Technology Winter School
Automation Works & Automation Works Training Facility hosts the Techno Buzz Winter Schools in partnership with the Western Cape Education Department, technical colleges, universities, FESTO and other businesses in the tech industry.
These Techno Buzz Winter schools are 3-day- inter-active-workshop events, attended by high school students during the June/July holidays, at two different venues (Cape Town and Swellendam)
Various businesses and educational institutes donate their time and expertise to introduce, inspire and motivate our students to embrace technical opportunities in the technical and engineering industries
The Technology Winter School is an excellent “tool” guiding young people with their career choices in the field of
engineering and technology.
Gallery’s
In the Media
- E-News
- MEC visit
- Winter School 2017
Radio Podcasts
- CT
- RSG
- Kompas
- Wits Radio (VOW)
History of the Winter School
Automation Works, CEO
We decide to launch a technology workshop at Automation Works for 4 or 5 young people of our town for the coming winter holidays around June / July of that year. We visited the two local high schools in our town, Swellendam Secondary and Swellendam High School to invite learners to this workshop at Automation Works.
The interest of young people was so great that we decided to plan a proper technology Winter School in the SSK Lecture Hall in town to accommodate 50 high school learners of grade 11/12. We invited the Engineering Schools of Stellenbosch University, CPUT, CTSE, Festo and Festo Didactic, Siemens and Vega to do Technology workshops where the learners could get hands on exposure to modern technology.
In summary, we already held this Technology Winter School for the past 7 years in Swellendam as well as an extra one in 2019 at Northpine Technical High in Cape Town, at the request of the WCED. We also held three technology Expos at Oakdale, Augsburg and Paarl Boland, where we successfully reached 1200 Grade 9 learners of the Western Cape. We also held a one-day Expo for 150 technology teachers in Cape Town on request of the WCED and the MEC, Minister Debbie Schafer, who attended the 2017 Winter School in Swellendam, herself.
Each year we offered 10 learners of our community the opportunity of a Skills Training Program at Automation Works in Swellendam with the focus on getting these learners job-ready for job placement opportunities. This resulted in 30 learners already been trained successfully of which 24 also found job placements in companies close to their homes and families.
The first day we discussed this challenge our young people are facing, we never thought it will grow into this awesome career choice vehicle for young people. The lesson we learned from this initiative is the following: if you believe in something good, don’t wait for some-one else or for funding from somewhere else before you start it. Just begin with what you have, put your heart and soul into it and the rest will follow.
Wynand Kotze (Automation Works CEO)