Training organisation Skillset wants to offer a new approach to learning for young people at its Skillset Senior College, which will officially open today at the Flannery Centre.

At this stage the school only caters for Year 10 students, but it has already attracted 27 enrolments (enrolment is capped at 34 places to allow for a better student-to-teacher ratio).

Skillset Senior College head teacher Andrea Nyeboer said the school will offer a different approach to learning for teenagers who have had limited success at a public school.

“It is a smaller and more nurturing environment,” she said.

“We see ourselves as taking them from childhood into the adult world.”

Students who attend may learn better in a smaller class, or may have had bad experiences with other students at previous schools.

Classes at Skillset Senior College will operate in the same way as regular schools, following the same curriculum set by the Board of Studies and involving lessons five days a week.

Students will not be required to wear a uniform, however.

“Whatever they choose to do later in life, they are going to be prepared,” Ms Nyeboer said.

Skillset CEO and Senior College principal Craig Randazzo said the school will expand over the next few years and, by 2017, will be open to students in Years 10, 11 and 12.

While it is not compulsory for students to continue on to Year 11 and 12 at Skillset Senior College, Mr Randazzo hopes students will take advantage of the opportunity to give themselves the best chance for employment.

“Year 12 is the new entry level in terms of school qualifications, and we will encourage our students to go further,” he said.

“This is a different approach, and some kids will really benefit from it.”