Media Release
Katherine High School in running for two DEET NT Training Awards
Wednesday 24 August 2005
Katherine High School is short-listed in two categories for the Department of Employment, Education and Training (DEET) NT Training Awards - the Bill McLaren VET in Schools Excellence Award and the Training Initiative Award.
VET (vocational education and training) Coordinator Lesley Bannan said: “The school’s innovative Year 12 VET in Schools program focuses on the industry skills of tourism and hospitality and draws on the natural heritage of the Katherine region through land conservation and management.” Ms Bannan said excellent results in the Northern Territory Certificate of Education (NTCE) have exceeded all expectations.
“The program is designed to respond flexibly to individual student needs and to engage them in positive roles for the real world of work.”
“In the workplace part of the program, students greet, advise and accompany tourists from The Ghan,” she said. “All participants who completed the VET in Schools program gained their NTCE, with each student undertaking more than 300 hours of on-the-job training.”
“This program has all the hallmarks of best practice in VET and is a model that will be emulated for years to come,” Ms Bannan said.
The school’s horticulture program is in the running for the Training Initiative of the Year Award. The program involves students with multiple disabilities and high support needs and leads to the Certificate I in Horticulture.
“Take a small vegetable plot, incubate some fertile eggs and students are soon lunching on omelette, quiche and home grown salad. Not to mention their improved communication, new life skills and steps toward independent living,” Ms Bannan said.
“Students discover the pleasure of picking and eating produce they have nurtured and grown themselves as well as learning responsibility, money-handling skills and gaining a nationally recognised qualification. The program also aims to switch students on to the possibility of acquiring real skills for real jobs. And all this directly from the garden!”
The Awards Presentation will be held on September 10 at a gala dinner in Darwin.
For further information visit the awards website, www.vet.nt.gov.au/awards.