James' Success Story

James was working voluntarily at Lead On when he was in Year 10 at Catholic College Bendigo. He was enjoying his time there and even considered leaving school at the end of the year.

However, Lead On suggested that he complete a traineeship with them while he was studying for VCE and this gave him the incentive to complete Years 11 and 12. James’ Year 12 included Certificate III in Business as a School Based Traineeship which involved being part-time at school and part-time at work.

Lead On is an organisation that provides real-life experiences for young people through its projects in the local community. These projects offer opportunities that will teach new skills, develop confidence and help to establish networks. They also allow older people to see what young people are capable of doing and what they are interested in.

James became a project officer at Lead On which allowed him to get involved in real-life learning while still attending school. There were many occasions when he was able to apply the skills and knowledge from school in his job. For example, in VCE Accounting he learned how to do a Statement of Accounts and then he used one at work.

The traineeship did not in any way lighten James’ workload during VCE. Because he was out of school two days a week, he had to make up VCE work in his lunch hour on school days. So this is not an easy option by any means.

James has now left school and is working full time for Lead On. At home he is the youngest of four children and the only one who has not gone on to university. His family are very supportive of his choice to stay in Bendigo and work, especially as he finds it so fulfilling.

Last year he won the Victorian School Based Australian Apprentice of the year Award and was a finalist in the Australian Award. His Victorian prize of a $10 000 scholarship has to be used towards further training. He is using this to fund a part-time course (by correspondence) towards a Diploma of Project Management.

‘Having a vision, a dream for the end of school really helped me to get through.’