellbeing needs.
“It’s a holistic education that we offer with our wraparound services – we like to refer to it as a ‘therapeutic web’,” Aaron says.
All six Youth Off The Streets high schools benefit from ready access to other organisation’s other youth services.
“Our schools work closely with our RTO [Registered Training Organisation] and with our First Nations team,” says Aaron.
Since its inception, Youth Off The Streets has championed young person-centred approaches, with our independent schools standing as a powerful testament to this commitment.
“Between those [eventual] 65 students at Craig Davis College, we’ll have two psychologists, four youth workers, plus teaching staff and student loan support officers,” Aaron explains.
“That’s a much greater ratio than you would get in mainstream schooling. We can really tailor our services to the needs of young people and really allow them to thrive, rather than just survive mainstream schooling.”
