Careers Semester 1 Report
CAREERS SEMESTER 1
Its been a huge semester for careers at Wangaratta High School and the students have taken advantage of the many opportunities offered to them that have been on hold for two years.
In March, it started with the Morrisby Career Profiling for all of the Year 9 students. The Morrisby Career Profiling is a simple yet powerful assessment to match students' individual interests and preferences to specific careers and courses, analysing results against more than 650 careers. It is a series of online tests assessing a student's logic, verbal, non-verbal and numerical reasoning, spatial awareness and mechanical aptitude.
The last two weeks of term 2 the Year 9’s who participated in the Morrisby Profiling have been having their follow up interview with a Careers Practitioner who is especially trained in ‘unpacking’ the results of the assessments. Students who complete the profiling will be given a booklet to keep and are encouraged to share with their parents/carers the conversations they have had. All students who participated have life ling access to their Morrisby Profile and can explore and update their page at any time.
In May, the Year 10 students had Work Experience. It was a race to the end to get all the paperwork completed however those that were organised did a great job. Student were in a great variety of industries including; primary schools, hospitality, conveyancing & legal, plumbing, building & construction, hairdressing & barbers, real estate, physiotherapy and mechanical to name a few. Feed back from employers was very positive with comments of great communication, interacting well with staff, punctual, shows initiative, asks questions and displaying enthusiasm were all common themes from the student’s placements. It was wonderful to have the students out again in Work Experience and starting those career conversations with them.
All Years 9 to 12 students were given the opportunity to attend the Hands on Trade Expo at Winton. It was another exciting day as again the expo has been cancelled for two years. There were 55 stall holders, close to 200 WHS students attending and there were over 1,300 students who registered to attend the event.
On display was the ADF, SES, Merriwa Industries, Aged Carer, TAFE, Victoria Police, local councils, employment and apprenticeship agencies to name a few. The students (and staff) had a great time walking around and trying things out and of course collecting as much merchandise as they could! A big shout out to Shane Crispin from NE TRACKS LLEN for his dedication to arranging this event and the great support he gives to the students at WHS. Each session ended with Team Army thrilling the students, and staff with a Burnout Demonstration, highlight of the day for most of the participants.
Not long after this we were off to the Food & Fibre Day at University of Melbourne, at the Dookie Campus. The Food & Fibre Careers Day aims to bring ‘a hands on’ approach to informing secondary school students about the many diverse career opportunities available in food and fibre. The forum is aimed at Years 9 to 12 students interested in a career in agriculture or horticulture - students choose which sessions they attend based on their own goals and aspirations.
The day offered 20 different workshops options, guest speakers and a Young farmers Challenge that was held at lunchtime. The workshop topics include: Beef, Robotic Dairy, Equine, Sheep & Wool, Genetics, AgTech, Horticulture, Environmental Science, Urban Food Gardening, Indigenous Foods, Bees, Vet Tech, Agribusiness Panel, Water Conservation, Fly Farming, Viticulture, Geo Spatial Science, Hydroponics, Climate Solutions.
Again thank you to NE TRACKS LLEN for their commitment and support to WHS.
The second last week of Term 2, the Years 11 & 12 students were all encouraged to attend the Tertiary Information Session (TIS) Day at the Wangaratta Regional Study Centre. The TIS Day is an expo covering opportunities for students post Year 12. Students get to chance to speak to representatives from universities and TAFE’s and find out about courses, life on campus and so much more. Students are encouraged to research as many options that they can and to attend open days to gain an insight to each facility they are interested in.
All students have been working on their Career Action Plans this semester. It is a requirement that all students have a completed CAP and these are reviewed each year. CAP’s are used for each student to set goals and plans for the year and for their future and to clarify the actions needed to achieve these goals. The students have been given great support by Jodie Bell to complete these and have them put onto Compass.
It has been a huge Semester 1 with careers and pathways, and it has been wonderful to have to students able to get out and about again, attend events and start to get back on track. Semester 2 is also shaping up to be filled with opportunities outings, course selection and the GAT.
A reminder to all that each fortnight the Career Newsletter is emailed out and also on the school website, it is filled with valuable information including university open days, course guides and so much more.
It’s never to early to start talking careers!
Happy holidays.
Cate West
Career Practitioner/Pathways/Transitions