In 2019, Elwood College launched its Service Learning program for Year 11 students. The program has simultaneous aims of extending students' learning outside the four walls in a classroom in the 'real world' and exposing students to the rewards of positively contributing to their local Elwood community.
This program is aimed specifically at Year 11 students, but Year 12 students are more than welcome to participate should they wish to. The requirement of the program is that every Year 11 student participate in at least service activity per semester, or two a year. The activities are all organised by the school and take place on every second Wednesday afternoon when there is no assembly. The activities last for one hour and some of the activities that students participate in include
- Working in the Toy Library at Elwood and St Kilda Community Learning Centre.
- Elwood Beach Patrol - in 2019, Elwood students removed over 100 kgs of waste from Elwood Beach.
- Linking neighbours community program.
- English conversation classes with non-native English speakers from the local community.
- Helping Senior citizens from the local area develop and improve their IT skills.
Students write a reflection on their involvement in the Service Learning program that is included in each of their Year 11 Semester reports.