Queensland Transport, J.J. Richards and Sons and Woodridge State High School in Brisbane partnered to launch the pilot Transport and Logistics Adopt a School program in May 2008.
"We recognised that we needed to take an innovative approach to attracting and training youth into our workforce to meet our current and future business demands." J.J. Richards director Phil Richards said.
It is the first model of its kind in Australia. We have 12 students from Woodridge State High School who work a full school day once a week at our engineering depot at Underwood.
The Adopt-a-School program fosters the relationship between high schools and businesses, and is a great way to encourage students to pursue a career within the industry.
Students take on the role of an employee doing real work in the business.
According to Joshua Richards, general manager of engineering this is a great opportunity for them and there is nothing to stop them from going into management with the company. We promote from within and if they show by performance they want to move forward we do our utmost to encourage them.
