Thanks to Tania Walker for all her hard work behind the scenes to find all the placements and all the employers for giving our students the experience in the workplace.

For my gateway placement, I went to Sport Clutha. I always started my day at 9am and ended my day at 3pm. On the Friday, I had to start at 7:30am as I was out doing sports activator for the day. There were many skills I learned how to do like setting up and dismantling equipment like flags, assist with planning of events, assist coaching and many more things. Some of my highlights were getting to help out at the Clutha Primary triathlon and getting to go out and do Sports activator for the day. At the triathlon I did things like fit helmets, set up flags and directed people out of the pool. While I was doing sports activator, they were doing things on touch skills. While they were doing the activities, I helped out if they got stuck and motivated them. Other things I did while on my placement were send emails, do cleaning and washing and sorting out photos. While on my placement I learnt simple tasks, like how to take off a trailer and put up fence standards. Coming into the placement I was nervous and didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t really know what types of things I’d be doing and if I’d be able to handle the pressure, but I was able to handle all tasks given to me and the staff there were really good with helping me whenever I needed it. The staff there were also very welcoming which made me feel more comfortable on my placement. As the sport industry is something I am considering doing in the future, this placement was a good opportunity for me to get some experience. There are many different jobs in the sporting industry and I would consider doing something like this in the future. For my placement next year, I’m looking to to try something in early childhood care or something in retail. This would give me a rage of things to try and choose from for a future career. 

I would like to thank Craig and the rest of the staff at Sport Clutha for having me at my placement. I would also like to thank Squeeze and Tania for organising this placement for me.

Dannielle Mason

In February 2020, the year 11, 12, and 13’s went on our gateway work placements. For my work placement I was working here at The Catlins Area School as an art teachers assistant. I worked with Ms Darmody, helping her with class plans, supervising the classes, and the tidying up after each class. For two days that week Ms Darmody and I went to the Kaitangata museum and painted a mural and by the end we were very pleased with it. I enjoyed getting to know the classes and what they were up to. It was fun being able to help the younger students with their work and all the classes seemed happy and often focused on their work. Working with Ms Darmody was fun and exciting. Overall I really enjoyed helping out and doing what I could in the art room. This was a great experience for me and would gladly do it again, or recommend it for someone who has an interest in teaching art.

Joanne Brain

For my gateway placement this year I went to the Balclutha New World bakery. I enjoyed this placement. I started at 6am and finished up around 1pm everyday because I started at 6 every morning that meant that I had to stay in Balclutha so I didn't have to travel . Each day we did something different throughout every day we had a list of certain things we had to make by the end of the day. In the bakery there was a side for baking and a side for making different types of breads and buns. At the end of every day we had to do a big clean up. We had to clean all the different surfaces that were used and all the equipment that we used. Some of the things I liked about this placement was learning a whole bunch of new skills, and meeting some new people that work there. We did lots of different things like decorating cakes and baking a bunch of different things like biscuits and cupcakes. Sometimes you would get special orders where people would like a certain amount of one thing. I really enjoyed my placement but next year I might like to try something involving animals. I would like to thank Julie, Toya and the other staff at the bakery for having me at my placement. I would also like to thank Squeeze and Tania for organising my placement.  

Bronte Williams