Student fire fighters Presentation

Student Fire Fighting vehicle

Today was a celebration and awards ceremony for the first set of student firefighters to be trained and graduate in Tamworth.

Here I met 7 of the student fire fighters who have attened at 12 week course consisting of one day per week. these young people had recived some excellent training and through 2 displays showed us what they had learnt. this wasn't thoery or playing around this was proper training in fire and rescue from cutting the roof off a car to fighting fires with breathing aparatus.

In the past student fire fighters have had to travel out of Tamworth to do this course, but now we have the fantastic facilities at Belgrave the benefits are fantastic.

A couple of the things I noticed today included 1, the weather 2, the team 3, the attention to detail.
The weather - as i sat in the cold watching I thought to myself how it would have been nice to have done this on a warm dry day, but then stopped and thought, the actual fire and rescue personal don't have a choice if its a real emergency. And today (no offence meant) you couldn't tell the difference between the regular staff and the teenagers.
The Team, these young people came from different school around Tamworth and had not met before but still in the 12 hours they worked together and developed a strong team, they way they used the spinal board and cut the roof off the car was a really team effort and was carried off seamlessly
Attention to detail and discipline, my teenage kid and other children really struggle to tidy up, but these in the team did what they did in the rescue and without a thought put all the equipment back away where is should be without a second thought.

This was a great experience and honour to share with the families, I hope the courses continue and would recommend all high schools to be aware and find out about this opportunity for young people in Tamworth.

Rawlett fashion show

When I received and invite to a fashion show at Rawletts I had to admit I wasn't sure what to expect. 

This show was put together with purpose and an eye on the outcomes. A selected group of students were given the opportunity work outside curriculum hours to design, create outfits for a fashion show. The students were picked specifically as they had all showed signs of low confidence and the school was after a boost to rectify this potential issue. Working through the project the girls not only had the chance to design clothes but also learn key life skills in regards to design, pattern making, purchase of material, presentation, make up and performance skills, all from one project.

So what did we see? 
We were treated to a display of around 30 designs of the "little black dress" all were unique and well designed and made, this was followed by a selection of others.
We could see clearly that these girls were proud of what they had achieved and were happy to walk up and down a catwalk displaying their work. It was certainly hard to believe there was a lack of confidence in any of the girls in the show.

All those involved did a fantastic job and it was a privilege to have been able to join parents in watching what their girls had made and achieved, and that sense of achievment came over from all involved. It was a great example the use of a little inovation in tackling potential challenges before they manifest themselves.