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February 2022 Update

The health and well-being of our staff, students on our programmes and employers at the organisations we work with is a top priority. We are following Ministry of Health Guidelines COVID-19 guidelines and responding to the individual requirements of the businesses, workplaces and kura we’re involved with as they advise us.

Students enrolling in 2022 programmes may be asked to show Vaccine Passes to enable access to workplaces and to be able to participate in our programmes. We continue to be guided and respect these requirements to secure support for learning in workplaces and access to resources and the expertise of workplace employees.

Taranaki schools around the maunga acknowledge this year’s recipients of the Prime Minister’s Award for Vocational Excellence.

“This award recognises outstanding students enrolled in vocational programmes who have shown they have what it takes to develop the skills, knowledge and attributes to build a career in industry,” says Careers and Transition Education Association (CATE) National President and Sacred Heart Girls’ College Pathways leader, Warwick Foy.

Introduced in 2019, the Prime Minister’s Award for Vocational Excellence, and the $2,000 monetary prize, can be awarded to the top Year 12 or 13 secondary student enrolled in vocational programmes of learning. One student is eligible per school or wharekura.

“Students all over New Zealand excel in building their vocational knowledge and this is one way to recognise them for their success. When we consider tertiary education, we normally think of universities but the majority of our learners enter other forms of tertiary education such as polytechnics, apprenticeships and workplace learning”.

The purpose of the award is also to raise the status of vocational education and ensure it is seen as an attractive option for rangatahi as they leave school. Taranaki Futures and CATE Taranaki have cooperated to highlight the award and encourage other regions to follow.

“This award and collective acknowledgement is one way we recognise the success of all learners and acknowledge the different ways and settings that young people shine.”

2021 Taranaki Prime Minister’s Vocational Excellence Award Winners

Coastal Taranaki School: Phoenix Papa

Phoenix followed a dairy farming pathway and had work placements on various farms in the coastal community. He gained a level 3 qualification in agriculture from WITT and has secured future employment on a farm where he will be continuing his agriculture studies in pasture and stock management under the guidance of his employer and PITO in 2022.

Francis Douglas Memorial College: Ben Hughes

Ben demonstrates all the skills and attributes that are needed to enable him to succeed in the workplace and is courteous and absolutely reliable. Ben had a work placement with Gopperth Contracting and is now working full-time.

Hāwera High School: Kayla Ryan

Kayla gained NCEA Level 3 and, in addition, completed a Gateway Placement at Kiwi Clubhouse Early Learning Centre. Through her placement, she secured paid after-school work in an OSCAR programme and next year Kayla will be working at Kiwi Clubhouse Early Leaning Centre and starting her study towards an Early Childhood qualification. Polite, mature and well-rounded, Kayla has strong self-management, a positive attitude, and a cheerful disposition.

Inglewood High School: Kodie Sarich

Kodie had placements at DMR in Inglewood and Cervus Equipment in Stratford and has completed an Automotive Microcredential qualification with MITO & Trades Academy L2 Automotive. He is now employed by Cervus and is commencing a Service Technician Apprenticeship in 2022.

New Plymouth Boys High School: Zac Andrews

All year Zac has been hardworking, reliable, highly organised, and self-disciplined. He has balanced a busy school workload with a part-time job relief milking on his parent’s farm as well as attending his electrical Gateway placement one day a week. Zac has had great success on the Gateway Programme, he has impressed his employer at Scott Electrical Solutions so much they have started the process of applying through ETCO to begin Zac’s apprenticeship with them.

New Plymouth Girls High School: Ishbel Black

Ishbel had a dream of graduating from NPGHS in 2021 with University Entrance so she can enrol in the Bachelor of Veterinary Science degree at Massey. She completed her Equine Studies in trades every year from Year 11 to Year 13. Ishbel demonstrated reliability, trustworthiness, and a pure passion to learn rudimentary horsemanship to the best of her ability, to achieve her dream of becoming a vet.

