Senior School

Winter with centenarian Jack

Year 9 Melbourne Experience

On Monday 31 July all Year 9 students experienced the Melbourne CBD for the day. Students worked on their Bibilical Studies projects, aimed at seeing the city through the different lenses being studied in class. Destinations included: Federation Square, St Paul’s Cathedral, Flinders Street Station, and Flagstaff Gardens, finishing with a tour of Parliament House. Using public transport, and their own two feet, students navigated their way around the city to take photos of different locations. The sights and sounds of the CBD were a new experience for some, and many students came away with a view of the amazing city we live in, as well as an appreciation that not all people experience the benefits. This day will lead into future city experience days later in the school year.

 

John Presant

Head of Senior School

Centenarian Portrait Project By Teenagers

Winter has begun her first drawing of a centenarian, for the "Centenarian Portrait Project By Teenagers”. This project partners skilled teenage artists with centenarians. Winter’s final artwork will be displayed at the 2017 Victorian Seniors Festival. Jack, who recently celebrated his 102nd birthday, was very excited to see her progress!

Tom Gibbs

Middle and Senior Art Teacher

Year 10 Work Experience

The Work Experience program at St Andrews Christian College provides Year 10 students with a rich opportunity to learn about work through observation. The program encourages students to take initiative in arranging their work experience placement by building connections with businesses and employers. The Year 10 students spent the last week of Term 2 working alongside others in a variety of exciting environments, from medical institutes to cafes and everything in between. Students used this opportunity wisely to learn more about working as part of a team and safety at the workplace, as well as explore possible career pathways.

Here are two students experiences:

 

I had the privilege of spending five days working with film composer Ricky Edwards (Shine, Australia, The Water Diviner) in his studio, writing and arranging original music for Australian director Stephen Amis' upcoming family comedy The BBQ, starring Shane Jacobson, Magda Szubanski, Manu Feildel, Julia Zemiro and Nicholas Hammond. Ricky was a super engaging mentor who generously gave me valuable insight into the world of film scoring, as well as providing me with guidance in working with others in the film industry. Through my work experience placement, I was given the opportunity to carry out music editing tasks in addition to working on the score with Ricky. I am very grateful for this wonderful opportunity and I hope that my fellow Year 10s have also achieved success in their work experience placements. A big thank you to Mrs Yevlahova for her fantastic work as our school's careers coordinator.

 

Jerry Cheng

Year 10

 

Work experience for me was a great learning experience as it allowed me to have an insight into working life. I did my work experience in an I.T. business called Tech This Out, which specialise in computer repair and maintenance. I found my work experience in this business thanks to the help of the year 10 work experience coordinator, Mrs Yevlahova. She suggested I send an email to their business as I'm interested in I.T. as a possible career option for the future. After getting an email back saying that I would be able to do my work experience there, I went to the store and had all the papers signed. My hours were from 10am until 3pm from the 26th - 30th of June.

 

While working at Tech This Out, I helped with all different kinds of tasks, ranging from clicking a couple of buttons, to helping disassemble computers of all sorts (which was by far the coolest part). In the first couple of days of working there, I was only doing the simpler jobs like installing a program on a computer or things like that. By the end of the week, both the staff members and myself had enough confidence in me that I was able to start doing more complicated jobs such as taking apart laptops, removing the old parts, and installing new parts. The disassembly and reassembly jobs I found to be very exciting as it was interesting to see all the inner workings of a computer and how all the parts work together to make it function.

 

I really enjoyed work experience this year and I feel like I've learnt a lot from it. I've learned about the inside parts of computers, different programs, tricks I can use to help make computers run and do all sorts of things and also that this wouldn't be an industry I'd mind working in.

 

Alex Visser

Year 10

Careers News

University Open Days continue this weekend. I encourage all Senior School students to attend them to learn more about courses and careers they lead to, as well as about pathway options and how to apply.

 

In one of the recent publications about Future Workplaces I’ve read that new jobs will demand double the amount of time that people spend today on critical thinking, problem solving, using maths, science and technology and communication skills.  In particular,

  • 41 per cent more time will be spent on critical thinking and judgment
  • 77 per cent more time will be spent using science and mathematics skills
  • 7 hours a week will be spent on verbal communication and interpersonal relations.

With fewer managers predicted, workers will have to supervise and manage themselves, adopting an entrepreneurial mindset in order to get ahead.

 

Working (or being) smart will be much more about how effectively people develop and utilize their cognitive and emotional skills.

 

Future Australian workers would, on average, make at least 17 changes in employers, across five different careers over their lifetime. Hence, future workers will be required to have greater adaptability, participate effectively in more complex forms of communication and non-routine problem solving, as well as demonstrating self-development and systems thinking.

 

Our Universities are at the forefront of developing 21st Century skills and Open Days present a great opportunity to explore their new and/or reviewed courses and programs.

 

A big thank you to the parents and students who found the time during Parent/Teacher Interview Day to visit the Careers Room, say hello to me and for your positive comments about our Careers Program at St Andrews.

 

Please find more information in the attached Careers News:

If you have a question about a topic featured in the Careers Newsletter, please contact Careers Coordinator Mrs Irena Yevlahova iyevlahova@standrews.vic.edu.au

 

Irena Yevlahova

Careers Coordinator