Careers Corner Weekly — New Resource for Casey Grammar School

Moving forward, the Casey Grammar School careers newsletter section will look a bit different. More specifically, students and their parents/guardians will be encouraged to visit this link to access a comprehensive overview of careers related news and information.

At Casey Grammar School, we are committed to providing our students with access to a range of useful career education resources to support informed decision making regarding individual pathways. We hope this new resource will continue to help our students to better understand the many options that exist for them both now and into the future.

Happy reading!

Celebrating Student Success: Natasha R (Year 12, Reid)

In April 2023, one of our Year 12 students (Natasha R, Reid) undertook work experience with an architecture firm. It is Natasha’s goal to pursue a career as an architect, and this experience provided her the opportunity to better understand the industry and the ‘day-to-day’ functions of an architect.

Natasha has shared below an overview of her experience, responding to some questions. Well done, Natasha. We are very proud of the initiative you took to secure this wonderful experience.

Where:

Plus Architecture, an architecture firm that specialises in designing buildings in Australia as well as New Zealand. Plus Architecture delivers community-responsive and energy-efficient designs as well as being able to deliver any unique ideas delivered by the client or created themselves. They not only specialise in architecture itself, but interior designing, master planning as well as visualisations.

What did you do:

Plus Architecture don’t typically allow Secondary School students to do work experience, however, they made an exception in my case. During my work experience, they gave me a one-week project that would be typically given to a university student doing an internship. The project was to create a house, while being given many constraints. These constraints varied from which rooms need to be present, as well as boundaries and neighbour protocols. One of the main constraints was that it had to be one storey building, but needed to house a pet giraffe!

It was important to me that I created something that would suit my personal taste yet blow them away. Deciding to challenge myself, I created the house purely out of circles with various radii. This way I was able to display my creativity, while standing out from past students. I was also able to display my ability to demonstrate flexible thinking.

Halfway through the week, the manager advised me that I would be required to present my building to 15 architects! This presentation would require me to articulate my concept and design process. With time against me, I was able to work hard to complete my design and create a 28-slide presentation, that I delivered confidently to many high-level employees.

In addition, I also had the opportunity to go on-site with one of the Plus Architecture directors to see one of their large, commercial projects. I met with the CEO/client of the building to see the build progression. During this site visit, I was able to gain real insight on what my future as an architect could entail.

What I learnt?

During my work placement, I was allocated a mentor to go to with any questions. He taught me how to use ArchiCAD (a computer-aided designing tool, used to create buildings), Enscape (a rendering program), as well as how to network between employees and other individuals. I was also taught how to manage my time, as well as navigating to and from the Melbourne CBD daily. I also got the full experience of a 9:00 am – 6:00 pm job, by working overtime at home.

Skills and knowledge needed for this role/industry?

From a ‘subject selection’ perspective (pre-requisites), you technically only require English for architecture courses at university. That said, having done Visual Communication and Design from Year 7, and VCE Physics has really helped my understanding of how various things influence other factors and what is viable in a building and what isn’t. I have also had Mr Kearney’s influence on how to begin a design process and what I should consider when it came to coming up with ideas. In the end this helped me a lot with explaining my presentation to the other architects, as the development and research influenced my buildings looks.

Finally, I have been lucky to have my father’s influence and knowledge since childhood (he is an architect), which has absolutely influenced my outlook on design.

Open Days

Whether you are in Year 12 or Year 8, it is never too early to start exploring career/course options.

We are fast approaching the time of the year where tertiary providers are opening their doors to welcome prospective students and their parents/guardians to visit their campuses. Open Days provide the perfect opportunity for Secondary School students to assess their future educational options and to ask any questions they might have about particular courses and HEd/TAFE providers.

For Open Day dates, please visit the Casey Grammar Careers Page – Calendar of Events. Alternatively, you can access Open Day information via the VTAC website.

VTAC Key Dates 2023–2024

The Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC) is a hub for tertiary course applications in Victoria. VTAC receives, processes and forwards course applications to universities, TAFEs, and independent tertiary colleges in Victoria (and a few outside Victoria). VTAC also processes special consideration claims through the SEAS application and some scholarship applications. VTAC’s other role is calculating the ATAR for Year 12 students.

VTAC has now released the key dates for the 2023–2024 selection period.

Save the Date

Information Session for prospective 2024/2025 VET students.

Monday 7 August 2023 (6:00 pm – 7:00 pm)

VCE Lecture Theatre

The purpose of this session is to support students and their parents/guardians to gain a better understanding of what VET is and how it is embedded into a Casey Grammar School Year 10/VCE program. We will discuss school expectations, fees, logistics and similarly, provide an overview of the various VET courses available.

This is an important session that you and your child must attend if they are interested in pursuing VET in 2024. An invitation has been sent to parents/guardians (i.e. those students who selected VET as a subject and/or reserve subject during the subject selection period).

Sarah Blythman

Head of Careers and Student Pathways

s.blythman@caseygrammar.vic.edu.au

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday