Fay Staios The Angliss Spa Interview

Fay Staios The Angliss Spa Interview

Spa and beauty therapy training takes on a tranquil new home as specialist training provider William Angliss Institute launched its newest development, Angliss Spa, on Thursday 30th May.

A purpose-built beauty therapy training spa evoking the serenity and wellness of the spa industry, Angliss Spa is the new learning centre for delivery of the Institute's award-winning Spa program, educating tomorrow's multi-skilled Spa Resort Managers and beauty therapists in a new partnership with Aurora Spa.

Launching to an audience of spa industry partners, alumni, students, staff and media, the new facility incorporates multiple training areas with industry-standard equipment for the Spa course, a specialist stream of the Institute's Resort Management program.

Angliss Spa, a dedicated training facility complete with multiple waxing, nail and treatment stations, was built to facilitate the training program on-campus coinciding with the commencement of William Angliss Institute's new partnership with Aurora Spa, innovators in the Australian Spa industry.

The partnership will see Spa students gaining specialist spa and beauty therapy knowledge from Aurora Spa in addition to the Resort Management program's core hospitality, tourism and business subjects.

With the new developments, students will benefit from real-life training experience at the Angliss Spa in addition to industry placements including the tranquil Aurora Spa at The Prince (St Kilda).

Dan Mabilia, Associate Director VET, William Angliss Institute, says, 'With a new Angliss Spa facility at our Melbourne CBD campus and the exciting alliance with Aurora Spa, our Spa students will have access to premium training facilities as well as the wealth of knowledge and spa excellence provided by Aurora Spa.

'William Angliss Institute has a history of strong ties with industry, and is excited that with Aurora Spa and the new Angliss Spa we will deliver well-rounded, job-ready spa professionals with specialist skills and a refined understanding of spa therapies and culture."

Students of the Institute's Resort Management – Spa course graduate with two qualifications: Diploma of Holiday Parks and Resorts, and Certificate IV in Beauty Therapy and can continue with further studies to Advanced Diploma and Degree.

Awarded the Best Education Institute 2012 - Certificate/Diploma level at the Australian Spa Association (ASPA) Awards of Excellence, the Institute's pioneering Resort Management – Spa program commenced in 2004 to deliver uniquely qualified graduates for the Spa and Resort industries.

For course information, please visit www.angliss.edu.au

Interview with Fay Staios, Manager Centre for Tourism and Hospitality

Question: What inspired the Angliss Spa?

Fay Staios: We've had the training qualifications for a while which have included the Resort Management courses and now we have a Diploma of Holiday Parks and Resorts coupled with that is a double qualification Certificate IV in Beauty Therapy. Previously we've been doing the beauty therapy training offsite and we've felt it was something we wanted to deliver on campus and we had the facilities become available. We conducted some renovations and have the Angliss Spa training facility onsite which is being used for this year. It's very exciting although it has been hard work to transform office space into a calm, serene environment.

Question: How did the collaboration with Aurora Spa come about?

Fay Staios: We really wanted to create a spa, a William Angliss Spa, because William Angliss is known as a specialist and has a very strong brand we wanted to create not just a beauty therapy course but focus on Spa and Wellness using organic products and creating a wellness feel. By partnering with Aurora Spa, who also come from the perspective of positioning themselves as different and have an organic range, we could focus on wellness and the partnership would complement each other.


Question: Can you tell us about the layout of the Angliss Spa?

Fay Staios: Angliss Spa looks wonderful and is very calm. When you walk in you have beautiful smells, music, calming lighting and a water feature as well as in the classroom. With the facility you have to have the ability to train because that is the primary function but to also be able to train in the intangibles which are the mood, atmosphere and feelings that you want to provide to your clients. We also have separate smaller treatment rooms as well.


Question: What types of courses can be taken through the Angliss Spa?

Fay Staios: We have the Certificate IV in Beauty Therapy which involves a whole range of subjects and the students that are studying the Certificate IV in Beauty Therapy are also concurrently studying the Diploma of Holiday Parks and Resorts because our training is not for them to just be a beauty therapist. The Certificate IV in Beauty Therapy is a twelve month course and they do that concurrently with an additional semester to build on customer service, finance and management subjects. The focus is very much on students who want not just a practical skill but the management side of subjects and learning in order to be Duty Supervisors, Assistant Managers and move up to managers or owners, one day. The students can also travel with their qualifications as well.


Question: Who will be conducting training within the Angliss Spa development?

Fay Staios: In regards to the Certificate IV in Beauty Therapy the training side is conducted by Aurora Spa and these trainers are qualified and also have industry experience. In order to be able to train for us at William Angliss they need to meet all the government requirements from a training qualification perspective, which they do. Then, from the industry training perspective they are hand selected by Aurora Spa and the key is that they have industry experience. When we are training the students we have a close collaboration through the partnership with industry which allows the students to get the most recent techniques and trends.

We deliver national training packages in regards to training and assessment but they get an add on at the Angliss Spa because we have industry specialists that show techniques and therapies beyond that.
The link with Aurora Spa allows students to visit Aurora Spa and hear from guest speakers in industry as well as a work placement program where students are placed in industry for a certain number of hours. Right from the beginning there is training onsite but they are working in industry concurrently and you can't do that with every profession and it is an advantage that you can get a taste of what it's like whether that is through observing, customer service, hosting, stocking, and cash handling and once skills have been built up, performing the treatments. It can be a little bit difficult for students to see the end goal when they're training however they can see it within the Angliss Spa development.

Even at the very basic level students are provided with exposure and the ability to network. We find a lot of our students get jobs from where they've had exposure through experience or a contact made during studying at William Angliss.


Question: When are applications for the Angliss Spa program opening?

Fay Staios: We have a beginning of the year and a mid-year intake as well. Applications are now open and this can be done at the website by following the prompts. There are part-time and full-time education options.


Question: What success do you hope to see from the Angliss Spa program?

Fay Staios: The program has been successful, at the launch of the Angliss Spa we had students return who are now managers at different spas. We have a lot of success with students gaining employment and then moving up the career path including going interstate and overseas. From our perspective the education is about career outcomes and from that perspective it is very successful and what we hope to do with the spa facility is give that William Angliss flavour so that our brand in industry is well known and respected in the spa area.


Interview by Brooke Hunter