business and enterprise
MS JESSICA PROUTEN
acting h ead of business and enterprise education
T
he core desire of teachers is to prepare students for their lives beyond school. In the global knowledge economy it is important that schools are helping students to be skilled and innovative thinkers who respond to problems with creative solutions. This is something that the Business and Enterprise Department at The Southport School strives to do. Learning from real life case studies is an increasingly important part of all economics, business, legal studies and accounting and helps to connect our students to real life businesses. Allowing students opportunities to obtain guaranteed entry to universities is an important part of our programs. This year students have participated in the Bond University Extension Program, attending lectures and workshops before undertaking university assessment.
It is important that Business students have the opportunity to see what business means in a real world context, and to this end 25 students and three staff travelled to the United States of American during the June school holidays. Highlights included meeting Old Boys in various professions, visiting the Airbus Factory in Seattle and meeting with a Venture Capitalist at Macquarie bank. The Business Leadership Passport Program has enabled a number of guest speakers to come into the School and present to the students on their area of expertise. We are looking forward to a redevelopment of this program in 2019 and the ability to incorporate students beyond those already enrolled in the Business courses.
Business students have also been given the opportunity to participate in a number of competitions. At the beginning of Term Four a number of boys participated in the Australian Business Week (ABW) program. The continued collaboration with St Hilda’s on the ABW program helps to add to the experience our boys have, given that workplaces are rarely based on a single gender. We have also had a team of students enter the Bond University Mooting competition, where they acquitted themselves admirably. The Diploma of Business and Certificate III in Business continue to be extremely popular with students. This year we have seen more than 50 students undertake the Diploma of Business through the school-based one year fast-track program offered by Prestige Training. This will be the last year that this program is offered through the Business Department and we thank our trainer Mr Henthorne for his dedicated efforts with our students over the last few years. An additional 55 students have completed their Certificate III in Business, picking up important skills that will help them in the workplace.
for her passion and dedication to the Business students at TSS. We also farewelled Mr Jaye Beutel at the end of the year. Mr Beutel has been an enormous asset to our Years 9 and 10 Business classes, bringing a passion for real world engagement. During these changes it has been excellent to see the support of Mr Phil Ward, who has served a number of contracts during the year.
This year sees the movement of the final cohort of OP students through the system, moving from Year 11 to Year 12. We are excited about our preparations for the incoming Year 11s who will be the first to work through on the new QCE system, and look forward to see how students engage with the new and different content and methods of assessment.
2018 has also been a year of staffing changes within the faculty. After over 10 years of service at The Southport School, Head of Department, Mrs Bennett, left at the end of Term Two after her husband received a position in Victoria. We thank her SOUTHPORTONIAN
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