Ballarat Region Service Learning Information
Beaufort and Skipton Health Service
Beaufort and Skipton Health Service (BSHS) is a small rural health service serving over 8500 people in Beaufort, Skipton and the surrounding areas. BSHS provides a range of health and community services including urgent and acute care, transition care program (TCP), residential aged care, home-based care, allied health services, and a medical practice (Skipton campus).
BSHS integrates a comprehensive allied health service learning program into healthcare delivery. Since its commencement in 2017, the program has grown and diversified to five disciplines – Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Social Work, Optometry, and Oral Health – with planning underway to add Speech Pathology.
Please email our placements team at Going Rural Health (Ballarat) for placement coordination information
Location
BSHS is a dual campus health service located on Wadawarrung land, in the rural towns of Beaufort and Skipton, situated 30km apart. Beaufort is located on the Western Highway in the Pyrenees Shire local government area. Skipton is situated on the Glenelg Highway in the Shire of Corangamite.
Placement details
Allied health placements have a focus on supporting older adults in a range of clinical settings including long-term aged care, transitional care program, home-based care, and outpatients. Students attend both Skipton and Beaufort campuses and are supported to have high quality hands-on learning experiences while contributing meaningfully to needed service delivery.
Paired placements are preferred to optimise peer-assisted learning opportunities and peer support while living away from home. Students from different disciplines and universities are co-located where possible, providing structured opportunities for interprofessional learning and practice.
Supervision
We work closely with BSHS staff, external supervision staff, and home university placement teams, to coordinate and support placements. Collaborative and interprofessional supervision models are embedded and vary depending on the discipline. Consistent with the service-learning model, students are expected to work in pairs and at times without direct discipline-specific supervision.
Compliance
A valid police check and flu vaccination are required.
A car and driver’s licence will be needed between a pair of students for travel between campuses.
Accommodation
BSHS owns and runs its own student accommodation. The student house in Beaufort is a short walk from Beaufort Hospital and Beaufort’s town centre. Students book accommodation by contacting Beaufort Hospital directly at accom@bshs.org.au
Creswick Primary School & Creswick North Primary School
Creswick Primary School and Creswick North Primary School are small community schools for children from Prep to Grade 6, within the rural township of Creswick, approximately 20km from Ballarat. Creswick Primary School has an enrolment of around 180 children. Creswick North has an enrolment of around 60 children.
A successful partnership has grown since 2021, based on difficulties accessing needed allied health supports. Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy and Social Work students are involved in providing early intervention supports for children, and capacity-building initiatives for school staff, to optimise children’s physical, emotional and social wellbeing.
Please email our placements team at Going Rural Health (Ballarat) for placement coordination information
Location
This placement is located on Dja Dja Wurrung land in Creswick, approximately 20km from Ballarat in west-central Victoria.
Placement details
Students experience the role of their allied health discipline within a rural state school setting, working with children aged 5 to 12, their teachers and support staff. The placement includes opportunities for classroom and child observation to understand the needs of the school and individual children. Students are supported by their discipline-specific supervisor to practice their clinical and professional skills, working with children in group and individual contexts. Students can also be involved in project work, for example, staff education and capacity-building, or resource development, to promote long term sustainability of the program.
Student placement blocks need to align with Victorian school term dates.
Paired placements are preferred to optimise peer-assisted learning opportunities and peer support while living away from home.
The Occupational Therapy program has included supporting children with social skills, emotional regulation, wellbeing, and fine motor skills. Areas of focus for each placement block vary, depending on the current identified needs.
Physiotherapy students have opportunity to attend some community-based private physiotherapy consultations outside of the school setting, alongside their supervisor. This can include a range of complex paediatric conditions from babies through to teenagers, and working with their families and carers.
Supervision
As there are no allied health services on-site, external supervision is provided. The occupational therapy and physiotherapy supervisors are locally based paediatric clinicians and clinical educators. The school’s leading teacher provides additional day-to-day support and guidance for students within the school context. Consistent with the service learning model, students are expected to work in pairs and at times without direct discipline-specific supervision. Going Rural Health works closely with the supervisors, school, and home university placement teams, to coordinate and support placements.
Compliance
A valid Working With Children’s Check (WWCC) is required for this placement.
Accommodation
University of Melbourne accommodation is available for this placement in Creswick, see our accommodation option here:
Should you have any queries surrounding the accommodation, please don’t hesitate to contact our accommodation team.