Smart students skill up over school holidays

As the COVID pandemic continues to impact Western Sydney, young people are more determined than ever to develop valuable career skills and improve their employment prospects.

During July many local high school students cut their school holiday break short to take part in a series of popular short courses hosted by CathWest Innovation College in Mount Druitt.

Students registered in record numbers for the July holiday short courses which included barista basics, hospitality, videography, eSports, hairdressing, fashion design and more, all of which were booked out within weeks of being announced.

“It has exploded in interest,” said Judy Smith, CathWest Innovation College Manager Entrepreneurial Partnership. “COVID has played a big part with that. Our previous courses had to be online so now that they're back in person and the word is getting around again, it's all played a part in the huge interest we've seen in these courses.”

CathWest Innovation College is ‘school done differently’ and prides itself on tailoring education and training to suit its students. The school has followed that mantra in the types of short courses it offered to students from a range of local schools during the holiday period.

“We really are looking at courses that appeal to students’ interests and are linked to skills shortages in society today,” said Judy. “Careers like hospitality or hairdressing. There are real struggles with getting people into certain industries. It's also an opportunity for students to actually engage in something meaningful during their school holidays while still having fun.”

“And no one's doing this,” Judy added. “No one is offering these courses. Places like TAFE are closed during the holidays. We've already got people putting their names down for the next batch of courses and they haven't even been confirmed yet.”

CathWest Innovation College has hosted the short courses since 2020, many run by external industry experts such as a qualified TAFE NSW chef, a video production expert and a senior fashion designer.

The eSports course proved incredibly popular.

Not surprisingly, a new eSports course that teaches skills such as communications and online production proved incredibly popular with 30 students attending.

“We have students coming from all over Sydney, not only the western suburbs,” said Judy. “So many young people are keen to take part which explains why they booked up so quickly. They've also been really impressed with the facilities here at CathWest because we're able to make use of the hospitality facilities, hairdressing, cafe, multimedia and other speciality spaces that our students use during the school term.”

The hospitality students such as Leah from St Clare’s Catholic High School Hassall Grove were able to share the meals they created with their parents

Students taking part in the hospitality short course got to prepare three-course meals which they served to their parents who were invited to enjoy the meals at the end of the course.

“I've even had some parents say, 'can we join a course?',” added Judy. “One of the fathers wants to do the chef course so he can be a better cook at home. Parents really recognise and appreciate the skills being taught to their kids through these courses.”

“It's been really good because it's so hands-on,” said Shania, a year 9 student at Santa Sophia College taking part in the fashion design short course run by Olga Moore, Senior Fashion Designer with Maniera. “We're learning real skills that we can use for work or whatever. I'm really interested in developing any sort of skills that will help me after school. Entrepreneurship, business skills, communication skills. Nowadays, lots of people are starting their own business so it's good to learn about some of the skills needed to do those sorts of things.”

Euter from St Clare’s Catholic High School Hassall Grove is passionate about the possibility of exploring career opportunities linked to the skills he picked up in the videography short course.

“I just feel like we should be doing things during the holidays and taking the opportunity to better ourselves and learn as much as we can,” added Euter, a Year 9 student from St Clare’s Catholic High School Hassall Grove who took part in the videography short course hosted by Orville Tagud, Video Strategist at production company Greater Visuals.

“Today was really fun,” he added. “Orville taught us so many things such as the basics of how to operate a camera, lots about creative video techniques, how to price our work and things like this. I think it will really help with my future.”

Euter had a message for any other students contemplating registering for upcoming courses.

“Don’t miss out,” he said. “This is a great opportunity for kids to learn so many things that they probably never thought they could learn about, especially while still at school. Another great benefit is simply meeting other people. From the instructors to all the other students from other schools around western Sydney. It's really cool.”