The Missing Piece: How FutureReady Bridges the Gap Between School and Adult Life

That’s all it took for Noah to go from unsure about his future to being offered a career in the trades.

Noah came to Youth Futures not quite knowing where he was headed. He was working through his Certificate of General Education when an opportunity came up to try a bricklaying course.

He took it. Within seven weeks, an apprenticeship provider called and offered him a place. Just like that, a pathway opened up that Noah hadn’t even known was possible.

“That’s not bad,” says Rebecca Varian, Head of School at Youth Futures’ Bayswater and Mirrabooka campuses, with a smile. “That’s not bad at all.”

Noah’s story is exactly what FutureReady was built for.

Launched for Year 11 and 12 students at Youth Futures, FutureReady is a transition program that runs alongside the Certificate of General Education. It brings together practical skills training, industry qualifications, and real-world experience — all built around each student individually through an Individual Transition Plan developed with their teacher and youth worker.

The program grew out of an honest observation. Youth Futures had always been good at helping students feel supported, build confidence, and achieve their goals. But Rebecca and her team recognised an opportunity to do more.

“We recognised that there was an opportunity to do more,” she explains. “To look beyond academic and personal goals and focus on the practical building blocks of adult life — things like driver’s licences, birth certificates, and everyday documents that open doors. FutureReady was built to fill that gap.”

It’s an approach that resonates with the broader philosophy at the heart of Youth Futures.

“FutureReady is about what comes next,” says Principal Paul Jones. “We’ve always helped young people feel safe and rebuild confidence — that foundation is everything. But this program takes the next step. It makes sure that when a student walks out our door at 18, they’re not starting from scratch. They’ve already got the skills, the qualifications, and the belief in themselves to take on the world.” 

Students can access driving lessons, Keys4Life, First Aid, White Card, Responsible Service of Alcohol, financial literacy workshops, career taster days, and workplace visits — all as part of their school program and at no cost. Each student’s plan is shaped around their own goals and interests, whether that’s hospitality, construction, retail, or something else entirely.

“It’s a really individual program — a real clear pathway,” says Rebecca. “We look at each student: what certificate do they need? Can we get work experience? Can we do some career taster days? We start that in Year 11 and 12, when they’re beginning to get an idea of where they want to go.”

“Practical skills alongside their certificates will mean that they hold an employable CV the moment they leave,” she adds. “They don’t have to leave and then find a way to do them.”

Liam is living proof of what that looks like. He came to Youth Futures after years of feeling like school wasn’t working for him — failing classes, feeling like he was going nowhere. At Youth Futures, something shifted.

“I didn’t really know what I wanted to do,” Liam recalls. “They were just showing me a bunch of pathways of what I could do.” When plumbing came up, he decided to give it a go. He did his pre-apprenticeship, loved it, found a company willing to take him on for work experience — and the rest followed. He’s now a full-time plumbing apprentice, waking up at 5:10am every weekday to drive to a job he genuinely loves.

Getting his driver’s licence was part of the picture too. “I got my L’s through Youth Futures,” Liam says. “They’d always give every kid a chance to just get in the car. They tell you when you get things wrong, show you what you got wrong, and then make you do it again. And then as soon as you get it right, it feels great — because they actually showed you.”

Looking back, his advice for anyone considering the program is simple: “A hundred percent do it. There is not one thing I wouldn’t say is negative about it. I don’t think I would be who I am today without them.”

Since the program’s pilot, around 18 apprenticeship opportunities have been offered to students, with five already in full-time apprenticeships so far this year.

But for Rebecca, success goes beyond qualifications and job offers. It is about young people stepping into adulthood with a sense of direction and belief in themselves.

“They walk away world ready,” she says. “Our 18 year olds are going into a very different world — it’s expensive, there is job insecurity, there are real challenges. By taking some of that on and getting them ready, they can start with goals, ambitions, and skills already in place.”

And for any young person who feels like the traditional pathway just isn’t for them?

“There isn’t just one pathway anymore,” Rebecca says simply. “Some students suit mainstream — that’s fantastic. Some students fit our model. There is no one model. It’s about finding your strengths.”

Interested in FutureReady? The program is free for all Year 11 and 12 Youth Futures students, delivered from our Bayswater and Mirrabooka campuses and open to students across all locations.