Warracknabeal year 11 student, Hope Dempsey is celebrating her success which all began with a mock interview at school. During the interview she made a positive first impression on interviewer, Bernie O’Connor.

Woodbine’s CEO Bernie O’Connor commented, “Hope presented well and on time and was clearly taking the interview as a genuine opportunity to learn more of the job seeking process. Towards the end of the interview, my fellow panel member, John Aitken, asked a completely unscripted question of Hope. He asked what three positive learning experiences she could say about her casual work at McDonalds. Immediately, Hope replied along these lines; to dress neatly in uniform to present a positive image, work diligently and never serve food I wouldn’t be prepared to eat myself- There was the next School Based Apprentice.

Woodbine provides a comprehensive range of services and day activities including supported employment, shared supported accommodation, outreach and respite, and recreation and  leisure. The range of day activities includes the popular adventure and discovery program, information technology, communication, commercial catering, plant nursery, craft shop, arts, music, retail clothing shop, opportunity shop and meals on wheels, to nominate a few. All Woodbine services are managed with a genuine philosophy of maximising inclusion and seeking to contribute to the local community.

Bernie explained, “The School Based Apprenticeship is one half of Woodbine’s trainee program. The program involves the nomination by a secondary college of a finishing year 12 student who does not plan to continue on to tertiary studies. This trainee will be supported in real full-time employment for two years whilst they are fully assisted to obtain Certificate IV in Disability. At the same time, comes the nomination of a finishing year 10 student to take up the School Based Apprenticeship. “

School Based Apprenticeships allow young Australians to get a head start with their careers by beginning an apprenticeship while still working towards their senior secondary school certificate. School-based Apprenticeships are a great career option, allowing young Australians to commence training for a vocational qualification and earn a wage while still at school.

Hope said “I love it here. I have two days of on-the-job training and a half a day of working, so it’s 19 hours all-up in a week.” Hope is studying for her Vocational Certificate of Applied Learning at school. “I struggle with classrooms—I always have, but being out in the workplace, I’m learning more than I was at school. It’s a lot more hands-on.” she said.

“I started here in October of 2015 and was thrown in the deep end.” she said. “No two days are the same.” Hope assists clients with daytime activities. “We go out into the community, we go out to Pharmacino and have a coffee and a scone or we’ll go for a walk up the street and get the newspaper. I had my first day in the kitchen last week and today was my first day in music and it was really good.” she said.

Hope has been on steep learning curve. “One of the things I’ve been learning is patience. Some of the clients are a bit slower at completing tasks than others, so you’ve got to be really patient with them and give them time.” she said. Life just keeps getting better for Hope. “A couple of weeks ago I was doing lunchmaking and Bernie, the CEO, called me out and offered me more work!”

Asked if he’d recommend School Based Apprenticeships to other businesses and organisations, Bernie replied, “This program seeks to support a healthy balance of experience and youth at Woodbine. Only a few years ago, there was just one staff member under the age of 30 years. With this measure and its flow-on message, there are now 35 people in the younger age grouping. If you are interested in maintaining a line of youth to match experience and see it as a long term plan, then a is a very workable and extremely rewarding solution. It is not necessarily a solution to address immediate skill deficiencies in your business. For Woodbine, it is a strategy to balance the workforce in a way that is a real support to the community and individual young people whilst enhancing the perception of people with a disability.”

Eddie Nsanzimana and Nexus

Life’s motoring along pretty fast for 19 year old Eddie Nsanzimana from Rwanda.

He spent his childhood in a refugee camp in Tanzania after being forced to flee from the Rwandan genocide in the mid 90’s, before moving to Australia in 2006 with his mother and siblings. Eddie’s now studying Certificate IV in Community Services and has gained a full-time traineeship at Nexus Youth Centre in Horsham.

First living in Adelaide, Eddie remarked “It was all a bit new for us, just a little boy from a refugee camp, living in the big city”. Eventually the family moved to Horsham. “I never wanted to come to Horsham. I hated the idea of moving here. I asked what do teenagers do here?” he said. “I’ve been here for the last four years. Now I love this place. There’s no place I’d rather be than Horsham.”

Eddie has certainly fallen on his feet of late. “It was 18 months ago that I came across Nexus at the Careers Expo. I didn’t have a Structured Workplace Learning placement and my teacher encouraged me to try Community Services at Nexus. So I spoke to Alois and he said he’d love to take me on board, so I’ve worked here as part of my schooling every Tuesday from mid 2014 to the end of 2015.”

During that time Eddie assisted with organising events. “They let me lead a project- a camp at Lake Mungo in the outback for Young G and Freeza kids” he said. “The main idea of the camp was to get the multicultural Young G kids together with Australian kids to spend a whole week together and learn about each other and their cultures” he said. “Lake Mungo was crazy-no phone, no showers, no nothing for two days. I was surprised. The kids didn’t care about phones though and we just sat around the campfire talking and playing games. There was a bit of storytelling and it was amazing. We discovered a lot of talents in each other.”

Eddie’s now moved into a full-time traineeship at Nexus and is studying Certificate IV in Community Services after finishing Year 12 last year. “What I like about Nexus is the culture here-it’s really chilled.” he said. His favourite part of the job is the satisfaction he receives when an event comes together after lots of planning and organising. “It feels good seeing the reaction on the kids’ faces. Seeing them happy keeps me going” he said.

Eddie’s manager, Alois Kneibess had only good things to say about him. “Eddie’s been fantastic. He connects really well with the young people. I think it’s really good having a young person, on the staff in a training capacity. Work placements are a great opportunity to invest in a young person’s life and they bring a fresh dynamic to your organisation. As a youth centre, it’s good to be involved with young people that are starting to transition from education to employment. It’s exciting to have someone like Eddie on board- he’s dynamic and enthusiastic.”

“Eddie’s done a lot of work coordinating our Youth Week activities this week, working with different musicians, artists, logistics, catering, accommodation and transport,”Alois said.

Asked for his advice for other students thinking of doing a work placement, Eddie replied, “It’s all about having a passion and sticking your neck out. Sometimes you can fail but just keep trying. When you stick at it and keep going. It may lead to traineeships and apprenticeships. Just keep going and don’t give up.”

Some facts about Structured Workplace Learning

• The minimum payment for students completing structured workplace learning is just $5 per day.
• Students completing work placement are covered by Work Cover
• A Working With Children Check is NOT REQUIRED if the student is over 15 years of age
• If the student is under the age of 18 and paid less than $112 per week the employer is NOT required to withhold tax, collect a TFN declaration, issue a payment summary or payslip or report payment details to the ATO.
• Structured Workplace Learning allows students to gain hands-on skills related to the course they are studying at school as part of their VET or VCAL qualifications
• Placements for structured workplace learning can be undertaken in one week blocks or on a one day per week basis.

How do I find out more information?

Contact Structured Workplace Learning Officer/coordinator at Wimmera Southern Mallee LLEN by email or phone 5381 0122.