Hairdressing

After talking to family and teachers, Katharine decided to enrol in the Trades Hairdressing programme, as it was a way to develop and extend her knowledge and interest in hair styling and beauty. Even though she’s the only student from Tapawera School in the programme, it has been an easy transition from school to Trades.

“I’ve got to know the other students in my course and I feel really included in everything we do. I enjoy working with the other girls in the class and styling their hair. We’ve got to know each other well and this is an easy environment to learn in and be yourself.”

A big plus for Katharine are the facilities at NMIT. “The salon here is so new and is just like a real hair salon. There’s never a shortage of dryers or other equipment that we need. Our tutor is lovely. She’s very patient and always happy to see us”.

While travelling into NMIT in Nelson every Friday from Tapawera means an early start and a long drive, Katharine believes it’s worthwhile, as she’s not only developing valuable skills for the hair and beauty industry, but she’s also gaining credits towards NCEA Level 2.

Katharine is keen to look at other Trades options next year when she returns to school to complete Year 13, possibly in the Beauty or Creative Design programmes.

Astra is loving her Hairdressing course. She likes that it is very practical and she gets to learn different things from the usual subjects she learns at school. Her tutor is reassuring and always finds ways to make learning fun.

A highlight for Astra is learning how to give conditioning treatments and being able to do treatments on the other students in the class. The classmates have to really listen to each other and trust each other to do a good job of the treatment and get a great result.

The course is giving Astra the chance to see what a career in hairdressing would be like and this is helping her to make up her mind about future career opportunities.