During the June school holiday period, EPIC Assist initiated our second school holiday intensive training sessions.  These sessions are designed to assist our school trainee and apprentices to have additional face to face time with their trainer and tutors to enhance their learning and completion of units of study in their accredited courses. EPIC uses this quieter time for students the same way as a ‘summer schools’ in universities and colleges.

Throughout the intensive sessions, trainers arranged for students to work together in team building activities, problem solving scenarios and other innovative actions to engage their individual learning styles.

Some of these include:

• Role plays and self-evaluations;
• Using games such as Monopoly to support learning, literacy and numeracy, as well as money handling;
• Working effectively with others to develop communication and listening skills; and
• Understanding diversity by setting up an obstacle course where two students with vision impairment and blindness provided guidance through the obstacle course to the other blindfolded students.

“The holiday sessions allowed the students to gain some momentum in their studies, and the synergy of a team environment combined with some great brainstorming and humour produced some excellent results. It was a tremendous reflection of the quality of student that we have in our training programs,” said Casey, Business Trainer.

Students in retail courses took excursions to shopping centres to observe, identify and experience different styles of customer service, safety procedures and emergency exits, as well as using shop catalogues to locate products in store and check pricing.

“Multiple shop assistants were welcoming of the students into their shops and were happy to answer questions about their store and products as well as give student an opportunity to help customers make purchase decisions” Helen Haidle, Retail Trainer.

Over the school holidays EPIC also conducted training days with external Registered Training Organisation (RTO) partners we collectively work with. Working with Construction Skills Training Centre, EPIC held horticulture training days where multiple students completed units and had hands on practice where possible. EPIC provided support to each student to meet their individual needs, making reasonable adjustments to facilitate to each specific student.

“It was great to see the students in a different learning environment. Being able get hands on and perform a basic soil test was not only a new skill, it also showed each student that learning can be fun,” Beau Carmichael, Tutor, Planning 4 Life.

EPIC provides training and assistance to prepare students to enter the workplace and identifies employment opportunities that match their career goals. We stay with students on their journey until our assistance is no longer needed.

With EPIC’s support, students build their workplace skills and confidence, leading to greater independence and meaningful employment opportunities after school.