Wellington Trades Academy Manager Appointed   19 Mar 2015

19 MARCH 2015 Press Release: Wellington Trades Academy Manager Appointed

David Hibberd is the new Secondary Tertiary Partnership Programme Manager of the Wellington Trades Academy.

The Wellington Trades Academy provides education to Year 11 to 13 students enrolled at both the Trades Academy and secondary school. The Academy has been in operation since February 2010 and each year has grown and seen students achieve excellent results with 80% achieving NCEA level 1 in 2015.

“I want to bring alive the secondary/tertiary programmes for young people across Wellington. The Trades Academy is a fantastic option for those who want to make a positive choice about their future and who are keen to achieve at secondary school and in a tertiary education setting,” says David.

“I am very keen to see young people succeed academically, whilst making sure we are providing a joined up pathway with secondary schools. This combined approach enables students to excel in a tertiary environment.

“I would like to expand the offerings available via the Trades Academy and will be speaking with secondary schools over the next few months about what they would like us to deliver.

“The part-time model allows plenty of scope for the Wellington Trades Academy to develop new pathways for young people wishing to study in a tertiary setting and maintain their secondary school involvement. With our new delivery into the Porirua Secondary School Hub with Whitireia I am excited to build on this for next year,” says David.

David Hibberd is a trained teacher having worked at Worthing College in the UK for a number of years and more recently setting up and running the programmes and community initiatives at the ASB Sports Centre in Kilbirnie, Wellington. David is well known to schools in Wellington and will be getting to know more of the secondary schools across the Wellington region over the coming weeks in his new role.

David is also a keen sports enthusiast having moved to New Zealand four years ago for the “great outdoors’ experience. His passion for sport easily translates into his enthusiasm for the Wellington Trades Academy. David is married to Briony, who is currently the Acting HOD Sport and Physical Education at Sacred Heart College.

Wellington Trades Academy Background

In 2015 the Wellington Trades Academy has received a major increase in funding allowing 240 students to study in a tertiary environment either full-time or part-time whilst still enrolled at secondary school. Along with programmes in construction and engineering the options for study are varied and include Hospitality, Introductory Animal Care, and Community Participation where students experience working in various areas such as emergency response which includes Civil Defence and the Fire Service.

The Wellington Trades Academy is offered at Petone (WelTec) and Porirua (Whitireia) and has a strong focus on Vocational Pathways which provides secondary school students with seamless teaching and learning between their home secondary school and the Academy. Delivery into Kapiti and Wellington is currently in the planning phase.

Part-time students study 3 days at their secondary school and 2 days at the Wellington Trades Academy. See www.weltec.ac.nz/tradesacademy for more information.

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