Work+skills

Follow the link below to the Year 11 Work Skills Wiki

http://sandringhamcollegeyear11wrs.wikispaces.com/

Work VCAL students generally do not have classes timetabled on Friday allowing them to work on that day. Most students have part time jobs, and many VCAL students choose to pick up an extra shift on Friday. Some students however, may be required to work Wednesday, Thursday and Friday night for example. In this case, this student may have Friday as a personal day to catch up on sleep and other commitments. One group of Year 12 students who are not currently working have been timetabled to attend a Work Skills class on a Friday. When/if they secure work on a Friday, I will move them to another class.

Those students who do not have any work at this stage will be encouraged to seek work over the coming weeks. We will work on developing Resumes and Application letters in Work Skills, and learning about work places and Occupational Health and Safety. If you think your son/daughter is not ready to begin work yet, then please talk to me about your concerns- they need to be confident.

For students who are ready to start work now, Fridays can initially be spent working on the Safe@work modules at home and in workshops at school. Once these are completed, students can dedicate Friday to job seeking. I really appreciate parental support in this area in encouraging their son/daughter in this process. It can be daunting, but ultimately it is something we all have to do. At various stages throughout the year, we bring in external organisations to assist students with job seeking but sometimes it is simply a matter of perseverance. We will be asking students to identify 20 places they are willing to work and to prepare resumes for those workplaces. Students will then need to make contact and personally deliver the resume and letter. They will then need to follow up the next week, by re-visiting the workplace. The more practice they get at this, the more confident they become. A resume sent in the mail, and never followed up, will not secure a job. Remember any part time/casual job or work placement is positive as it teaches essential work skills and can be a ‘stepping stone’. It doesn’t mean you’ll be working there for the rest of your life!

Different types of work
 * Students can chose to work part time or casual. That is they are receiving an award wage (or higher). They usually receive a pay slip or there is an official record of them in the work place. They usually also receive a Group Certificate at the end of each financial year. VCAL students can start working part time or casual at any time and then let their Work Skills teacher (Yr11 Jenny, Yr12 Amal) know the details in class.
 * Some students have a School Based Apprenticeship. They are employed by a group training company or an employer, doing an apprenticeship whilst doing their VCE or VCAL. Jenny Marks should know the details of this so that you receive the appropriate credit.
 * Some students choose to do a work placement. In this situation the student is not actually an employee, but he or she is placed in the work place to learn elements of the job- to receive some training in that field. An organisation is only required to pay someone doing a work placement $5.00 a day, and is exempt if it is a ‘not for profit organisation’. Most students are able to see the incredible benefits a work placement can offer over the financial disincentive. Often a work placement can provide the students with experience, confidence and skills to better equip them for paid work in the future. Often the student can gain a Referee from work placement and sometimes in can lead to paid work and or an apprenticeship.

Please Remember The essential thing to remember about a work placement is that as the student is not an employee they are not necessarily covered by Work Cover and need to complete Work Placement forms before they commence. The forms are available from Amal or Jenny. They must be filled in and signed by the student, parent, and employer and then returned to the Work Skills teacher- Jenny or Amal before you can start work. The other essential step in work placement is that students are to have satisfactorily completed the Safe@work tests and his/her teacher must sight the certificates. These have to be done each year. If a student did the tests last year, he/she has to do the Review module and test and the Industry module and test.Students can do these at home if they are ready to start work placement now and are confident with the tests, however we will be running some Friday sessions at school to help student with these throughout the term.