VCAL Year in Review

Senior VCAL Year 2019 in Review

It's been a huge 2019 for our VCAL students! Here are some highlights from the year. 

Work Experience

Last week, senior VCAL student Maddie G (12S) spent a week in the makeup department of the Wentworth  television series seen on Foxtel Showcase.

Maddie has been studying beauty at TAFE this year and worked at In Me Beauty Salon in Doncaster as part of her work placement requirement for VCAL. When In Me closed during the year, Maddie moved on to do administrative work in a local office, so she wasn’t left idle and gained extra experience that could be added to her resume and increase her employability skills.

Maddie was able to secure her work placement with Fremantle Media on the set of Wentworth, even though the Year 12 class had finished two weeks earlier. Maddie worked from 9am to 5pm every day, which was no mean feat, due to Wentworth being filmed in Newport and Maddie lives in East Doncaster.

Her time on set was filled with having to understand “running sheets” in order to know what scenes and which characters were required. Maddie observed the creation of prosthetics and tasks such as washing of wigs for actors and stunt people, learning about the various cosmetic products and their reactions with other products including skin, and cutting out tattoos.

Visit to Doncaster Manor

Earlier this term, Senior VCAL students visited Doncaster Manor Aged Care Facility in Doncaster East, as part of their Personal Skills Development course.

Visiting the elderly and sharing stories was part of the Community Engagement Program. Students baked biscuits to share over a cup of tea and chatted with our local elderly citizens. It was a rewarding experience for our Senior VCAL students, who were able to hear stories from people who had grown up in other countries and come to Australia for a better life, as well as people who had lived through the depression, reared families, lost partners, lived through two World Wars as well as the Korean and the Vietnam Wars. Happy stories, sad stories and a wealth of experience was shared.

Our students were able to offer their own life experiences, which were received with some amusement and some disdain. All-in-all both generations found the afternoon rewarding and enjoyable. There were photos taken on the day and Hamid A (12S) went down earlier this week to present a framed keepsake as a memory of the time spent with our elderly citizens. 

Painting, cooking, catering and more!

The Mainstream class was involved in painting the "Wellbeing Wall" outside the Senior Centre, giving students and staff a more peaceful atmosphere when walking to-and-from classes. Along with the SBAT and senior classes, students were involved in fire safety training with "Majenta", while in the "Life Skills" class they cooked up a treat, catering for the Year 12 Art Exhibition and waiting on guests. Whilst participating in all these tasks, they were a very busy cohort involved in various work experiences including Construction, Community Service, Kitchen Operations and Structured Work Place  Learning activities.

The SBAT class have mounted tiles that the Year 8 Art class had created, which has improved the harsh grey wall above the drinking taps outside the canteen. The SBAT class when they are not at school, are attending TAFE and participating in their apprenticeships and traineeships, working and learning in their chosen career pathways,  which  entails occupations such as  Hair and Beauty, Plumbing, Construction, Refrigeration, Spray Painting, Sport and Fitness,  Cookery, Warehousing, Hospitality and Business Administration.

Senior VCAL

The Senior VCAL class participated in various community engagement projects, such as a BBQ to raise money for “The Big Umbrella Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that supports homeless people. Students participated in cooking and serving meals, as well as cleaning up at “The Sacred Heart Mission in St Kilda, over a four-week period.

The local primary school Prep students were able to enjoy activities with their much taller school cousins, where community engagement was fostered between Doncaster Primary School and DSC.

Along with the community focus, students visited two night clubs: Miss Collins and The Harp of Erin. This was during the day, so not quite as exciting as it sounds, but was helpful in understanding  what may be involved in designing a space and planning and running a business. Seniors incorporated this busy school schedule, where all the projects were organised, in groups or individually, in order to meet the required outcomes.

Apprenticeships and traineeships that Senior VCAL students undertook in 2019 were Hospitality, Hair and Beauty, Plumbing, Automotive, Landscaping, IT, Programming, Early Childhood and Business Administration.

After completing a successful senior year, DSC students are ready to take on further learning and work in their career pathways, filling those very important skill shortage positions in the near future.

Donna McKinlay