Community Involvement

High School Partnership
Hillside provides work experience to secondary school students on the Gateway Program. The Gateway programme is designed to strengthen the pathway for learners to progress from school to workplace learning. The work experience in the workshop offers practical experience in workshop technology and is aligned to unit standards. We also cater for students wanting to put into practice administration skills they have developed at school. Work experience is most beneficial for sixth or seventh form students as they have a good base knowledge to build upon.

We regularly have small groups of students who visit our site to view health and safety and environmental issues in a practical environment. This allows them to take back to school a greater understanding of the practical requirements to align to their theoretical knowledge.

Hillside also benefits from this relationship as the schools have provided computer training, and individual tutoring to staff members in unit standards. Student's skills have been utilised to carry out individual project work such as designing brochures and data entry work.

We are continuing to develop the partnership and identify requirements that benefit both parties and enhance our relationship.

Dunedin Engineering Cluster

Hillside is part of the Dunedin Engineering Cluster - a group of engineering companies working together to build the engineering industry that has seen strong growth, but where there is a shortage of skilled labour and new blood.