Secondary 11/12
Team Leader's Message
Term 2
Term 2 has been another busy term in the VCAL/VPC world.
All students have been actively engaging in their programs and making significant progress towards the achievement of their respective certificates.
Being able to get out in the community and apply our skills in real world situations makes a huge difference, providing deeper understanding and supporting a willingness from students to get more involved in the process of their learning. As well as the weekly Literacy, Numeracy, Personal Development Skills and Work Related Skills lessons, as part of their certificates, our students also engage in Vocational training or VET. VET programs run every Wednesday and most are delivered by external training organisations.
Concord School staff support our students in these programs which limits our offerings to staffing numbers, but affords our students every opportunity for success. The VET programs we are running this year are Kitchen Operations, Sport and Recreation, Construction, Creative Industries, Employment Pathways, Horticulture and a group that attends IDV. This Term's newsletter showcases those programs and our wonderful students working hard. The students gain valuable skills and develop their confidence working with trainers and learning new skills.
The Kitchen Operations Students have been cooking up a storm learning new and creative culinary skills to apply in the kitchen at home. Each week the students create a new recipe that they fully prepare within a commercial kitchen.
Sport and Recreation students have experienced a variety of different sports and learned all the important rules and regulations that go with them. They have also completed a First Aid certificate to add to their resumes which will support future employment options.
The Construction students have completed their first timber joinery projects and taken them home. Next semester they will explore some of the different areas within the construction industry such as wall framing and bricklaying.
The Creative Industries group have been making weekly radio news programs over in the Discovery Centre. They are writing news reports and making music selections, as well as looking at the Occupational Health and Safety considerations of the industry.
In Employment Pathways the students have been looking at what is involved in getting a job. Students have visited a variety of industries and looked at the skills required to work in them. They have also looked at the employability skills, such as having good communication skills which are used within any workplace.
Our Horticulture group had a change of teacher from Term 1 to Term 2. Term one had a stronger landscape focus, completing some larger projects, whilst Term 2 has focused more on the botanical side of horticulture. Students have been on a variety of excursions looking at the different ways people use plants to beautify areas and the different uses for plants such as food. This term they have reinstated the vegetable gardens that will hopefully be bearing produce soon.
And finally the students attending IDV have had lots of travel experience travelling far and wide on different forms of transport and then at IDV in Greensborough they have explored more deeply some of the employability skills that all employers look for.
Megan Prenc Jane Stacey
Leading Teacher Leading Teacher
Teaching and Learning Wellbeing and Engagement