Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL)
It has been a busy start to 2021 and it is hard to believe we are already in March!
The VCAL team extends a warm welcome to Kaitlyn Bailey, Lily Greenfield, Keira Hately Marks, Angela Imperatori, Shanika Kelly and Mia Slifierz, who have commenced their Intermediate Certificate.
We also welcome Jasmine King and Mairead Manders, who will commence their Senior Certificate.
The girls have participated enthusiastically in the Enrichment Day program. The Mentone Beach excursion and on-site Barista Course have enabled them to demonstrate leadership, teamwork, academic and practical skills.
As the year progresses, the students at each level will need to work conscientiously and consistently to meet the VCAL outcomes in Literacy, Numeracy, Personal Development Skills and Work Related Skills. Additional VET and work placement commitments must be managed efficiently.
We look forward to supporting the girls as they embrace the challenges of achieving their respective VCAL Certificates.
Jenny Gamble
VCAL Leader
Enrichment Day Program
As Jenny Gamble mentioned in her report above, the VCAL year has started with all sorts of interesting activities and tasks. Part of my role has been to develop the 'Enrichment Program' instigated by Loretta McKail. The 'Enrichment Program' was developed to allow extra work skill training to be delivered to both intermediate and senior students at the same time. The 'Enrichment Program' occurs once a cycle. Below is some feedback from our students based on the first two days:
Enrichment Days
The beach day was so much fun, with so many activities like the sandcastle competition. All the opportunities to bond with the Year 12 students were amazing. It was also fun to hang out with friends. We all got to bring little snacks to share at lunch and they were delicious. Playing games and bonding with everyone was really nice.
The Barista course was something that I have wanted to do for so long and this VCAL course gave me the opportunity to do it. It was such a good course and the teachers being so fun and enthusiastic about teaching us, just made it that much better. Making so many different coffees and being able to put a design on all the different ones was the best. The designs were so amazing.
Kaitlyn Bailey
Year 11
For our first Enrichment Day task, both Year 11 and 12 VCAL students walked to Mentone Beach with a shared lunch that we had all contributed to. We partook in many activities such as sandcastle building, duck duck goose, a team race, and showing off our team chants. Although it was a windy day and a very long walk to the bathrooms, being able to bond and spend time with everyone was very enjoyable. My personal favourite was being able to sit down and eat lunch with everyone while appreciating all the diverse snacks everyone had brought to share.
For our second Enrichment Day task the school had some mobile Barista Course buses come down to the school to teach both the Year 11 and 12 VCAL students how to make a variety of coffees. We got to learn how to make a long black, flat white, long macchiato, mocha, latte, cappuccino and a short macchiato. We got to create over 20 coffees and learnt how to make designs on them with chocolate. At the end of the day, we also learnt how to clean the machines safely. The experience was truly remarkable and so were our instructors.
Lily Greenfield
Year 11
When we went to the beach, we had a big table full of food. We all struggled to build sandcastles because the sand would dry up and fall to the ground. The hard part was thinking of a design that would work and wouldn’t be too hard to construct. We were there for the whole day feeling the ocean breeze, laughing and having a good time. We played a few games which on sand, required a lot of teamwork and effort.
We had so much fun learning all the different coffees in the course but that also came with a lot of different challenges. I never knew that the main difference about types of coffee was just the foam. Doing the coffee art was probably our favourite part knowing that we could make all these cool aesthetic designs. Also making mistakes along the way and hearing about the mistakes, enabled us to learn. We also learnt food and safety rules and cross contamination.
Shanika Kelly
Year 11
Over the year all students will participate in First Aid training, Responsible service of Alcohol training and Food Handling. These are all accredited courses which will build their workplace and general employability skills.
Other courses include Interview skills and Financial Literacy skills. 'Enrichment Day' is also a day to develop group cohesiveness and general communication skills. We look forward to watching our students continue to grow and develop.
Ruth Myers
VCAL Leader:
Community Partnerships