The African proverb, ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ couldn’t be more true and it is most definitely the case for the young people at Wee Waa High School.

Our school has built strong partnerships with local businesses to develop important opportunities for some of our students with disabilities, explained Multi-Category (MC) teacher Mr Todd Jones.

Two such local businesses include Max Orman Toyota and Agies Rural with whom WWHS has had a long standing School to Work partnership with for our MC students.

For the last two years Year 11 student, Ryan Currie has been working one morning a fortnight at Max Orman Toyota. Over that time, proprietor Brett Orman and his wife Jacqui have witnessed his increasing skills and confidence.

Ryan ensures the lawns are mowed fortnightly, the product displays are dusted, restocked and well presented, and then it’s time to assemble new lawn mowers, chainsaws or whipper snippers; a part of the job that Ryan enjoys the most.

Something Ryan takes great pride in is helping the team at Max Orman's keep their workshop clean and tidy. ‘Whenever there’s the opportunity to learn something new such as attaching side steps to a vehicle, Ryan is always keen to learn. He really helps us around the shop and he is proactive and productive. He looks for work and anticipates what needs to be done”, added Jacqui.

Both Jacqui and Brett have enjoyed seeing Ryan’s confidence and social skills develop. 'The ability to look someone in the eye and shake their hand is something Ryan has become more confident with.’

Brett explained that as a local business owner ‘It’s rewarding and important to see young people developing life skills. The School to Work program helps to broaden young peoples’ knowledge and experience so they can make the best possible decision for themselves about their future work direction. They get to see more of what they are good at, or not, and what they enjoy and what they don’t.' Mr Brett Orman

'Our relationship with Wee Waa High School helps keep us engaged with the younger generation in our community. We’ve even found employees through the various work experience programs we have been a part of.’

Across the road at Agies Rural it’s a similar story. Year 10 student, Ben Kiem has been working with John Girven and his team once a week for the last three years.

Ben is a natural with people; ‘He knows everyone and has a gift for remembering people and their name. He’d be great on concierge as he knows every customer’s name and will always greet them and ask how they are as they walk in the door. He knows who their partner is and who their children are', explained John.

When he’s not greeting customers, or enjoying smoko with the team, Ben keeps busy shredding, labelling and packing new stock away or helping Robert and Bernie in spare parts.

‘Ben’s nature is very neat so he is great with displaying stock and labelling new products. Our accounts and admin team have also been teaching him how to file'.

'Developing good foundation skills is something that I believe is important as a partner in the School to Work program and as a team, we are committed to helping Ben develop these life and work skills', added John.

Mr Jones acknowledged the importance of the Transition to Work program; ‘I've seen an improvement in students' ability to relate some of the work we do in the classroom with real life concepts. Through his work at Max Orman's Toyota, Ryan is a prime example of this. He returned very excited one day having bought himself a new spotlight and couldn't wait to get the invoice out and show me how he counted out his money to purchase it’.

‘Our students are very lucky to live in a small community such as Wee Waa, where so many businesses are willing to give them a chance to prepare for life after school. Interacting with people in a workplace situation is a skill that can't necessarily be taught in a classroom. On the occasions that I've had to collect Ben from Agies I've always enjoyed hearing him make sure he has said goodbye to every single staff member before he leaves', added Mr Jones.

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