Last Year the Waihi College Jumpstart Driving program is in collaboration with OceanaGold began. The program is intended to help Waihi College students obtain their restricted licence by providing weekly driving lessons. Driving lessons are held and organised during school times and considerations will be made when allocating time slots to the student, to ensure the same subject isn’t consistently missed. Alternatively, there are lessons timetabled outside of school times for the students who cannot afford time out of school
The lessons are free to the student, thanks to OceanaGold for sponsoring the Jumpstart car and the community volunteers, who are police vetted and trained through the Bluelight Navigator program. Lessons are 45 minutes long and students are taken on different routes around Waihi and surrounding areas.
Thanks to community donations Waihi College is able to offer one professional, paid driving lesson free to the student. This lesson is taken by Gavin Buchanan at AA and will be booked when our volunteer navigators believe the student is competent and ready to sit their Restricted licence test. This professional lesson with AA gives students extra confidence to increase the likelihood of passing their driving test. When the navigators believe the student is ready for this AA lesson, students are required to come and see Lauren to book an appointment with AA.
Students will need to pay for the restricted license test, when they sit it.
The lesson times are in the notices, students need to check to see when/if they have a lesson each week, and if they are unavailable, make sure to let either Mrs Graveson or Lauren know ASAP.
Students that don’t have a timetabled lesson that week are on a waitlist. In the case timetabled students can’t make their lesson, waitlisted students will need to fill the available spot. Therefore every student that is on the Jumpstart list is expected to bring their licence every Wednesday and Thursday.
To find out all about it – head to the School Life section of our website or email Lauren on laureno@waihicol.school.nz