Andrew Purvis, Gateway experience student

“It’s been great fun – I never would have learned some of the things I have if I’d stuck with normal school work.”

Wellington College student Andrew Purvis joined Gateway midway through Term 2 of 2008 after he became intrigued by what he’d heard about the programme.

“It sounded like a good way to find out if I really wanted to do what I wanted to do. If I could, I would have done work experience in the NZ Army, but because of security and things like that I couldn’t, so the Gateway co-ordinator got me work experience with NZ Police. It’s been a blast doing work experience with them.

“I'm sure everyone has seen the police ads saying ‘Get better work stories’. For me, it’s better Gateway stories. Many Gateway students work with tradesmen, but I've been up close to the police dogs, I've seen the Armed Offenders Squad training, used the police radios, helped get a quad bike out of a creek in harsh weather conditions, and just done some really cool stuff that you wouldn’t get to do as a tradesman.”

Along with learning more about the police, he’s also been learning life skills in the Gateway classes at school.

“In the numeracy class we do maths, but we also talk about things you need to know in life as well. It’s really interesting some of the things we learn about. We had one period a week with people from the National Bank, and they came in and taught us about all these different aspects of banking, which I personally knew very little about.

“We also have a technology class where we learn things about building and fixing. When I joined they were building tables and chairs so I got to learn some of the things involved with that. I find that I get bored in that class, but that’s only because it’s not really my thing. So with Gateway there are going to be some things that you’ll enjoy more than others – but it’s the same with any other aspect of life really.

“So if you want to get valuable experience and learn some great new things, talk to the Gateway co-ordinator at your school. It’s definitely worth it!”

(Written when Andrew was on work experience at Career Services, September 2008)

Read about how Andrew's plans for the future helped him pick his school subjects