The Transition program covers all students in Years 10, 11 and 12 at Eastern Ranges School.
Karen Gieschen (Transition Coordinator) and Sheona Lord (Transition Assistant) work closely with all curriculum areas – VCAL, Applied Learning, Contemporary Living Curriculum and Victorian Curriculum to assist teachers in obtaining best learning outcomes for all students.
Programs we are directly involved with are:
- School Based Apprenticeships and Traineeships (SBATS) – these are offered to eligible students in areas such as hospitality and food processing. We work closely with staff from atEast, a consortium of secondary schools in the Outer East to provide students with opportunities to gain valuable experience at work whilst studying a certificate course.
- Vocational Education and Training (VET) courses. In 2017 ERS are offering 13 VCAL students Certificate 11 in Public Safety. This course is delivered onsite by Magenta Training and involves both theory and practical learning over a two year period. We are also pleased to have Mountain District Learning Centre deliver components of Certificate 1 in Work Education to students in our Applied Learning groups. The MDLC trainer, delivers the course at ERS each Thursday morning.
- Structured Workplace Learning (SWL) is a vital part of the VCAL curriculum and students are placed in appropriate workplaces to learn about all aspects of going to work. Waverley Industries is a huge part of our SWL program with 19 students attending their site in Notting Hill during Term 2. In Term 2 we are expanding the student’s experiences into the community with a variety of workplaces including Good Start Early Learning, A Touch of Class and Airfab in Ferntree Gully, Radio 3MDR in Emerald and AFL in Docklands.
- Exploring Post School Options – students from the Contemporary Living Curriculum classes have begun accessing day services in Ferntree Gully and Lilydale with the aim of transition to post school options. We have also organised visits to YourDNA in Ringwood and Creative Moves in Mt. Waverley to prepare students for choices they may make when they leave school.
- The Depot – Transition staff support classroom teachers and students in their work in the ERS Depot – this involves providing pre-vocational tasks for students across senior school to undertake including recycling, paper fill, delivery of cleaning materials, collection of school banking, laminating, shredding, and maintaining kitchen and Depot supplies.
Karen also assists parents to complete their Disability Support Pension and other associated entitlements paperwork. This can be a daunting task that takes considerable planning and organisation.
One of the main focuses of our role during Semester One has been visiting a variety of post school option services to enable us to learn more about what is available in the Outer East for our students and families. So far we have visited Burke and Beyond, Interchange Outer East, Yarra View Nursery, Knoxbrooke, Monkami, Melba Services, Fire and Clay and Tasty AZ in Lilydale.
One of the highlights of Transitions in 2017 was the Transition EXPO which was held on June 1st. The VCAL students, under the expert direction of Bec, Tania and Jaspal assisted in organising 35 providers to attend ERS and set up information tables and close to 80 people attended the EXPO. We hope to run this EXPO each year to help inform parents and students of the post school options available in the Outer East.
Parents and students are invited to contact Transition staff to discuss the post school options available and view the many brochures we have in our office.
Karen Gieschen
Transition Coordinator
Eastern Ranges School