Great News! We had 28 ‘likes’ in our recent Facebook Competition. (from our current Learn@Home students) There are 7 lucky winners of a FREE one month extension to their computer course.  And to thank everyone who entered the draw we have decided that all other entrants will receive a FREE one week course extension!

Congratulations to all winners!

Are you happy with the outcome of the draw?

If you are one of our existing Learn@Home students and you like the service that we are offering, then you are invited to enter our prize draw. Visit our Facebook page and ‘Like’ us, and we will put you in a draw to win a one month extension to your course. We will give away a one month extension for every four ‘Like’s we receive from students .. so you have a one in four chance of winning!

To be in the draw you must ‘Like’ us before midnight Thursday 9 February.

Facebook page:  http://facebook.com/karorolearning

PS. If your Facebook name bears no resemblance to your real name then please e-mail your tutor and let them know your Facebook name .. so we can make sure that you still go in the draw!

The new West Coast Trades Academy now has its own website and the branding has been updated.

Enrolments are being taken now for West Coast High School students who want to train for a career while they are still at school.

The new website is at www.wcta.ac.nz

The Trades Academy is managed by Karoro Learning.

Today was the first day of Induction for our Mawhera Services Academy Youth Guarantee programme.  The new ‘recruits’ have had a great day. They will be heading home very worn out, but we guess that most of them will return for more tomorrow!  Congratulations to all those who made it through Day 1!

Welcome back to all of our Learn@Home students who are now getting back into their study.  Greymouth campus classes all start up again on Monday 30 January.  (We will be contacting students on Friday regarding our bus pick-up locations.)  ACE (Community Education Classes) won’t be advertised until mid-February and will start in March.

We wish all of our students, friends and associates a very happy New Year. The start of the year is always a very busy time – We will do our best to respond to requests etc promptly, but please bear with us if we get a little behind!  Staff are back at work from 9 January 2012, although we won’t have a full staff until 16 January. Enjoy the sunshine and relaxation while you can

In this post you will find a list of all of our courses on offer in the Grey District in 2012, together with course summaries and links to the appropriate places on our website to find out more.

The format is as distributed in our mailbox flyer:

Secondary School Students

It is a great idea to make the most of the time that you have at school. Don’t leave school until you really have given it your best shot. There are fewer opportunities in life for those who leave school too early – a lifetime of poverty could be staring you in the face.

Have you heard about the West Coast Trades Academy?  Talk with your school about this programme that provides for you to work towards a Trade qualification while you’re still at school! (Early Childhood, Mechanical Engineering, Automotive Engineering, Construction, and Hospitality) For more information visit www.wcta.ac.nz

Recent School Leavers

(Note: For the ‘Youth Guarantee’ programmes you must be aged 16 or 17 on the start date or be 15 with a school exemption.)

• Learning for Earning: 30 January – A free full-time Youth Guarantee programme that will enable you achieve the National Certificate in Employment Skills and complete your Driver Licence and any NCEA requirements. The environment is quite different to school and there is a strong focus on preparing you for, and helping you in to, work.
• Literacy & Numeracy Support: 30 January – A free part-time programme to help you lift your skills in reading, writing, communicating, and maths. Just ten hours per week over a ten week period – focussed on your personal learning needs.
• Mawhera Services Academy: 26 January – A free full-time Youth Guarantee programme that will enable you to complete your NCEA while you are busily engaged in challenging physical activities in a disciplined environment.
• ACE: Various dates – Very low cost (or free) short courses of just 16 hours duration to provide you with skills in a whole range of areas.

Courses for Registered Job-Seekers

Note that the following courses are free for eligible job-seekers. Referral from Work & Income is essential, so enquiries should be directed to Work & Income.

• Commercial Driving: 30 January for up to 13 weeks  – Gain a Class 2 licence and specific endorsement/s, with a focus on job-seeking skills and getting a job.
• Customer Service & Retail:  23 April for up to 13 weeks – Gain skills for customer service work and for finding employment.
• Skills for Work: 30 January for up to 26 weeks – Gain a range of work skills including computer skills, customer service skills, driving skills, health & safety, job-seeking skills, literacy & numeracy support etc.
• PC Skills for Work (Distance Learning): 30 January for up to 26 weeks  – A distance learning course for job-seekers who need computer skills but can’t get to a regular class to get these skills. Job-search skills and generic employment skills are also included. (Available throughout the West Coast)
• Literacy & Numeracy Support: A free part-time programme to help you lift your skills in reading, writing, communicating, and maths. Just ten hours per week over a ten week period – focussed on your personal learning needs.
• ACE : Very low cost (or free) short courses of just 16 hours duration to provide you with skills in a whole range of areas.
• Our Business Services Department can arrange training for your workforce.

Public courses for all adults

• Literacy & Numeracy Support: A free part-time programme to help you lift your skills in reading, writing, communicating, and maths. Just ten hours per week over a ten week period – focussed on your personal learning needs.
• ACE : Very low cost (or free) short courses of just 16 hours duration to provide you with skills in a whole range of areas.

Training options for workplaces

• Our Business Services Department can arrange training for your workforce.

-          Call Wayne Aitken on 768 9998 ext 719

For more information on any of these courses you can visit Karoro Learning, 180 Tainui Street or:

• Call Karoro Learning on 768 9998
• Visit www.karoro.co.nz

~ Free transport or transport assistance is available for students from many nearby locations ~

A colleague glanced out my office window yesterday and noticed something obvious that I had never seen!  This natural fungal love heart is to be found on the tree right outside my office window.  It makes you wonder just how often we fail to spot the signs of love and care around us.

It would be nice to think that students and stakeholders experience an occasional ‘smile-generating’ moment when they interact with our staff here at Karoro Learning.

If you’ve had a really positive experience, then we’d welcome your comment on this post!

Today, we have advertised for a Manager for the new West Coast Trades Academy. This is an exciting new cooperative venture between all West Coast secondary & area schools and tertiary partners. The WCTA kicks off in 2012 with Tai Poutini Polytechnic providing the tertiary input into the Academy. The position is advertised at www.karoro.co.nz/vacancies

I have loved stained glass ever since my childhood in a home where a little stained glass projected colours onto our house walls. It seems that everyone wants to get married in a church with magnificent stained glass windows too!

If you would love to learn to make simple designs in stained glass then I’m pleased to announce that Mike Bruce (of Shady Characters, Paroa) has agreed to offer a daytime community education class at Karoro Learning so that we can all learn to make simple stained glass objects… and perhaps after a few classes… well… a window or lamp shade?

Mike will even help you with the maths of measuring out those precise shapes to make your lamp shade!

Check out the class details at: http://www.karoro.co.nz/events/?ee=44