Glennie students get ‘BUSY at work’

THE Glennie School has taken a rare approach to supporting its Year 11 and 12 students seeking traineeships and apprenticeships by recruiting them for positions at the school.

While many senior students have taken up the opportunity to work and study with local businesses, the school has also appointed eight senior students to work in different departments with support from Queensland apprenticeship service BUSY At Work.

Toowoomba’s BUSY At Work senior industry training consultant Mark Stevens said the school and non-profit organisation had developed an excellent working relationship over five years.

“We are very supportive of The Glennie School in offering traineeships at the school and are delighted that we have been able to provide them relevant information about traineeships and what funding is available through Federal government incentives,” he said.

The Glennie School vocational education training coordinator Belinda Paul said employing their own students was a win-win situation. “As a school we need staff to fulfil roles and many of these roles can be done by students,” she said.

“Not only can we develop capable staff but many of the students who take up the traineeships are able to complete their certificates while at school and have it included on their school leaving certificate.”

Year 12 student Bree Coleman signed up as an administration trainee.

“I’ve always wanted to go into administration as a career pathway and this traineeship will give me a better chance of obtaining a full-time position when I leave school,” she said.

“I get to do a whole variety of tasks within different areas of the school and I’m really enjoying the work I am doing.”

More than 40 Glennie School students are completing traineeships and apprenticeships, with the majority of them signed up through BUSY At Work.