Careers

End of Year Update

As we wind up another year at Bayside Christian College, I can’t help but reflect on the year that was.

This year, I have run Work Experience week with the Year 10 cohort in Term 2 and Year 9 in Term 4 - with safe@work presentations delivered for both cohorts. Students gained some very valuable insight into the world of work, with some students securing part time work from their placement. For some students, this time spent in the workplace has confirmed their vocational aspirations, for others it confirmed the type of work they don’t want to do once they graduate.

Throughout the year, I have had discussions with the VCE students around subject selection options, future studies beyond BCC, VTAC applications as well as discussion with the VCAL students around their aspirations and the best VET Courses to equip them with vocational skills for their future. I have loved getting to know students and speak with them about what they see for their future, help them to recognise their gifts and abilities and align them with their goals.

I would also like to take this opportunity to wish all of the Bayside Christian College families a wonderful Christmas break and look forward to seeing you back safe in 2023!

Farewell

Early this year, Ms Claire Harvey (Dawson) resigned from the role as Careers Coordinator at Bayside Christian College. Claire has a wealth of knowledge that has been accumulated over her time at Bayside in the Careers role and I will miss being able to access that. She has been an inspirational mentor and her support has been such a blessing. I would like to take this opportunity to farewell her officially and wish her every blessing for 2023 and the years beyond.

A final reminder for Year 12 Students

VTAC still has two webinars to support students and parents/carers with understanding results, change of preference and offers. The "getting ready for January round - what happens next?" webinars will each focus specifically on preparing students on maximising their preferences for both December and January offer rounds to ensure they get the best possible outcome. They will have a focus on Q&A time to allow all questions to be answered.

Getting ready for January round - what happens next? Wednesday 21 December, 6:00-7:00pm

Registration links can be found on the events page of the VTAC website: https://vtac.edu.au/events.html

I encourage all students and parents/carers to be familiar with the VTAC process.

Year 9 Work Experience

Last week, the Year 9 cohort set off on their Work Experience arrangements. A lot of time and effort goes into preparation and running this program and the students going out on placements gain some valuable insight into the world of work.

Students were placed in various work environments, with just under half of the students involved in trades. A large number of students were also placed with retail employers and in education. Other industries include marketing, manufacturing, animal care/veterinary, administration, hospitality, warehousing and assisting in archaeology.

Of the 48 students, 12 were under 15 years of age and unfortunately weren’t permitted to participate. For these students, alternative arrangements were sought within the School Community and also with their family businesses. Students completed a reflection on their week of work experience. Some of the student’s highlights:

I learnt how to do concreting. I was more helpful than the actual workers.
Deconstructing the conveyors, sieves and conveyor belts
being in a construction workplace
One thing I enjoyed overall was getting to know everyone through the many tasks that had to be done because even though some of the tasks were a bit difficult, the people made it more fun.
I enjoyed going to the workplace and the atmosphere of a job.
The main highlights of the work experience week was meeting new people on the job sites and learning how to install downpipes.
The breaks
Meeting all of the kids
Using the tagging gun to put tags/prices onto the clothes and I also enjoyed doing computer work such as putting clothes onto eBay.
I got to learn how power points work. I got to learn how all the cabling in my house work.
I enjoyed going out the back to see the 2 big racks of servers and helping with the year 7 orientation day.
1- I went on the yr3-6 camp with them, 2- getting nandos for lunch.
The kids practising their Christmas concert. Playing with the parachute with the kids.
Meeting all of the animals and getting to hang out with them.
A positive highlight would be the kids having fun, like when they were going outside
Being at the cafe in general
Working with my dad.
creating relationships with students so quickly and feeling a part of the school staff.
Some main highlights from my work experience was washing jewellery and rolling gold after I got used to it.
We went out and did some surveying, which I really enjoyed and the lab work was fun because it was new to me.
Mainly just being around all the kids and getting to help out and another thing would have been being back at my primary school and seeing my old teachers.

Some of the student challenges:

I found it difficult doing different things with people I didn't know very well. I also found it difficult to speak up if I didn't understand instructions clearly. Not only was doing these things difficult, but the actual time I spent at my placement a day was a struggle because of how many hours I was doing these tasks for. Even though the time was long it was good that I was kept busy for all of it so I wasn't bored.
I found it difficult to stay focused in the meetings; I didn't know much about what was being said.
The most difficult thing for me was waking up early in the morning.
When the kids were super hyper
I found it difficult to find my way around the shop, not knowing the layout, not knowing where to find and put items.
Getting up early enough for it.
I usually don't like working with children, so I was nervous about that
Keeping awake
Getting the kids to actually eat and partake in activities
knowing what to do in my free time at lunch.
What I found difficult was rolling Gold because you had to be strong to do that, and also making a pearl bracelet.
The long hours
The one thing i found difficult was having to be up early every morning