My eldest child is heading to high school next year. Luckily she appears to be a lot more sensible than I was at that age, however as a parent I do worry about the dangers and influences she will face as she grows older. In Australia, we live in a society where alcohol is prevalent, and there is peer pressure on high schoolers to be involved in underage drinking.  Only this week ten Year 11 students from an elite Upper North Shore girls school were suspended for hiding alcohol in their school lockers.

As the owner of Catch Training I recently sat in on one of our RSA courses again and I was reminded how impressed I am with the content of this course! And it got me thinking……the course is a mandatory requirement to work in a licensed venue in NSW however, in addition, I strongly believe that this course should be delivered to all teenagers. Not only is the course about the responsible service of alcohol, the course goes into depth regarding the affects alcohol can have, the things that can go wrong and also the complications and legal ramifications of underage and excessive drinking. Unfortunately, I believe that almost all our children will have already been exposed to alcohol way before they reach their 18^th birthday!!

It is a common myth that you have to be 18 years old to sit the RSA course.  In fact a 14 year old can complete the course, they just can’t work in a licensed venue until they turn 18.

If your child’s school offers RSA training, I strongly encourage you to send your child along.  They will learn a lot more about being responsible around alcohol than you could ever teach them yourselves. If your school doesn‘t offer this opportunity, then please consider sending your child to attend a course with a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) like Catch Training.

I am obviously biased towards Catch Training, however please be wary of providers who are selling an RSA course too cheaply. The reason they are selling it cheaply is they deliver to very large class sizes squeezing up to 40 participants in with an inexperienced trainer who is most likely not an industry expert.

Please be sure to choose a quality provider that:

• Uses current industry experts as trainers
• Offers small class sizes – this means every student gets individual attention.
• Runs the course for the mandated minimum of 6 hours.
• Offers practical elements to their training and assessment – Is this even possible in a class of 40?
• Ensures that each student completes an activity book as they work through the class content. This ensures formative learning takes place. Some providers save on cost by not doing this – so how do the students learn?
• Ensures that each student completes a comprehensive written, verbal and practical assessment which ensures they have understood the content. Again I believe this impossible with a ratio of 40 students to 1 trainer.
• If a student fails, what happens? Budget providers will make them re-book and pay for another course. Quality training providers will work with the student then and there, at no extra cost to ensure knowledge gaps are closed and the student can genuinely pass the assessment.

Catch is a local, family owned business.  We care about families and our community.  We want our students and the greater community to truly understand what it is to be responsible and safe around alcohol.

To show our commitment in this area we would like to offer the first 10 schools or community groups in the North West and Hills area of Sydney a free 2 hour ‘Alcohol and You’ workshop. If your school or organisation misses out please contact us for special pricing.

The course will be delivered by a Catch Trainer who is an industry expert and will teach teenagers and participants the dangers of alcohol and give them techniques to avoid peer group pressure of underage drinking and unhealthy alcohol consumption.

Chris young, Catch Training