Monthly Archives: November 2018

Bringing industry directly to the classroom is the only way to ensure the skills required by employers are being offered to students. 

Andrew Sezonov, General Manager of the Skilling Australia Foundation, told a meeting of the Northern Adelaide P-TECH Partnership Steering Committee, more needs to be done across Australia to ensure students graduating from high school, TAFEs and tertiary institutions have the skills that match employers’ needs. 

Mr Sezonov was in Adelaide today to chair the final steering committee meeting for 2018. St Patrick’s Technical College, in Edinburgh North, was one of 14 sites across Australia to pilot the innovative P-TECH model in a bid to better align student outcomes with employer demands. 

Today’s meeting involved representatives from St Patrick’s Technical College, Catholic Education South Australia, TAFE SA, the Federal Department of Education, Defence Teaming Centre, Saab Australia, Century Engineering, PMB Defence and DXC Technology. 

“The Northern Adelaide P-TECH Partnership has excelled the benchmark in terms of collaboration and establishing true industry partnerships,’’ Mr Sezonov said. 

“I congratulate all the partners involved for their commitment to the program and I hope to see the Northern Adelaide P-TECH Partnerships continue on through 2019.’’ 

The meeting also saw Mr Sezonov hand over the reigns as chairman for the Northern Adelaide P-TECH Partnership to StPatsTech STEM Faculty Manager Brad Sheridan. 

Skilling Australia Foundation Chair Andrew Sezonov with Northern Adelaide P-TECH Partnerships Industry Liaison Officer Toni Hartley and incoming of the Northern Adelaide P-TECH Partnership Steering Committee Brad Sheridan. Mr Sheridan is the Head STEM teacher at St Patrick’s Technical College.

Mr Sheridan said the partners were looking forward to continuing the P-TECH Partnership in 2019 and providing students with strong industry connections with Century Engineering, PMB Defence, Saab Australia and DXC Technology. 

The StPatsTech P-TECH Australia model is offered in Electrotechnology, Information Technology and Engineering.

#PTECHAustralia #Apprenticeships #stpatstech

St Patrick’s Technical College has opened its doors this week to local primary school children to give them a real trade experience. 

With the College’s Year 11 and 12 students finished for the year, more than 260 Year 6 and 7 students from five primary schools in Playford and Gawler were able to get their hands dirty in the College’s state-of-the-art workshops during Try-a-Trade days. 

The visiting students were able to experience some of the hands-on learning offered by StPatsTech. They made wooden tea light candle holders in the Building and Construction workshop; built mini biscuit houses in the Food and Hospitality kitchen; learned some basic automotive skills in the mechanical workshop; made their own electric conductivity tester in the Electrotechnology workshop; and learnt about gear ratios by building LEGO Technic Power Car in the science lab. 

College Principal Danny Deptula said the visiting students were only a few years off making decisions about career pathways. 

“We want to ensure vocational education pathways are given the same consideration and weight by families and students as a tertiary pathway,’’ Mr Deptula said. 

“By opening our fantastic, $15 million purpose-built facility to local primary school students, we hope it opens their eyes to a whole slew of possible careers through vocational education. 

“We were very pleased to host the students and welcome any other schools who would like to give their students some hands-on learning opportunities.’’ 

Among the schools visiting StPatsTech are St Brigid’s Catholic School, St Mary Magdalene’s School, St Thomas More School, Blakeview Primary School and Hewett Primary School.