Learning in the workplace

Year 10 Work Experience

One of the highlights of Year 10 is the opportunity to learn in an authentic workplace environment through the week-long Work Experience program.  Last week, 277 students were actively involved in the this program, and a further 14 students are out on Work Experience placement this week. In addition, 36 students have organised placements to accommodate employers who are offering extraordinary experiences for our students, but were unable to do this during our scheduled Work Experience week.

For more details on the program, see the report in the Careers News.

Here are some of the reflections from our students on this valuable learning experience.

Alice: High Fields Equestrian Centre.

On work experience I did many things such as making horse food, feeding horses, catching horses from paddocks, brushing, tacking up horses to be ridden or lunged, lunging horses, cleaning gear, sweeping and raking stable areas and cleaning paddocks, creating safer environments for the horses to live in by cleaning their paddocks and covering their hay in netting, moving a mare and its foal out of the stables into a paddock daily.

At work I learnt how to safely handle horses, prepare horses for competitions, how to deal with a sick or injured horse, what horses eat daily and how to prepare all there food, and what it is required to work at an equestrian centre.

The best part of work experience was handling the horses; watching them get trained and seeing them progress over the short time I was there.

Alice Montague

Sang: Foundation for Young Australians

14th  May 2018, I went to do my work experience at FYA ( Foundation for Young Australians). While I was heading to FYA, I felt so nervous and excited but when I arrived there, they gave me a very warm welcome which helped me get the nervous feeling away. While on Work Experience I went through all of the FYA’s research, read their articles and spent time interviewing staff about careers.  I wrote an article about “what is it like to be an international student”. 

I met the legal team, they showed/taught me some skills and gave me some work to do that will help me improve my negotiating skills. On Friday afternoon, I presented my presentation to FYA staff.  Doing work experience at FYA is a very great opportunity to improve and learn many important skills that are required in life such as enterprise skills. I feel it’s a good challenge that I need to overcome to improve my communication skills and teamwork. At FYA, I’ve learned a lot.

Sang Chatthathireach

James: Landscaping

On Monday we removed a hedge from where the new fence was going and marked up ten holes for new fence posts. Next the steel posts came and we cut them to size and put them level in the holes while waiting for the concrete to come. When the concrete arrived I was wheeling the concrete to the holes as Mark (the landscaper) shovelled the concrete into the holes around the posts made sure it was level and left it over night. We started measuring the wood to size and cutting it using the drop saw. We also made sure the timber was level and straight before drilling the timber on to the fence posts.

James Taylor

Rose: Peter MacCallum Cancer Research

For work experience I went to the Peter MacCallum Cancer Research Centre in the CBD. I chose this location for my work experience as I have a keen interest in scientific research. When I was there, different scientists would take me around a different lab each day. On the second of my placement, I got to dissect a mouse, watch a scan to look at some tumours and play with some mice. I learnt about all the different ways to research cancer and understand how people make the discoveries they may. The week was really fun and interesting.

Rose Halloran

Angus: Carpentary (Show Works)

I did my work experience at a carpentry place in Preston called Show Works where they create lots of different things related to woodwork and have multiple different projects with companies such as NGV and The Australian Ballet.

While I was there I learned many different skills and participated in many tasks such as painting sets, making thousands of wooden blocks for a NGV exhibit and sanding many wood pieces which were later used to make a dance floor. I learned how to use many different tools which are necessary skills for a carpenter and many different processes for creating different pieces of work. Overall it was a really fun and great experience and I came out of it with a lot more knowledge of what it's like to be a carpenter.

Angus Swan