VCE VM Market Day Success

Year 12 VCE VM Students Raise Over $1,500 for Charity

Wantirna College’s Year 12 VCE Vocational Major students recently brought their learning to life through a highly successful Market Day, raising more than $1,500 in profit to be donated to charity.

The event was a fantastic example of what VCE VM is all about — providing students with authentic, hands-on learning experiences that develop practical skills while making a positive contribution to the wider community.

In the lead-up to Market Day, students worked collaboratively to develop their own stall ideas and turn them into functioning small businesses. This required much more than simply deciding what to sell. Students needed to plan, budget, organise resources, promote their products, communicate with customers and work effectively as a team.

On the day, the Wantirna College community came together to support the students and their stalls. It was fantastic to see students taking ownership of their businesses, interacting confidently with customers and putting weeks of preparation into practice.

Importantly, Market Day gave students an opportunity to experience many of the challenges and responsibilities that exist in the workplace and in running a business. They needed to manage money, solve problems, communicate under pressure, share responsibilities and adapt when things did not always go exactly according to plan.  These are skills that cannot always be developed through a textbook.

The experience allowed students to strengthen their communication, teamwork, organisation, financial literacy, problem-solving and decision-making skills in a genuine real-world environment. 

These are transferable skills that students can take with them into employment, apprenticeships, traineeships, further education and other pathways beyond Year 12.

The success of the event was also about more than financial profit. 

Knowing that over $1,500 raised through their hard work will be donated to charity gave students a genuine purpose for their learning and demonstrated how enterprise can be used to make a positive contribution to others.

For our Year 12 students, experiences such as Market Day are particularly valuable as they prepare to transition from secondary school into adult life. Students were not simply completing an assessment task — they were planning, creating, communicating, selling, managing money and working alongside others to achieve a shared goal.

Following the event, students also had the opportunity to reflect on their performance, considering what worked successfully, what challenges they encountered and what they would do differently in the future. Reflection is an important part of authentic learning because it encourages students to recognise the skills they have developed and understand how those skills can transfer into their future pathways.

Wantirna College is incredibly proud of the effort, teamwork and maturity demonstrated by our Year 12 VCE VM students throughout the entire Market Day experience.

We would also like to thank the staff, students and wider Wantirna College community who supported the event and helped make it such a success.

Most importantly, congratulations to our Year 12 VCE VM students. Raising more than $1,500 for charity is an outstanding achievement and a wonderful example of what can happen when authentic learning, enterprise and community come together.

This was much more than a Market Day. It was an opportunity for our students to experience real responsibility, develop skills for their future and use their learning to make a meaningful difference in their community.

We'd like to take the opportunity to thank all students and staff that supported this event, with a particular mention to our Facilities team, Chris & Michael for their assistance.

Tim Knowles, Debbie Mantzinidis, Trevor Berkienstoff, Sean Rawson, PIR

Year 12 VCE VM Team