2024 has been a year of opportunities for senior students, from work experience and career expos to tertiary provider visits.

Throughout the year, students have gained work experience across various fields in Christchurch and Auckland, including hospitality, retail, healthcare, trades, education, floristry, government departments, and youth work. These placements were selected based on each student's interests and career goals.

Through these experiences, students have achieved many positive outcomes, including:

• Developing independence and confidence by travelling to and from work experience, often using public transport like buses or taxis.

• Building self-assurance when meeting new people and learning to work alongside them effectively.

• Embracing feedback from supervisors and making active adjustments to improve their skills.

• Enhancing communication in different settings, using tools like Roger Pen technology and clearly expressing their needs to work effectively.

• Growing more confident and self-reliant in the workplace by articulating what support they require and don't require.

A particular highlight was seeing students confidently attend work experiences independently.

This year, students also attended Careers Expos in both Auckland and Christchurch to explore various career pathways. These events provided valuable opportunities for face-to-face engagement with employers, industry professionals, government departments, and training providers.

Two Hillmorton students visited the University of Canterbury's Discovery Day, where they could attend lectures in subjects of their choice and experience a taste of university life. Their favourite session was a biochemistry lecture, in which the lecturer captivated them with an experiment and real-life applications, like how hand sanitiser works.

Additionally, several students participated in hands-on taster days and short courses, exploring fields such as barbering, welding, plumbing, electrical "sparky for a day" building, barista training, painting and decorating, forklift licensing, scaffolding, health and safety. They also toured tertiary institutions such as the Manukau Institute of Technology and Ara Institute of Canterbury.