The award winning Top of the South Trades Academy (TOTSTA) is providing secondary students in our region with a unique opportunity to get a head start on a trade career by providing tertiary learning, hands on experience and training either one day a week or block course options in their chosen programme.
TOTSTA also provides students with an incentive to stay at school but at the same time gives an opportunity to learn practical skills and to gain an insight into the world of work or future training options. Top of the South Trades Academy allows students to benefit by gaining credits from the tertiary sector that can be added to their NCEA Level 2 qualification.
Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology and Whenua it Outdoors are long term tertiary partners of the trades academy with Connexis (Industry Training Organisation) in conjunction with the Nayland College Hub joining us for the first time in 2016.
The quality and calibre of the tutors from all three tertiary partners is acknowledged by the students as a significant part in their own success!
Special mention of the two new 2016 programmes that have proved an outstanding success; the first is the new Maori cultural tourism programme “Manaaki Tāpoi” being offered by Whenua iti Outdoors and the second is the new civil engineering programme “Infrastructure works” in conjunction with Connexis.
Top of the South Trades Academy would like to thank Fulton Hogan, Edridge Contractors, Downer Contracting, Donaldson Civil, Simcox Construction and T C Nicholls for guiding our trade’s students during their work placements as part of the Infrastructure works programme.
In its fifth year of operation, the Top of the South Trades Academy offers a fantastic range of courses to secondary students in year 11-13 which are taught on the campuses of our tertiary providers, and thanks to funding from the Ministry of Education both tuition and transport are completely free!
The academy draws its strength from its collaborative nature and now with 17 partner schools across the top of the south, 300+ funded places and 19 programmes on offer provides amazing opportunities for our senior school students in the region!
The Top of the South Trades Academy has a fantastic website www.tradesacademy.ac.nz is full of information and testimonials highlighting what a unique resource the trades academy is for young people in the region. Applications for the Top of the South Trades Academy in 2017 are now open. Any students interested in being part of TOTSTA next year should contact their school trades academy coordinator. The website along with the brochure includes a full list of 2017 programmes on offer.
Get going places with the Top of the South Trades Academy!!