Andrew's Success Story

Andrew is off to what he calls a ‘head start’ as he completed the first year of an electrical apprenticeship while he was doing his VCE. He knew he wanted to complete his VCE and go into a trade after he finished. Doing a School Based Apprenticeship kept his options open.

He gave thought to his choice of VCE subjects before he started Year 11 and after talking to his family decided to apply for an apprenticeship position. He was also influenced by a talk given at the Bendigo Australian Technical College (ATC) which was in partnership with his secondary college. He was successfully interviewed and signed up for his apprenticeship with a large materials handling company in Bendigo.

He was able to balance his VCE subjects (English, Maths Methods, Systems Engineering and Business Management) with his apprenticeship training and work. Planning made it all fit well – a week of work every three or four weeks (including school holiday time) gave him plenty of time for his VCE studies – although Andrew acknowledged he was ‘flat out’.

He received lots of support from his teachers and family. His teachers kept in touch with his employer and gave him regular feedback about how he was going on the job.

Andrew’s tip for any VCE students undertaking a School Based Apprenticeship or Traineeship is ‘to find a balance between work, school, TAFE training, friends and sport’. He even made time to continue to play soccer.

Now that he has successfully completed VCE he is a full-time second year electrical apprentice. His future plans are to gain as many qualifications as he can and to travel sometime after he finishes his apprenticeship. He has a portable trade to take with him.