Motivating students to stay at school, Kalamunda Senior High School’s Work Links program
Kalamunda Senior High School (SHS) has implemented an innovative way to keep students at school and prepare them for further training and employment.
In order to give its Year 11 ‘Work Links’ class more structure, the school introduced a program last year that combined three days in the classroom with two days in work placements. During their time in the classroom, students achieved a Certificate I in Business at the same time as they completed four Curriculum Council subjects.
For student Nikki Bates of High Wycombe, the school’s combination of work placement and school has made education more enjoyable.
Kalamunda senior high school student Nikki Bates.
Kalamunda senior high school student Nikki Bates.
Fifteen year-old Nikki is currently undertaking a traineeship at Wallenius Wilhemsen Logistics, a machinery processing facility based in Kewdale.
She said the traineeship provided her with valuable experience in heavy-duty mechanics.
Through her TAFEWA course and traineeship placements she has had the opportunity to learn about light and heavy-duty machinery mechanics, and gain work experience in the electrical, panelbeating and spraypainting industries.
“I prefer heavy-duty mechanics work and eventually I would like to work on a minesite,” Nikki said.
“A traineeship at a business has given me the opportunity to experience a trade and to know what happens in the real world,” she said.
“As well as helping change tyres on headers, doing final checks on headers and tractors and helping in the office, I’ve learned about work hours and work load.”
Neville Patterson of Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics said this was the first year he had provided a traineeship opportunity for a student.
“The traineeship program is a great opportunity for businesses to assess students as potential employees and for students to have hands-on experience in the workforce,” he said.
“This is a vast improvement on the former system, as it gives students a ‘foot in the door’ of a workplace and an opportunity to prove themselves, all with the support of their school.
“In the past it was very daunting for a young person to leave school and then approach an organisation on their own and ask for an apprenticeship or work experience,” Mr Patterson said.
