Careers And Gateway

It has been an activity-packed year with ākonga being able to experience a wide range of opportunities to explore potential career pathways.

Some highlights include the annual trip to Otago University, which was as always, an excellent adventure. The opportunity for ākonga, past and present, to connect is always special. The nine ākonga enjoyed experiencing all that Otago/Ōtākou University and Dunedin/Ōtepoti have to offer.

The Careers Expo in May at Wolfbrook Arena saw seventy plus of our ākonga participating with the ‘Inspiring the Futures’ session. The facilitators said, “We really enjoyed your students' involvement and enthusiasm!” Our ākonga impressed them with engagement and fabulous behaviour!

We took several large groups to visit tertiary providers in Christchurch/Ōtautahi, and we were pleased that such large numbers of ākonga are interested in further education as part of their journey once they leave Te Aratai. Ākonga from Year 10, 11, 12 and 13 participated in the Open Day at NZMA, investigating careers in Hospitality, Pharmacy and Sports, as well as attending the University of Canterbury/Waitaha Open Days, sitting in on lectures in subject areas that interested them and seeing what it is like to be a uni student for a day.

Our Gateway students completed work experience in a range of workplaces including The Warehouse, Warehouse Stationery, Woolworths (Eastgate and The Palms), NZ Road Metals, The Climate Action Campus, Coca Cola, Crafted Coffee, MDG Construction and the Kimihia Early Learning Centre, developing their confidence in the workplace and, for five of our students, gaining them part time employment. It is wonderful that so many local businesses are supporting our kura in providing our ākonga with work placements.

Dual enrolment continues to offer ākonga an opportunity to study at ARA or the National Trades Academy whilst being at school, with ākonga gaining experience and skills in Barista, Construction, Engineering, Welding, Hospitality, Beauty and Salon Skills, Outdoor Education and Warehousing and Logistics.

Te Aratai was fortunate to participate in a project facilitated by HEB Construction and the Christchurch Police, where a group of our ākonga worked with HEB to build a section of path used by the communities primary and intermediate ākonga in the Wainoni red zone. The ākonga got to network with professionals in roading whilst giving back to the community.

Many of our ākonga participated in ARA taster days, and a one-day opportunity to study at ARA in a course in their area of interest. Year 13 ākonga Cooper Atherton and Kelli Hollis went one step further and completed a 4-day On Air Workshop as a part of Ara Broadcasting School. Both have decided to further their interest in media by applying for the Ara Broadcasting School next year. Kelli will be going to screen production, while Cooper will be going into radio.

We also had the opportunity to host presentations from ETCO, Komatsu, ARA, Canterbury, Lincoln, Otago and Victoria Universities as well as Z Energy. These visits gave our ākonga the passion to move off and transition on to the next part of their career journey or inspired them to continue studying at Te Aratai, to help them develop the foundation for their next steps.

It has been a productive and busy year, and we look forward to continuing to grow and support the career education of the ākonga at Te Aratai, so they can leave us to follow their dreams and find fulfilling career pathways.

Otago University Trip

In May we took a group of students to visit Otago University to look at their potential career pathway. The students had a great time and hopefully gained some insight into Otago University (they slept most of the way home)! Our current students had dinner with four of our past students, Jason, Sophie, Phoenix and Daniel, who shared their uni experiences from the perspective of 1st, 2nd and 3rd year Health Science and Medicine students. It was awesome to have a kōrero from four future doctors, all past Te Aratai/Linwood students.