Careers

Careers @ Middle School

Year 7 & 8

Effective careers and transition programs are a vital component of school strategies to improve student engagement and increase school completion. Wheelers Hill Secondary College provides every young person with careers advice to support them to make informed and effective decisions, so that they can have every opportunity to succeed, and lead fulfilling and productive lives.

Career Action Plans (CAPs) and associated support, are used to assist students with making successful transitions through their year levels at secondary school. It assists them to work towards achieving their personal goals and plan for future education, training or full-time employment. Completion of CAPs also provides additional support to students at risk of disengaging or not making a successful transition to further education, training or secure employment.

Overall, CAP aims to help young people to:

• Develop their knowledge and understanding of education, training and employment options, and
• Develop skills to effectively manage their careers and pathways throughout their lives.

On Monday 3rd December all Year 7 & 8 students attended a ‘Career Action Planning’ session in the Library. This session covered topics such as; the meaning of a Career, Three Stages of Career Development and what influences career choices. Students were introduced to the school’s career website (www.whsccareers.com) and the ‘career targets’ on the home page which links their favourite subject to possible career options. It was great to see so many enthusiastic students participating during this session.

Finally, students opened their own ‘careers account’ via the ‘student secure area’ section of the website where they got to complete their Career Action Plan’. This plan will remain with students throughout their time at Wheelers Hill Secondary College. Students have been encouraged to keep updating their CAPs as often as they need to. The more current their plan is the more targeted assistance can be provided to them. Parent’s access to their child’s CAP is controlled by each student. This is a great opportunity for parents to engage in career conversations with their teenager, and provide extra support outside the school.

Year 10 Work Experience 2019

The Work Experience Program is a major part of the Year 10 curriculum at Wheelers Hill Secondary College and therefore all year 10 students are required to participate. The Year 10 Work Experience Program in 2019 will run for one week during,

MONDAY 24th JUNE – FRIDAY 28TH JUNE 2019

All year 9 students attended a ‘Welcome to Work Experience’ session on Wednesday 12th December. The benefits of undertaking work experience are many including, developing employability skills, exploring possible career options, increasing self-awareness which helps answer questions such as What am I good at?, What work values are important to me?, Where do my interests lie? Apart from also building self-confidence and making industry contacts a meaningful placement can also assist with choosing VCE subjects.

The session on Wednesday focused on the importance of undertaking a placement that was meaningful, that is, in an interest area students wish to ‘try out’. The session also touched on how to decide which placement to undertake, where to look and apply for a placement, and when placements need to be organised by. Students were also lucky enough to hear from two of our current year 10 students, Paige Cherry & Brooke Johnston on the placement they undertook this year. We thank them for their time and valuable insights. Finally, a Work Experience Kit, outlining in detail how to organise a placement was provided to students and has also been emailed to year 9 families for reference.

Copies of the Work Experience Agreement form can be accessed via the school’s career website (www.whsccareers.com) by clicking on the Workplace Learning tab and then the Required Documents tab. Prior to submitting work experience forms to myself or Futures Teachers, students must have the employer, student and parent sections of the form completed first. I will then arrange for the school Principal to sign this agreement.

There are several places students can look to find work…asking family and friends, teachers, approaching local businesses and even searching for companies on the internet. Students are strongly encouraged to start early with sourcing a placement to ensure that they secure one that they will benefit from the most. It has been proven that a good work experience can lead to a career, but that a great experience can inspire a passion! We encourage all students to keep this in mind when arranging their placement. Placements and all paperwork need to be completed by 10th May 2019.

Finally, I would like wish you all a very Merry Christmas and I look forward to supporting you in 2019.

Voula Jakubicki

Careers Coordinator