Scooping the pool at the SpArta Awards
2 September 2005
Peter Harrison, Manager of Post Compulsory Education Pathways, with Sangeeta Alex, Manager of Sport, Fitness and Natural Therapies and Andrew Exton from Penola Catholic College, celebrating their SpArta VET in Schools Excellence Award.
Kangan Batman TAFE’s Richmond-based Sport, Fitness and Natural Therapies department picked up three awards at the first-ever Sport and Recreation, Arts and Culture Training Awards (SpArta).
The Institute picked up the top awards in the Outstanding Student of the Year – Koorie and VET In Schools Excellence categories, as well as receiving a Highly Commended award for Training Initiative of the Year.
The winners were announced at a gala awards dinner on 24 August 2005 at Atlantic South Wharf, as part of the SpArt Conference.
The newly created SpArta training awards is an initiative of Verve, which is the industry training advisory board for the arts and culture and sport and recreation sectors in Victoria.
The awards acknowledge and reward outstanding achievements and innovation in vocational education and training within the areas mentioned above.
Diploma in Sport and Recreation graduate Barry Firebrace, from Blackburn, was awarded the Outstanding Student of the Year – Koorie.
He’s no stranger to winning awards, having won the 2004 Elders’ Award for Outstanding Indigenous Student of the Year, presented with the Arnold Davis Scholarship and reaching the finalist stage in the 2003 Victorian Training Awards for the Outstanding Student of the Year – Koori category.
Already an accomplished sportsman, Barry chose a career in sport and recreation so that he could assist the Indigenous community.
According his teacher Lachlan Tighe, Barry was a ‘ripper of a student.’
‘He’s really focussed and motivated, and because Barry was working at the same time he was studying, he really understood the value of vocational training.’
Glenroy’s Penola Catholic College, in partnership with Kangan Batman TAFE, was awarded the VET in Schools Excellence Award for its Community Recreation program.
Penola Catholic College VET teacher, Andrew Exton, said the program aims to give students a broad understanding of the sport and recreation industry.
‘The program is very much based around practical assessment – the students actually plan, organise and run their own events,’ Mr Exton said.
‘We have a great relationship with Kangan Batman TAFE. The staff in the sport and recreation department help me determine the training and assessment for this VET program.’
To date, the Penola Catholic College students have run a Healthy Eating Breakfast, held a Health and Physical Education Week, and organised various fundraising events to raise money for local and international charities.
The VET program is structured so that the students can easily progress into the Certificate IV and Diploma level sport and recreation courses at Kangan Batman TAFE.
Students who continue on to do these courses at TAFE also become involved in the Sports Activity Leadership Program, which was developed for the Richmond West Primary School.
This program received a Highly Commended award in the SpArta Training Initiative of the Year category.
The primary school did not have a full time physical education teacher, so Kangan Batman TAFE teachers Rob Apps and Lachlan Tighe arranged for their students to deliver sports training to the primary school students.
This arrangement benefits both sets of students, as the primary school students receive regular PE lessons while the TAFE students apply their knowledge in a fun, and interactive way.
‘Our students find this program a really rewarding experience,’ said Manager of the Sport, Fitness and Natural Therapies department, Sangeeta Alex.
‘Richmond West Primary School is made up of students of many different ethnic backgrounds, and it has been great to involve them in sports that they may not have encountered before.’
The arrangement between Kangan Batman TAFE and the primary school will continue on next year.
