Community & Business
11 March, 2021
Junior tradie numbers reach new heights
STUDENTS at Mareeba State High School (MSHS) are not just picking up their grades, many have chosen to pick up a trade with more than 100 students currently undertaking extracurricular studies in the trade industry.
STUDENTS at Mareeba State High School (MSHS) are not just picking up their grades, many have chosen to pick up a trade with more than 100 students currently undertaking extracurricular studies in the trade industry.
Like many schools across the region, MSHS offers options for students who may feel like going on to university is not for them.
They offer school-based certificates in areas like hairdressing or fitness, apprenticeships like boiler making and plumbing through local businesses and traineeships.
Currently at MSHS there are 161 students undergoing these alternative options, nearly double than what they had participating last year.
MSHS Industry Liaison Officer Linda Clark said that even though the school has made the courses available, the students have shown tremendous drive to participate in these opportunities.
“There is a lot more drive and there is a lot more hunger,” she said.
“The students are hungry to learn and to give themselves a better opportunity moving forward.
“Kids aren’t just using it as an excuse to get out of school, they are driven.”
Often the school will contract exterior employers or training providers to supply the students with the learning and knowledge they need.
One of these businesses is Civil Safety and Training which is currently running a Certificate II in Rural Operations at the school in their trade training centre.
The course is being run by Rudi Schincariol and contains elements of automotive, fabrication, basic machinery and safety units. Civil Safety and Training have been running courses at MSHS since 2011 and Mr Schincariol said that now days there are a lot more options of employment compared to 2021.
“They want to learn basic skills on a range of things so that they find their niche market, they can pursue it,” Mr Schincariol said.
“The numbers have increased this year we normally have around the 15 mark, but this year we have over 20, it’s a very good turnout.
“We run the workshop like an industry standard workshop, we treat the students as employees and in turn they treat us as employers.”
Many students who take part in these kinds of opportunities have gone into the workforce immediately after graduating, spending next to no time in limbo.
