Simon’s Town prepares youngsters for a maritime career

THE MARITIME Studies Department at Simon’s Town School is seeing more and more students taking their places within the wider maritime industry. The School’s three-year course provides wide coverage of the shipping industry, dealing with maritime geography, port studies, maritime trade patterns, the local shipping industry, ship operation, management and chartering, the bunker trade, ships’ agency procedures, and cargo clearing. Maritime Studies B prepares learners directly for a career at sea covering seamanship, navigation and various aspects of marine science. The A Course and the Maritime Studies Department have received validation from the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers (London), probably the first such recognition for a school subject in South Africa, and possibly the world. Senior learners also complete the Understanding Shipping Diploma under the auspices of the Institute while in-house diplomas are also awarded for passing fairly taxing examinations, according to a school spokesman. Within the B Course, a similar modular examination covers coastal and astro-navigation, seamanship, cargo handling and ship stability. Further international recognition also came the way of the School’s maritime studies department when it gained one of the six prestigious awards at the Lloyd’s List Salute to Youth & Training banquet in London in March 1999. Clearly vocational in nature, increasing the employability of the learners, the courses comply with the new educational strategy planned for South Africa, the spokesman said.