All About SBATs video

- [Daniel] My name's Daniel Lee, and I did an apprenticeship as a Light Vehicle Mechanic.

- [Angel] My name is Angel Pham. I do Cert III in plumbing.

- [Ruby] My name's Ruby Fanoosh and I do a Cert II in Sports Coaching.

- [Kim] My name's Kim Butler and I am the SBAT Engagement Officer for Blacktown North.

- [Ruby] What was the first day like?

- [Angel] My first day. It was exciting.

- [Ruby] So, my first day was actually very scary. I was so nervous, shy.

- [Daniel] After the first, probably half the day, you tend to, all your anxiety goes away and you just realise, oh, it's just work.

- [Angel] How did you learn about SBAT's?

- [Ruby] You know, I first heard about it from my PE teacher. I didn't know what it was at first. And one of - my principal actually spoke to me twice, told me that it's like a real job and you get paid for it.

- [Daniel] It is a good program because it gets you ahead, keeps your parents happy. It gets you into the workforce. You start seeing a lot more, the world more than what you would see at school and with your friends.

- [Kim] Not all students will go down the Uni pathway. And that's cool because VET is an awesome opportunity.

- [Ruby] I explained to my dad all about the SBAT and he told me to give it a try and just see how it goes.

- [Angel] How is it working with adults?

- [Ruby] You know, at first, I thought it would be scary but working with adults actually gives me the opportunity to learn and take on difficult challenges that I normally wouldn't do.

- [Angel] Personally, I think I've developed like quite a lot working with adults because we were always focused and committed to finishing our job.

- [Kim] What helps with the students to be comfortable in the workplace with the adults is finding that common interest. Finding, you know, who likes footy or, you know, what their outside of work and school interests are but does assist in that sort of, you know, getting that rapport up.

How did you balance school and work?

- [Ruby] At first, I thought it would be difficult but as I went it was kind of, it just balanced itself out.

- [Angel] From work experience in like the SBAT, you know, committing to work, finishing work. That was what helped me balance out recreational life, school life, and the work life.

- [Daniel] HSC wasn't my end goal. The apprenticeship was. I just mainly focused on the work side of things because that's where I wanted the head.

Where do you see your SBAT taking you?

- [Angel] So, this is my foundation. So my SBAT is to help me be who I want to be in the future. But I think the best advice was from my aunt. She told me, sometimes it's not about how much money you make, in fact, it should be most of the time, if you enjoy what you're doing.

- [Daniel] Yeah. Well, I didn't expect to start a business after qualifying as a tradesman. Yeah, just a big learning curve, I suppose.

- [Kim] The SBAT is not an easy pathway. There is a lot for them to learn. Not just with their qualification but a lot of life skills to learn. It will teach the students resilience. It will teach them organisational skills. There's so many benefits to doing an SBAT.

- [Ruby] After I graduate high school, I wanna become a psychologist. I love working with kids. Just talking to them, helping them out. That's just who I am. Creating challenges has given me the opportunity to shine my strengths and show that I can do anything as long as I put my mind to it.

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