West Coast College has an established Student Support Services Unit to provide a holistic support service to students upon entry, on course and exit support. The Student Support Unit operates as a centralized unit with at least one Student Support Officer at each of the five campuses.

EXAMINATION IMPORTANT INFORMATION

As a student you need to familiarise yourself with the following documentation in order to write your exams:

• DHET_WCC Attendance and Punctuality Policy Nov 2013
• NC(V) – Admission and Progression Requirements
• Memo 46 of 2015 – DG circular to students re Admission to national exams

The various services on offer from Student Support Services include the following:

UPON ENTRY

The Career Guidance programme aim to place you within the most suitable academic field.

• Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (conducted using the CAP Assessment tool which identifies learners literacy and numeracy levels at Level 1 or Grade 9 equivalency).  This is used to identify learners potentially at risk and the interventions required to get them on par.
• Career Guidance (conducted using the CAP Assessment tool which identifies learners interest areas)

Counselling

Counselling services are provided to all students for the following:

• Experiencing stress
• Struggling academically
• Struggling financially
• Going hungry
• Issues with Transport and Accommodation
• Bereaved
• Traumatised
• Bullied
• Assaulted
• Abused
• Struggling with substance abuse
• Family crisis
• Need a shoulder
• Or any other challenges

Contact your Student Support Officer for assistance! Confidentiality is guaranteed.

• 3 sessions per intervention and referral to external agency.  Monitoring thereafter.

Learning Assistance

Student Support Services helps students to develop appropriate and effective approaches to:

• Learning
• Exam preparation
• Time management

Student Support Services assist students in developing appropriate learning approaches through:

• Individual consultations
• Group work (tutorials)
• Workshops open to all students

Student Support Services can also advise and assist students when they

• Need to apply for extra time
• Need to apply for special considerations, examinations
• Prepare appeals

 Health and Wellness

These programmes focus on the following:

• Highlighting dangers drug and alcohol abuse
• HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns
• Support to affected and infected students
• Promotion of voluntary counselling and testing of all students (HIV/AIDS/TB)

Sport

• West Coast College offers an established variety of sport codes for students.  These include cricket, netball, rugby, table-tennis, chess, soccer, golf and athletics.

Nutrition

• Assistance for students with nutritional needs.

Recreation activities

• Encourage activities such as Mr & Ms Valentine’s Day and Mr & Ms West Coast College pageants. The SSS Unit has also acquired and made available pool and foozi soccer tables, as well as table tennis sets for each campus for the use and enjoyment of students.

Cultural programmes

• The Unit promotes arts and culture programmes on campuses, and this year will arrange an inter-campus competition in different genres – drama, song and dance.

Values

• Presentation of MOT programme.  The MOT project is a life skills development programme. The word MOT is a Norwegian word, meaning COURAGE. It is aimed to lay the foundation for life skills education, which the college regards as an essential complement to the Life Orientation classes. Apart from being a training programme, MOT represents a life philosophy that they aspire to inculcate and cultivate within each individual, institution, community and society.  It empowers the youth to make conscious choices that result in them better mastering their lives. It seeks to strengthen a student’s courage to take care of themselves and each other. This means influencing a student’s attitude, establishing sound values, choices and believe in their own abilities.  Presentation of workshops over a 3 year period which motivates learners to have the courage to say No, to have the courage to live and to have the courage to care.
• Find out more at http://www.mot.org.za/

Disability

• The Disability Department forms part of the Student Support Services division of the College. It aims to assist the College to provide an inclusive environment through consultation, liaison and the provision of services for students. Access services and facilities include advisory and educational requirements, production of alternative print format, note taking and interpreting, participation assistance and the provision of assistive technology and equipment. Further information about these aspects of disability services are available from the Disability Office which is located on the Atlantis Campus. Alternatively, students can speak to the Student Support Officers on their campus.

(Confidentiality: information provided to the Student Support Officer is treated in confidence and will not be released to anyone without your permission.)

EXIT SUPPORT

 Exit support includes the following:

• Co-ordinating Job readiness workshops

West Coast College offers guidance at every stage of career development. Career counselling and assessments are available to help students in the initial stages of career exploration. For those students ready to enter the job market or graduate school, assistance is available with:

• Resumes
• Cover letters
• Interview preparation
• Applications
• Personal statements
• Co-ordinating a Job Placement programme;
• Alumni Management

The South African Technology Network (SATN) and South African College Principals Organisation (SACPO) Task Team were tasked by DHET with preparing a brochure/document containing the admissions requirements for TVET College NC(V) Level 4 graduates into University of Technology undergraduate programmes.  The document covers admission requirements for the following Universities of Technology:  CPUT, DUT, CUT, MUT, TUT and VUT. This documentation is now available for download below.

• Admission_Requirements_FET_Students_into_UoTs_Web
• MOA-between-SATN-and-SACPO-signed-version SATN_
• SACPO Co-operation
• SATN-SACPO-COOPERATION

Further information is available at the following websites:

• South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) www.saqa.org.za
• MOT www.mot.org.za
• Department of Higher Education & Training (DHET) www.dhet.gov.za
• Western Cape Education Department www.westerncape.gov.za/dept/education
• Public TVET Colleges www.fetcolleges.co.za
• National Career Development Services www.careerhelp.org.za/
• Career Planet www.careerplanet.co.za
• Pace Career Centre www.pacecareers.com
• Student Health www.studenthealth.co.za