Opunake High School: Brody Fox

Brody obtained a work placement through the Gateway Programme with a local builder, who has since offered Brody a full-time apprenticeship position. Brody plans to use the prize money from the award to assist him to purchase the tools and equipment he requires for the building trade.

Sacred Heart Girls College: Alexandrea (Alex) Shearman

Alex has worked at Electric-L as a Gateway electrician and completed the Skills Org Electrical Gateway package. She was highly regarded by her employer due to her skills, reliability, and work ethic. As a result, she has now gained employment at First Gas.

Spotswood College: Chase Astwood

Chase has always shown a motivated and focussed approach to his schooling and it has been his high level of energy and self-direction that has helped him reach his potential and goals. His ability to commit to his individualised learning program by setting clear goals has meant his time in Gateway and Trades Academy has been one of success, resulting in an apprenticeship offer in engineering and fabrication.

Stratford High School: Brayden Fale

Brayden has had a placement with Field Torque Taranaki and completed a MITO – Micro-credential StartUp Ignition Automotive Level 2 qualification. He has also secured an apprenticeship with his gateway placement starting in 2022.

Waitara High School: Hayley Lopusiewicz

Hayley has successfully completed the WITT Hairdressing Trades Academy and also completed a one-day work experience each week with Verve Hair Design. Hayley has shown resilience and determination throughout the year in completing these whilst carrying a significant and ongoing knee issue. She has fulfilled the criteria for the award with her positive, can-do attitude. Hayley is a consistently respectful student who is always open to learning and is motivated to work hard towards her goals.

Taranaki Diocesan School for Girls: Ronaele Jones

Ronaele is a Year 12 who this year worked through WITT to achieve her Level 2 Agriculture Certificate. She is planning on transitioning into tertiary next year and doing her Level 3 Agriculture Certificate

It takes a village to raise a child, but it takes a partnership of industry, education and NPDC to help our young people build a bridge to a career.

Building the new Camden Street footbridge over the Huatoki River has given eight secondary school students from around New Plymouth District valuable job skills and the option of a future in construction when they leave school.

The students worked on the bridge almost every Thursday over nine months, learning about design principles and how to handle the tools and materials.

The training programme was a partnership of NPDC, NZIHT School of Engineering, Energy and Infrastructure, WITT, Fulton Hogan, WSP and Taranaki Futures, while Whitaker Civil Engineering and Downer Group helped find tutors.

“The old bridge was at the end of its life and we saw an opportunity for our Taranaki Talent Pipeline careers programme to support much-needed training in the expanding infrastructure and construction sector, while giving some of our young people on-the-job skills and a solid grounding in health and safety,” said NPDC Group Manager Planning and Infrastructure David Langford.

“As the project leader, NPDC can save costs in the long term by ensuring high-quality workmanship which will extend the lifespan of the new bridge. We hope these students will find rewarding careers and help us keep building a Sustainable Lifestyle Capital and maybe lead similar projects to pass on their skills in the future.”

The eight students came from five schools — Inglewood High, Francis Douglas Memorial College, Spotswood, Te Kura and Coastal – now have their names on a plaque at the bridge to celebrate the partnership and their training experience.

William Faoagali, a student at Francis Douglas, said the project had shown the students “a good pathway that suits us best and uses our abilities” and together they had achieved their goals.

“I enjoyed all the laughter and memories made. It really showed that in a work environment like civil engineering and infrastructure that no matter what culture, religion or colour you are, we are all willing to accept one another,” said William.

NZIHT Programme Manager Jan Kivell said the project couldn’t have had a better group of students and she felt proud watching their confidence grow.

“The collaboration between WITT, Fulton Hogan, WSP and NPDC was fantastic and demonstrated what can happen when different organisations come together to achieve a common goal,” said Mrs Kivell.

With the success of the “Build a Bridge” project, the Taranaki Pipeline partners are looking at other possible projects to expand the training programme.

