VCAL Workplace Learning Achievement Award

VCAL Partner Achievement Award – Workplace Learning

On Monday 29 April Mr Rocco Siciliano and Mr Michael Flaherty represented the Trade Training Centre and Catholic Regional College Sydenham at the VCAL Achievement Awards held at Deakin Edge, Federation Square.

The VCAL Achievement Awards celebrate outstanding achievements of young people who participate in and complete a VCAL qualification. The awards also recognise the exceptional efforts of committed teachers and community partners who have played significant roles within the VCAL program. The students, schools and their community partners are living examples of excellence in applied learning. They demonstrate that we can and must find diverse ways of challenging, extending and promoting learning for the full range of young people. 

Below is a copy of what was read out by Deputy Premier and Minister for Education, the Honourable James Merlino.

The Trade Training Centre at Catholic Regional College (CRC) Sydenham provides on-site training in hospitality, retail baking, sign-writing and picture framing, giving VCAL students the opportunity to complete authentic training at school. The centre is also used by other schools in the region. The centre’s facilities include Quatrefoils Restaurant, SYD Signs, Frames@CRC, The Crate Theatre and CRC Bakery and Patisserie, all of which are student-run businesses open to the public. 

The centre’s training philosophy is to build skills for students in real-life settings. VCAL students undertaking a Certificate II in Signage and Graphics gain experience by working in the workshop and business shopfront of SYD Signs. Similarly, students doing a Certificate II in Furnishing (Picture Framing) get to hone their skills at Frames@CRC. Those completing their Hospitality certification can work at Quatrefoils, a fine dining restaurant that seats 100 and is open to the public three evenings a week.

With many students at CRC being refugees or first-generation migrants, the school has adopted a true applied learning pedagogy. The school involved industry in all aspects of planning for the VCAL and VET programs and the Trade Training Centre to encourage partnerships with business and provide students with post-school pathways. 

The only purpose of the enterprises within the Trade Training Centre is to serve the training and learning needs of the students within the VCAL and VET programs. The income from each business is reinvested into the centre, providing industry-standard equipment and fee-free VET courses for VCAL students.

The partnership between the Trade Training Centre and CRC’s VCAL program has been highly productive and has led to remarkably high levels of student engagement and achievement.