Pathways

Yr12 Student VTAC Information Sessions & Pathways via House

Pathways will be conducting VTAC information sessions with all Year 12's in their house groups during lunchtime in the Fallon Centre auditorium on the dates below.  This coincides with VTAC's timely applications for the 2025 - 2026 period.    

VTAC House sessions

Hotham - Monday 4th August @1pm

Stirling - Tuesday 5th August @1pm

Macedon - Thursday 7th August @1pm  

VTAC course applications

VTAC (Victorian Tertiary Admission Centre) is a fee for service provider.  All fees are payable upon the submission of the application.  Note: Students can add and change their courses once the application has been submitted.

Timely applications 4th August -> 29th September > cost $80 

Late application from 5pm 29th September -> 31st October $160

Very late applications from 5pm 31st October -> 5th December $200

SEAS > Special Entry Access Schemes 

SEAS provides special consideration to compensate for educational disadvantages experienced making a student's application more competitive. It does this by increasing the selection rank for the courses a student is interested in applying for.  The selection rank begins with the ATAR, and can go up with adjustments.  SEAS lifts a student's selection rank, not the ATAR .

A course application must be submitted first in order to activate SEAS in the  VTAC account.

We recommend students start preparing SEAS impact statements in a word document ready to copy into SEAS on the online VTAC application.  The core focus should be on the educational impact of the condition or circumstance. Summarise what happened and when, briefly outline the circumstance and a timeline including how long you have experienced the disadvantage.  

Explain the impact the circumstance has had on your education or daily life.  

SEAS Categories:

Cat 2. Financial   https://youtu.be/vfeoLBm5lKw

Cat 3. 

Medical or Disability   https://youtu.be/TE8UQD4I0SA?t=21

Cat 4. 

Difficult Circumstances https://youtu.be/zPCScE1EBac

SEAS Evidence

Cat 3 statement of support must be from a medical practitioner eg. GP, Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Physiotherapist who can confirm the medical diagnosis and the educational impacts due to the medical diagnosis. Cat 4 statement of support can be from a responsible person unrelated over 21 such as student managers, heads of house, wellbeing, pathways and teaching staff, or family friends.

Statement of support templates are available to use to submit evidence in the format VTAC will accept.  

Courses

Year 12's should start creating a list of courses and universities they intend to apply for.  They should also include at least one Pathway course i.e. Cert IV orDiploma course as a backup just in case they don't meet the ATAR or pre-requisite entry requirements.  

This includes students who intend to defer and take a gap year in 2026.

Pre-Apprenticeship courses

Students can apply directly to TAFE institutions now to study pre-apprenticeship courses next year, increasing their potential and opportunity in securing a trade apprenticeship.   Pre-apps provide foundation level skills and knowledge in the trade selected providing students with a good indicator of what to expect in an apprenticeship without committing to 4 years. 

Pre-app courses are studied full time between 10-12 weeks with several intakes across the year.

Unsure Pathways

Students who are feeling lost and unsure of their future plans are encouraged to connect with Pathways and book a session during their study periods to plan the next steps.

VET Tours at Ringwood Training

Ringwood Training are inviting future VSC VET students and their families interested in studying one of their VET courses in 2026 to attend one of their tours showcasing Automotive, Engineering, and Information Technology VET programs for the 2026 intake.

These tours are a fantastic opportunity for prospective VET students to explore RT's training facilities, meet qualified trainers, and gain a deeper understanding of the VET courses available through Ringwood Training.  

Tour Dates (No bookings required):

📅 Thursday 7 August

📅 Tuesday 12 August

📅 Thursday 21 August

📅 Tuesday 26 August

🕠 Tours commence at 4:30 PM sharp

📍 Location: Ringwood Training Reception: 3 Hill St, Ringwood East

Work Experience

Work experience participation is optional at VSC.  We strongly encourage all students aged 15yrs+ to get involved in this very beneficial and rewarding program.  Students can undertake Work Experience every year until they graduate VSC.

Work experience provides young people with a taste of the real world of work and a clearer understanding of a particular industry, field or business they may be interested in pursuing in the future.  It assists in career discovery and exploration, goal setting and decision making whilst preparing students for VCE or VCE VM, future tertiary studies, apprenticeship

/traineeships or full-time work.

There are no designated time frames for students to complete placements as we believe a flexible delivery arrangement provides students with a better opportunity to meet the availability and operational time frames of businesses and industries within the community.  This also means we are not competing with other local schools which can limit student’s placement opportunities. 

Placement dates are arranged through consultation and negotiation between the employer, school and student to maximise the experience. A great time to consider undertaking work experience in Year 10 is the last week of term 3 if your child is not attending the Central Australia to Darwin trip. Drop into Pathways to discuss further and collect the ‘Preparing for the Workplace’ pack. 

VSC Careers Website

Did you know VSC has its own careers website?  It’s a ‘One Stop Shop’ for everything you need to assist with Career planning, research, information and help, available 24 hours a day. Please see the Term 1 Career Tools Newsletter with lots of informative reading.  To access the website please click on the link vscpathways.com or go to the VSC website and click on the Pathways tab. Features:

• Latest news and events

• Senior school options

• Work experience and OH&S in the workplace

• VET – Vocational Education and Training

• University Admissions requirements through VTAC

• Find what careers suits you & course discovery

• Interactive Career bullseyes

• Gap Year

• Resume creation & finding a job

• Youth allowance and money matters

• Informative career videos

• Plus lots, lots more to help individual career development

Career Development is the lifelong process of managing life, learning and work (paid and unpaid) over our lifespan.  The ability to make informed decisions, manage and transition through change for a personally determined future.

Young people build their career development through self-awareness, understanding how they make decisions and how these decisions impact future aspirations through exploration, identifying interests, values and preferred learning styles through careers exploration activities such as Morrisby in Year 9 and Careers Tools in Year 10.  The ability to research a wide range of career options helps them to select subjects they may enjoy learning whilst aligning to tertiary course pre-requisite requirements in the future or apprenticeship/traineeship requirements and work. 

Career development is further enhanced by juggling the expectations and requirements of school with extra-curricular activities like sport and family responsibilities, part-time work, community involvement and social interests. 

To further assist your Career Development please visit vscpathways.com an easy-to-use interface with links to a multitude of career resources for both Students and Parents.  We encourage all VSC students and their families to explore the Pathways website to assist in making positively informed decisions about their future.