I chose Gateway this year because it gives me a good stepping stone into the workforce and I wanted to experience what it was like to work on a big farming operation.

The careers I researched were crop farmer, beef and sheep farmer, and builder.  Taster days I trialed were, a day at Graham Talbot's farm and a day with Rathgen Farms

The industry that I selected was crop farming because I have always liked driving and I have always been into tractors so I thought that it would be a good idea to give crop farming a go.

My work placement is Rathgen Farms/Glenriver seeds. I chose this because after going there for a taster day I could see how many opportunities that I could get, there were so many different things that I could take part in and learn a lot from and I knew that this would help me with my future workplaces. Some things that I have experienced doing there are digger driving, truck driving, tractor driving, stock work, fixing and servicing machinery

My learning plan includes theory unit standards from Telford and some practical assessments. The standards that I have done from Telford have helped me a lot. The first unit that I did was a fertiliser one and that helped me understand a lot more when it came to spreading the fertiliser on the crops at my placement. I get assessed by completing assessments in class and then they get sent back to Telford to be marked.

My plan for next year is to go and work on a crop farm or for a contracting business for a year and then I will be going to Lincoln University to study agriculture in 2024.

For any students considering doing gateway in year 12 or 13, I would highly recommend it. Not only does it give you good credits towards NCEA but you also get to know people in your chosen industry which means it might be easier to get a job after you leave school.