Year 12 Art

GATEWAY WORK EXPERIENCE

S.T.A.R. – TRADE ACADEMIES

By Ms. Shelly Boyes, Faculty Leader – Career Development Services

Have you ever wondered what your possible future in work could look like post-COVID? Have you ever thought about kick starting your trade training while you were still at high school? Well over two hundred students did just that in 2020 despite the challenges brought by COVID-19’s lockdowns and Alert Levels. This year we expanded our practical learning opportunities to include military preparation, police studies, full industry training organisation qualifications, ‘virtual’ online work with employers and off-site delivery of block courses for GATEWAY and Angitu students through active community partnering with RSA Franklin. COVID-19 meant our trades academy students needed to work online for part of their year to supplement their practical studies, as well as mask up, hand sanitise and QR code scan whenever they travelled and/or moved about an MIT campus. Our work experience students’ practical learning was victim to the vagaries of COVID Alert Levels. Students could work at Alert Level 2 with their employer’s permission and business readiness. For some students, this meant an agonising wait until Alert Level 1. 2020 has taught our students not only about the fragility of our world but also to remain optimistic while pragmatic and self-aware about their young futures forward in the new COVID landscape. Overall, our students can be proud of their resilience and perseverance to achieve in trying circumstances and determination to succeed. Here are a few cool work stories from our class of 2020 ...

Arianna Moana (1GFPS) worked as a Kaiaho or junior classroom teacher’s aide at Te Hononga o Nga Hae e Wha in Pukekohe. She says that her work experience has confirmed for her that being in early childhood education (ECE) is what she wants to pursue when she is ready to leave high school. She will return to Level 2 Future Pathways in 2020 as a GATEWAY work experience student with hopefully with the same workplace and ECE theory studies with PORSE Education. (Photograph with permission supplied.)

Level 3 Automotive Engineering student, Andre’ Joubert (3GFPS), is all masked up, scanned on and ready to go to Tech! He was one of 100 MIT Trades Academy students that had to make a few changes under Alert Level 2.5 following the second lockdown in order to travel and attend his weekly classes at the MIT Otara campus. In 2021, Andre’ is set to continue his development with extended work experience in diesel mechanics and further trades academy study in engineering or other allied skills.

David Kawondera (2GFPS) is our first GATEWAY work experience student to work virtually with a remote employer, starting a trend that many are likely to follow from 2021. While his employer, Design by Cheney, is resident in Puhoi, David would work from ‘his office’ in the Student Support building at Pukekohe High School each week for 20 weeks. He worked to digital media design contract briefs supplied by his employer to develop graphics for various social media platforms for real clients. David is looking forward to further developing his information technology skills in 2021 for a future pathway in media design.

Eli McRobbie (2GFPS) was a member of a large group of MIT Trades Academy Level 2 Building Construction & Allied Trades (BCATS) students working out of MIT Otara. Eli enjoyed working with industry professionals in a tertiary learning environment. He will return to Level 3 Future Pathways in 2021 continuing his MIT Trades Academy journey as a Level 3 BCATS student, studying two days per week for 32 weeks at MIT Tech Park.

Finn Williams (Year 12) was a member of the Start Up Ignition Automotive Level 2 Micro-Credential programme, a GATEWAY and Motor Industry Training Organisation initiative. The programme immerses senior high school students in the world of automotive engineering through work experience and industry-specific studies. This

“I like my coffee like I like my women, I don’t like coffee.” - Daniel Fawthrop

opportunity was perfect for Finn; he was able to complete an entire qualification in addition to NCEA Level 2, develop a network of local contacts and acquire an automotive engineering apprenticeship, which he will commence in 2021.

Kiriarma Chapman (1GFPS) got first-hand experience of the busy-ness that characterises the hospitality industry through her work experience at Town Mouse Cafe’, Pukekohe. She counts learning how to make the perfect coffee for real paying customers as a highlight. Kiriarma’s new people skills will be perfect for her beauty therapy pathway training that she is set to commence in 2021.

Lakiesha Welsh (1GFPS) was keen to give ‘building construction a go’ when she completed her work experience with Triple C Contractors Limited, Tuakau. She worked on a multi-level housing complex in Auckland with professional builders and sub-contractors. She says her work experience has opened her eyes to other possible future trade pathways that she is keen to explore. Lakiesha will return to Level 2 Future Pathways in 2020 as a part of the fast growing MIT Trades Academy group.

MIT Trades Academy Level 3 Electrical & Mechanical Engineering students, Kane Joseph, Malakai Poa and Michael Spies (3GFPS), Foundation students of MIT Tech Park – a multi-million dollar trades training initiative based on Manukau City. The students did two trades academies, the first year of the electrical apprenticeship and preapprentice mechanical engineering. Our young men are positively looking to study full-time at MIT Tech Park in 2021 to progress their future pathways in automotive and mechanical engineering.

Moso’oi Eseau, Brogan McColl, Bridget McCrum and

Ashleigh Parkes (3GFPS) are our inaugural Level 3 Police Studies students who worked with the Police Pathway Academy Programme based at Wesley College twice per week for 30 weeks. This course is specific to students that are serious about a policing or similar career. To qualify, our students needed to have Level 2 English and mathematics and be fit and strong through their involvement in sports and/or other physical activity. Our young women are positively looking to study or work in initial pathways that are people-orientated with a view to applying for the police force by the end of 2021 (due to COVID-19).

Taylor Rademeyer (3GFPS) is pictured at her office in Manukau City where she is effectively a Legal Assistant to her employer at Integrity Law Limited, Manukau City. She has had the opportunity to grow her writing and thinking skills through actual legal work experience on wills, trusts, depositions and disputes. Taylor is positively looking to further develop her business and legal experience before pursuing a Bachelor of Laws at Waikato University in 2021 or 2022.

MIT Trades Academy Level 3 Electrical and Mechanical Engineering student, Yuki Smith (3GFPS), is Pukekohe High School’s second recipient of The Prime Minister’s Vocational Excellence Award, a $2000 scholarship awarding our top vocational education student at Year 12 or Year 13. Yuki is being awarded for his Top of Schools efforts in two trades academies, as well as consistent above average performances in Level 3 calculus and physics. Yuki starts his electrical engineering apprenticeship with ETCO in 2021.