The students are:

Marcellin Baiteke

William Faoagali

Lochlan Hemingway

Cortez Hotene-Joseph

Xavier Marshall-Brown

Itibwebwe Nganga

Hunta Ryder

Caleb Terry

Thanks to NPDC for the story.

Giving it a try and spending some valuable time alongside the Citycare Water teams while they work is becoming a true gateway to employment experience for high school students in Taranaki and Auckland.

This year Corey Elliott from New Plymouth Boys High School and Max Mitchell from Pukekohe High School are getting a taste of three waters maintenance one day a week while they attend school for the rest of the days.

Last year Kala Fakavamoeanga was part of the Taranaki Futures Talent Pipeline Gateway programme  while attending Stratford High School and now he is a full-time employee of Citycare Water based in Stratford.

“During my work experience I got to work on water and sewer networks in Stratford and also did a variety of smaller jobs,” he says.

“I liked the water jobs the best; it can be more difficult to enjoy drainage – it’s not always fun,” Kala says.

“I was enjoying the work I was doing at Citycare Water, so I decided to take up the job opportunity. I am enjoying working outside and doing physical work, and most importantly learning lots,” he says.

“I live in Eltham so Stratford is a 10-minute drive and it’s good to be able to work locally.”

Citycare Water’s work in Stratford involves water and waste reticulation business: meter reading, inspection work including manholes and valves, water and mains repairs, unblocking sewers etc and during his work experience Kala was exposed to all of these areas.

When the team went to a careers day in Stratford recently, Kala went along.

“You could see he was very comfortable in this environment – being face-to-face with people, he’s got good communication skills, he can be a leader, he plays sports, and there is good future for him to grow within the business with this attitude,” Citycare Water Taranaki Manager, Tony Ewens says.

“It’s early days but we’re very proud of his achievements, going from Gateway to pre-apprenticeship and seeing this growth representing his team at the Health and Safety committee, it’s very motivating for our local youth.”

It’s likely Kala will progress into a trainee type of role and undertake Connexis industry training so he can improve his skills and earn qualifications while working.

And Kala’s tip for young people who are searching for their career path? “Just get out there and try it,” he says.

Meanwhile, Corey is doing his work experience in New Plymouth via the Taranaki Futures Talent Pipeline Gateway programme.

“One of the most interesting things is that there is a lot more behind the scenes with water than what I expected,” Corey says.

“Corey is really enjoying coming here every Friday. He is enjoying directional drilling – he likes machinery,” Tony says.

“He’s enjoying the team and the people he’s working with. We’re now discussing with him the other different options he could explore within the business and the other avenues available to him. Next we’re planning on doing some CCTV work.”

In Auckland, mentor Anthony Williams says Max is currently shadowing different team members in the Reactive Water Maintenance Team on jobs such as leaks and water main breaks and the feedback has all been good.

“Max is really enjoying his time. He mentioned to me that completing simple tasks like replacing water meters actually gave him a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day,” Anthony says.

“He takes an interest in the job and he’s been enthusiastic and helpful.”

Thanks to Citycare Water for the story and images.

Hannah Trott traded her apron for a hard hat joining the team at Whitaker Civil Engineering last year after being made redundant from her role serving cafe visitors on Taranaki Maunga.

“Redundancy was a blessing in disguise, I now have a really cool job and I am loving it,” says Hannah.

That cool job is working in a team of four in Whitaker’s Waiwhakaiho Quarry where she is responsible for operating the quarry rock crusher, loader and digger preparing metal for civil projects in the region.

“I like it because it is a hands-on practical job – it’s physical and working in a small team means there is lots of variety and it changes every day.”

After trying her hand at jobs ranging from vet nursing through to hospitality roles Hannah has found she is really suited to the infrastructure industry.

“Strength is not needed but fitness helps. You’ve got to have a good eye and attention to detail. You really use your noggin – you’ve got to be alert and switched on, it can be mentally draining,” she says.

