St Patrick’s Technical College is gearing up for a celebration having reached a milestone of 1000 apprenticeship and traineeship sign-ups in South Australia.

The College will host a celebratory event on Thursday 12 March to officially recognise this remarkable milestone and its contribution to skilling South Australia.

The January school-based apprenticeship sign-ups of three Year 12 Metals & Engineering students has attained this remarkable milestone and placed the count over 1000 instatements since the College’s inception in 2007.

Charlotte Simmons, Jordan Ranasinghe and Christopher Skelton have commenced their trade in welding with employer Century Engineering, an Australian owned business providing a range of end-to-end engineering solutions and services in Edinburgh North. The training contract sign-up was facilitated by local apprenticeship support network MEGT (Australia) Ltd, who will actively support the apprentices during their on-the-job training.

As part of their school-based apprenticeships, the students will study Year 12 with the College, working towards gaining their South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE), at the same time studying a Certificate III in Engineering - Fabrication with registered training organisation TAFE SA.

This monumental milestone for the Year 11 & 12 specialist trade training school in Edinburgh North demonstrates the importance of vocational education, hands-on learning and flexible study options to skill and prepare secondary school students for jobs now and of the future.

St Patrick’s Technical College is committed to providing Australia with future skilled employees by supporting young people through best practice in training and education and investing in exceptional trainers, teachers and staff to skill and educate students as prospective employees who possess the acumen to surpass employer expectations.

Foremost, the establishment of partnerships and programs with industry, employers, government and training providers, to jointly develop the skills and capabilities required for workplaces now and of the future, has been crucial to the successful outcomes of apprentice and trainee sign-ups.