Careers
Hello Parents/Guardians and Community Members,
We have had a busy start to 2025 and Term 1 in the careers office. On Friday 18th February we held our first White Card Construction Safety course, with another to be held on this coming Friday 28th February and with a long list of students on the waitlist for this course, I hope to hear back if we can have another course next term. Our Year 12 students travelled down to Wollongong, staying overnight before attending the University of Wollongong Discovery day last Thursday. Our TAFE YES Construction course commenced last Friday with students attending TAFE instead of school. Two new senior students commenced their TAFE courses as a senior subject as well as our Distance Education Students continuing their courses, and our SBAT students continuing with their Traineeships and Apprenticeships or commencing new SBAT’s. See further details of these events and upcoming events below.
2 x White Card Courses: 18th & 28th February.
Our first White Card course for 2025 was held on Tuesday 18th February, with our students fully engaged in learning the importance of Workplace safety and everyone’s responsibility in following, responding and reporting SafeWork processes in the Construction industry. Students were all well-mannered and fully engaged throughout the day. Students all successfully completed the requirements for the course and were issued with their Certificates this morning at Assembly. Students can expect to receive their SafeWork Safety White Cards in the mail in the next four weeks.
This coming Friday 28th February we have our second White Card Construction Safety courses running from 8:30am in the school library. I have had to prioritised our students in years 10 and senior years and have filled the spaces with our Year 9 students who have put their names on our waiting list. Students will need to be at school on time and must meet the SAFEWORK requirements in the course to be successful in gaining their White Card and Certificates. Due to the rules of SafeWork we can only host 20 students in each course. We have a waitlist of students keen to undertake this training. I am currently chasing up a course for Term 2 and will confirm this once I have further information.
*All students will need to obtain a Unique Student Identifier Number to participate. I can assist students to obtain this online but will require them to bring in a photo of their Medicare card to obtain this USI. Or students can obtain this themselves by accessing the following website: https://www.usi.gov.au/providers/create-usi-student
UOW Discovery Day Excursion Scheduled for 19th & 20th February!
A small group of our Year 12 students travelled to Wollongong last Wednesday afternoon, staying overnight at the Wollongong Surf Leisure Resort before attending the renowned University of Wollongong Discovery Day on Thursday. We had a lovely dinner, walk on the beach and quiet night in (many students very tired from the travel). The next morning, we were up early at 5:30am for a walk on the beach with the aim to see the sunrise. Despite the weather being very overcast and raining, we enjoyed breathing the salt air and seeing the city lights fall over the beach.
We traveled around to the UOW Campus where they gave an engaging and fun introduction to Uni life in the auditorium. Students were given their individual timetables of events and sessions that they could try out and headed off to their sessions. Lunch was a full Uni experience with a RAVE in the Uni Bar (*Rest assured minus the alcoholic drinks) and the mosh pit was full and pumping. Throughout the day, students were able to explore the beautiful UOW campus and engaged in fascinating lectures and tours like; investigating epidemics in biology, introduction to Teaching, Explore the world & travel within your degree, how to fall in love (Psychology session) exploring nursing, nutrition, sports science, social work, and the future of sports marketing. As well as campus and accommodation tours and learning about potential career paths.
The Discovery Day was a fantastic way for students to immerse themselves into university life and to try our four different areas of study or interest. It was a day full of inspiration, learning, and gave students an insight into tertiary education.
TAFE YES Program – Construction Commencing on 21st February – 4th April 2025 (Every Friday in for 7 weeks Term 1).
Our group of Year 10 students commenced their TAFE YES Construction course up at TAFE Narrandera last Friday. Students began the day with a safety talk then a small practical project aimed at brushing up their skills in accuracy in measuring timber, cutting and types of joints used. Next week students will commence their main projects – building their Resort Chairs. Students were engaged, enthusiastic and worked well on their mini projects. We thank their TAFE Teacher Chris and as always, we wish to also thank Fee Smith for her tireless work and advocacy for our students.
Upcoming Events:
CSU Explore Day 18th March 2024:
Later this term CSU will hold their annual Explore Day. This is a fantastic day for our Year 10 students to immerse themselves into interactive workshops and to explore and try out University courses and see what university life is like. Students have already put their name on the list and have selected their activities. The note with more details on this excursion will be coming in the next few weeks.
YEAR 10 Work Experience – Week 11 Term 1 – 7th April – 11th April!
Please note that Year 10 Work Experience week will be held the last week of this term 7th-11th April. All students in year 10 are expected to try to source and attend work experience that week. I have met with most of the Year 10 cohort in year meetings to provide students with the information packs and forms as well as instructions on how to go about finding a placement. Please send students to the careers office if they have not collected these information packs. Please read this information carefully as these documents are required for our students to be covered by the departments insurance and parents and students are both required to read and sign the forms.
Please encourage your child to get in early as the whole year group are needing to find a placement and some employers will be approached and snapped up quickly. If you wish to ask any questions about the work experience program and requirements, please call the careers office for more information and assistance. Students are welcome to go stay with family and attend employers outside of the Narrandera and Riverina area but will need to also complete a separate accommodation form. We have had students attend work experience in the ACT, Albury, Sydney and further afield.
All forms and placements are to be finalised by Friday 28th March so that I can complete the necessary correspondence and finalisation of the forms to ensure students are prepared, covered by insurance and are set up safely for their placement.
Upcoming Guest Speakers:
Charles Sturt University Early Entry Talk - On Wednesday 5th March
During period 4 our senior year meeting will have the opportunity to speak with CSU staff who will walk students through the Early Entry process and how students can respond to the specific criteria for the Charles Sturt Advantage program. Students will have time to ask any questions they have about possibly courses, pathways and the Early Entry requirements.
Legal Aid Visit - 5th March 2025 – Period 6
Also, on Wednesday 5th March we have the staff from Legal Aid coming back to our school to present their important and informative talk on Workplace Rights to our students. This will be for all our seniors (who were on exams last year when Legal Aid visited) as well as our new Year 7 cohort and any students from the other year groups who missed the talk in term 4 last year. We look forward to our students hearing this invaluable talk and learning more about how to navigate their workplace rights as young people entering the workforce.
UOW Visit – 19th March – Senior Students
On the 19th March our Student Liaison officer at UOW – James Barton will be presenting to our senior students all thinks UOW, course and pathway options to Uni, what scholarships, internships, exchange programs are available to UOW students and exploring in general what Uni life is like. Students will have the opportunity to chat to James about anything Tertiary related and James will be back in Term 2 to support our Year 12 students with their early entry applications.
Unserious Careers Visit – Wednesday 26th March – Senior Students.
Alana Kilmartin of Unserious Careers will be visiting our Senior Students to discuss how to navigate the first 5 years of your career, how to maximise your opportunities and some life lessons Alana has picked up in her career. Alana visited our school last term, while our Seniors were siting their exams, so we have asked Alana to come back to present to them her real world insights and knowledge.
University Admission Centre – Webinar – TBC
We are waiting to confirm when we can have our information session for our Year 12 students to learn all about the University Admission process with UAC. Students in Year 12 who are interested in applying to university will need to gain information on the terminology, process and requirements to apply to University through UAC.
I will advise when I have confirmed the date and time of this session.
All Careers Events:
All these opportunities are always announced to students at our morning assemblies, year meetings and in our newsletters. Any student or parent who has any questions in relation to these activities are welcome to contact the careers office for further information.
Mrs Judy Ing
Careers Adviser