A NEW trades training centre in Lalor will rebuild the pathways between young people and essential trades, the man behind it says.
Keith Miller was principal of Peter Lalor Secondary College for 11 years until his retirement last year. He worked with local principals, Whittlesea council, and industry groups over five years to win federal government funding for a trade training centre in the region.
He was euphoric when the first sod was turned on a new $6.5 million trades training centre to be built at the school.
“It’s one of my greatest achievements and I feel really good about it,” he said.
The state government phase-out of technical schools in the early 1990s was a disaster for a generation of teenagers, he said.
“I could see kids dropping out and getting into trouble because VCE was too academic and there was no pathway into the trades,” he said.
Local industries such as metalwork, food technology and diesel automotive were in need of qualified tradespeople, he said, and the new centre would help fill these shortages.
The Peter Lalor Secondary College was a technical trades school until 1992. It returned to its roots last year, converting to a vocational college after a proposed merger with Thomastown Secondary College fell through, and now grooms students for work in a variety of trades.
The new trades training centre will provide facilities for students of automotive industries and construction, and will be shared by eight secondary colleges in the area, including Lalor, Thomastown, Epping, Mill Park, Lalor North, The Lakes and William Ruthven.
Scullin MP Harry Jenkins showed his talent with a shovel at the ceremonial start of building at the site, telling students that Mr Miller’s dream had made it possible. “This bloke had a dream of giving kids like you opportunities to fulfil your dreams and aspirations,” he said.
Principal Paul Ryan said the school had 62 students, mostly boys, but the trades training centre would be used by hundreds of students from the region.
