OK, I think we have a plan. DSD is interested in doing a degree in chinese medicine/acupuncture. On the one hand this is pie in the sky given her current school performance - on the other, after talking to her today it is dawning on her that the only way into it is to finish her VCE. There are no real pathways apart from a degree or a TAFE diploma both of which require her to finish VCE. She can't do VCAL to get into it.

I need to talk to her more but I think there are a number of issues preventing her from coming to Woodend with us. The atmosphere in the house hasn't been great but that is fixable. I think she's also worried about being the 'new girl' in high school again. The final factor is that she's currently doing the wrong subjects to get into chinese medicine and she thinks that the new high school doesn't offer the courses she needs (may be wrong about this).

So, after doing some digging, I've discovered that Victoria Uni offers the degree course she's after and the requirements look doable. It also offers VCE through its TAFE arm and has all the subjects she would need to get into the degree course. AND best of all, the commute from Woodend would be doable (an hour on the train but only one train, no changes).

So I'm pretty proud of myself. Now I need to find out whether they would accept a school age student in to do VCE. I think it's normally offered to adults/mature age students. I'll phone them in the morning but does anyone know about doing VCE at Tafe as a school age student?