As one of our amazing Year 12 students, Krissa is a fast learner with a can-do attitude and a great sense of humour.
Since coming to NG Central in 2018, she has made huge strides in her education and has invested time and effort into her employability skills. But Krissa didn’t always have this kind of focus.
Her experience of a mainstream school saw her struggling to concentrate in crowded classrooms and to find her place amongst the many social groups. Her academic performance suffered from a lack of intensive support and she found herself getting easily distracted and disengaged during lessons.
“At NGC, it’s so different to mainstream; I felt relaxed straight away. They teach you one-on-one so much more and the classes are way smaller which helps you concentrate. There is so much support from the teachers."
When asked her favourite subject, there’s no doubt that it's Retail. Every Wednesday, Krissa is progressing towards her Certificate II and mastering cash handling, customer service and even salon, hair and beauty skills.
She has been a stand-out student when it comes to work placement. Krissa has completed not one but TWO week-long placements throughout senior school with Priceline Pharmacy and most recently Greenpoint News Agency. Clearly well-suited to the practical and people-facing nature of a busy shop environment, she has had fantastic feedback from both employers.
“I’ve been doing Retail since I came to NGC. My work experience with Priceline was really fast-paced and I served customers all week. I loved working with the news agency team and I helped with tidying the store and doing stocktake.”
Outside of academic and vocational learning, NGC offers a range of social supports to our students. Our Student Enrichment Team is readily available to lend a listening ear at any time or provide practical assistance. Krissa says she finds this very helpful, especially as she works towards her HSC this year.
“It feels like people really know and care about you here. If you’ve got a problem, you can talk to any one of the teachers. I know I can always chat to Lee T and Damien (NGC support workers) about anything. I thought I’d drop out in Year 10 before coming here, but now everyone makes it all feel achievable."