2025 | Term 2 | Week 5 | Cocos Keeling Islands
The School of Isolated and Distance Education (SIDE) was fortunate to bring the Mini Industry Roadshow to Cocos Islands District High School, made possible through the generous support of the Department of Training and Workforce Development and the Commonwealth Government. The Roadshow provided students with hands-on, interactive learning experiences and valuable insights into a range of career pathways. It also reinforced SIDE’s ongoing commitment to delivering quality educational opportunities to remote and regional communities across Western Australia. We delivered practical workshops that explored three different industry areas, including:
Marine Biology and Tourism: Gianna , who specialises in sharks, whale sharks, and orcas, conducted a hands-on discovery session about what students can find on a beach and the importance of maintaining clean and healthy waterways for the benefit of all life on earth. The students also explored and designed how to create a tourism business in their own community using the local environment. It was a fun and informative learning experience for the students, which sparked many wonderful entrepreneurial possibilities for the community.
Carpentry: Nathan from Cabinetry-in-Schools shared his knowledge about design, the importance of accuracy in construction, and the wide range of career opportunities in the trades. Students got hands-on experience using their creativity and woodwork skills to complete small take-home projects. They walked away with a better understanding of the industry and a sense of pride in what they built.
Hospitality: Bonnie ran a fun and energetic workshop that gave students a great look into the world of hospitality. Through a hands-on café simulation, they got to experience the fast pace of the industry while picking up important customer service skills and learning how to work well as a team. One of the highlights was trying out coffee-making and running their own café to serve coffee to the school staff—a fun and creative part of the workshops that everyone enjoyed.
Dear Crystle, Nathan, Bonnie, and Gianna,
Thank you again to yourself and the team that you put together for the Careers Taster on Cocos Islands. Seeing the kids completely engaged in the activities was, for me personally and other staff members, the highlight of the week. The students of CIDHS regularly get involved with ‘school-based’ activities, but rarely do they get external agencies brought up to the island to run programs for the students that are based around curriculum, careers and their futures.
Being so isolated, the students do miss out on access to certain things that only the mainland can offer, varying career opportunities and potential job pathways don’t get explored until they go to boarding or continuation of their studies in Yr. 11/12 in an Australian mainland school, so it was an amazing opportunity to give them an insight into some career prospects that would not have seen, so early in their schooling.
Your flexibility to create a two-day workshop experience that was tailored to our students’ needs and community was exceptional. Even your flexibility to offer additional support, one-on-one counselling, parent information sessions, at both campuses, around school and subject selection and inclusion of our Year 7-9 students to “Get Them Thinking Early” was fantastic, enjoyable and very much thought-provoking for both students and parents. You’re timing for your inclusion and support for our extended “National Careers Week” was also very informative and valuable for student engagement. Your organisation, addressing student needs, relation to future careers and support of staff and parents was a credit to your team.
The “Careers Taster” also complemented the Work Studies courses that the year 9 and 10 students have been working on all semester, and gave a very enjoyable and “real-life experience” ending to their SIDE Units.
Overall, I am truly thankful to you, your team and SIDE for the opportunity that the Cocos Islands DHS received through the Careers Taster Program and the Mini Road Show and the benefit that it gave our students. We look forward to working again with you and would like this to be a yearly event.
Teacher - Cocos Islands DHS
Thank you to the students from Cocos Island District High School. SIDE is thoroughly honoured to be allowed to bring the Mini Industry Roadshow to the school.