“People would be surprised at the range of careers you can have in the civil engineering field and consequently the diversity of people we employ. I don’t consider there’s any limitations to opportunities within the construction sector,” says Whitaker Civil Engineering Director Frances Boyce.

Hannah has recently finished her first qualification since completing NCEA at New Plymouth Girls’ High School – a Mining and Quarrying Surface Extraction level 2 certificate.

“I wasn’t much of a school person and never knew what I wanted to do, but I’ve had lots of support to do this course and to get further qualifications,” says Hannah.

“There is a massive skills and talent shortage in civil construction, which is only getting worse. Investing in people is critical to maintain and improve our local infrastructure,” says Boyce.

Hannah can see opportunities for advancement that she never had in other industries.

“I’ve got aims, I can see that I can work my way up the ladder – I am very lucky and happy here,” she adds.

Whitaker Civil Engineering is part of Taranaki’s Infrastructure Talent Pipeline – a group of 12 local organisations actively supporting youth into the infrastructure industry – an industry with a prosperous future and a strong job growth forecast.

Discover the range of career opportunities available in the infrastructure sector at our Talent Pipeline Careers Evening taking place on Wednesday 9 June 5.30pm – 7pm at The Devon Hotel.

Register your interest now.

Any students keen on securing a place in the 2021 intake of students for the infrastructure talent pipeline – talk to your careers team now OR register online – go to https://www.taranakifutures.org/itp-gateway

By the time 17-year old Ben Andrews is 21 he plans to be a fully qualified fabricator thanks to a work placement at Rivet that has now turned into an apprenticeship thanks to the 2020 Build a Trailer programme.

As a member of the Engineering Taranaki Consortium (ETC) Rivet hosted a Build a Trailer student one day a week for 10 weeks as part of their work experience and hit gold with Ben.

“Ben’s work placement gave him a head start when it came to gaining an apprenticeship – I could see he had a good base knowledge, a good work ethic and could work in a team environment,” says Rivet’s Aaron Stevenson.

Ben also had the opportunity to put what he was learning in the classroom into practice in the workplace.

“The amount of knowledge that you learn from just being there, alongside people that do this for a job is great – the brain soaks it all in. You can read books and can only learn so much,” says Ben.

Ben joined the Taranaki Future’s 2020 Build a Trailer programme as Year 12 student at Spotswood College and acknowledges and thanks the school’s gateway team, the tutors at WITT and Rivet for the opportunities he has been given.

New machinist apprentice Finn Heard has been surprised how quickly he’s been trusted to use the large machinery at Oilsteel Engineering where he gained work following Taranaki Future’s Build a Trailer this year.  Director Ben Blinkhorne isn’t.

“I noticed right from the start everything he did he did really well, he’s a good welder for someone of his age – his skills, intelligence and work ethic showed through,” he says.

Finn completed the work placement part of his programme at Engineering Taranaki Consortium (ETC) member Superior Stainless, who share a workshop with Oilsteel Engineering.  He was offered some work experience with Oilsteel to expose him to more of the industry.

“We gave him some experience on the CNC side and we’ve now taken him on as an apprentice machinist,” says Blinkhorne.

A former student at Spotswood College, Finn always had an interest in working with metal or wood and completed a trades academy programme through WITT in 2019 which led to Build a Trailer in 2020.

Build a Trailer sees students completing the Trades Academy Engineering Level 3 course build a trailer as part of the programme. Students spend one day a week on campus at WITT building the trailer, and a second day out gaining industry experience with Engineering Taranaki Consortium members.

“I think it is a great programme and a great alternative to university,” Blinkhore says.

In fact, Blinkhorne got into the industry himself through gateway programme and acknowledges programmes with a work experience component are a great introduction to the workplace and don’t just throw kids into the deep end.

The fact that Finn can earn as he learns hasn’t gone unnoticed either. He’s worked out he’ll have more in the bank then his friends going to university will have in debt by the time they both gain their qualifications.