Hands on Learning

2024 Wrap Up

The Hands on Learning (HoL) program has been engaging students for over 25 years and has been a key part of the Brigidine Campus, with notable original alumni like Nate Spiers, who graduated from St Joseph's College this year.

In 2024, the program expanded to the Kildare Campus, introducing the Café and Build programs. Café, led by Geordie Butler and Tamara Ferris, focuses on preparing a diverse range of hearty lunches and running a staff biscuit enterprise. Build, overseen by Matt Butler and Gavin Delmar, involves hands-on projects like furniture making and seasonal displays, such as the setting and pallet Christmas tree, at the campus entrance.

The programs have been very successful and the pride and sense of belonging by the students have built their confidence, resilience, and teamwork skills while fostering social-emotional growth. Additionally, students develop hands-on capabilities, that give them confidence and build a skill base, that may lead to future work endeavours. 

We are incredibly proud of our students this year and look forward to another fabulous year in HoL in 2025!

Geordie Butler

HOL visits Twin Rivers Specialist School

Our HoL group from Kildare Campus recently spent half a day with the HoL group at Echuca Twin Rivers Specialist School, to learn about their ECO garden.

Our students and staff learnt all about how the ECO garden works and the challenges Twin Rivers face in running and maintaining the garden, as we hope to implement one at Kildare Campus.

While we were there, our students also had the opportunity to assist with the preparation of new garden beds and plant some sweet potato seedlings, which they thoroughly enjoyed.

Gavin Deller