28 August 2020

At Aquinas College, Ringwood, the VET program is strong, supporting a series of certificate programs for Aquinas students as well as many students from schools in surrounding suburbs. VET Coordinator, Ebony Monteau shared the following about the success of the college’s programs:

Students at Aquinas College are attaining vital industry knowledge and skills in Vocational Education and Training (VET). The college motto is ‘Illuminare et Ardere’, which means ‘To Light Up and Be on Fire’. This sentiment definitely applies to the college’s overall VET provision and development.

Our continuing success in providing our students with the opportunity to undertake training in a diverse range of VET courses in high-quality industry-standard facilities has been underwritten by the growing number of our students enrolling in VET programs, particularly in Certificate II in Building and Construction (Carpentry) and Certificate III in Sport and Recreation. Two years ago, we introduced VET Certificate II in Applied Fashion Design and Technology. This course is incorporated into our college timetable, which gives VCE and VCAL students access to the course. We continue to explore the opportunity to extend skills training through additional VET program provision.

As part of the Mullum VET Cluster, we have around 120 students from surrounding schools attending VET classes at Aquinas College. Mullum cluster students have access to our VET programs including Building and Construction (Carpentry), Hospitality, Kitchen Operations, Music Industry (Sound Production), and Sport and Recreation. This year, our Wednesday afternoon VET courses have seen a healthy increase in popularity and all but one had to be waitlisted.

Students in VET Fashion, VET Hospitality and VET Kitchen Operations programs benefit from their involvement in industry days and hearing from industry guest speakers. We intend to extend these initiatives to other VET courses we offer. Aquinas College is committed to providing TAFE tasters for our Year 10 students to assist with their subject selections for Year 11, and conducting an annual Career Expo for our senior students. We were planning to run a VET Expo Day to highlight the various pathway opportunities for Aquinas College and Mullum cluster students. Unfortunately, the effects of COVID-19 have caused us to defer the expo until next year.

National Skills Week showcases the attractive career opportunities offered by VET programs and runs from 24–30 August 2020.