South Sydney have developed a High School Certificate program to launch next year in a first for a rugby league club.

The Rabbitohs have partnered with their charity arm, Souths Cares, to start the year 11 course at the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence from next year. By 2017, the Rabbitohs hope to have year 11 and 12 students. They are looking to enrol about 26 students next year.

Souths Cares general manager Brock Schaefer said the course would provide an alternative to the mainstream school curriculum.

"We're not advocating this as the perfect answer for every student," Schafer said. "But sometimes the typical HSC isn't the best fit for some students.

"What this suits is someone who wants to get involved in the sport and recreation, business or community industry. One of the unique components as a point of distinction of the course is the students have the same teacher the whole way through the year."

While the students will complete the HSC, they will not receive an ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank). The course is designed for men and women and will see them complete not only the core English component of the mainstream curriculum, but also a range vocational education and training (VET) courses, which will help them settle on a career path. These courses will focus on event management, coaching or sports science.

The program will be aligned with the Rabbitohs' football department and could see the students undertaking work experience with NRL staff, the club's membership team or helping implement a range of Souths Cares community programs. They may also help at Rabbitohs home games.

"A typical Monday could see the students have a full day in the classroom," Schaefer said. "There will be two periods of English, then their chosen studies, which will be in-depth. It could be learning coaching skills or event management.

"Tuesday could be work placement and they may head off to work with the club's high-performance unit, or membership engagement or working with Souths Cares and delivering good oral hygiene messages to places in the country or inner Sydney."

The course will be run by SEDA College, which has worked with Cricket Australia and the AFL in Victoria to deliver similar programs. Sydney FC have also developed their own partnership with SEDA College.

The program costs about $5000 for the school year.

"We wanted to make sure that boys and girls would find the course relevant, engaging and find it to be a useful pathway to university," Schaefer said. "Students will complete their two VET certificates, which will streamline them into a diploma program at Sydney TAFE. From there they can have direct entry partnerships to every major university in NSW. We did a lot of due diligence before partnering with SEDA."

The students will also undertake a range of coaching and refereeing certificates.

Souths Cares ambassadors including Nathan Merritt and Rhys Wesser may also act as mentors to the students.