Teenage girls at a Sydney school are shown how to change tyres and check oil levels as part of new initiative – sparking calls for every student in Australia to be taught the life skills

•Year 11 students from Stella Maris College in Manly shown important life skills.
•They included learning how to change a car tyre and monitoring coolant levels
•Part of school’s ethos to be strong, independent and resourceful young women
A group of teenage girls were recently shown the importance of regular car maintenance as a vital life skill.
Students in Year 11 at Stella Maris College in Manly, on Sydney’s northern beaches, were taught how to change a tyre, the most efficient way to check tyre pressure, how to best monitor oil and coolant levels and what to do in the event of a car accident.
The initiative followed long term Sydney ‘car educators’ Galmatic reaching out to the school to gauge interest earlier this year.
According to their website, the all female Galmatic team of four ‘specialise in helping Australian women and teenagers feel comfortable behind the wheel through our hands-on car maintenance workshops and online courses.’
Eleni Mitakos, who has run Galmatic for the past 13 years, was quick to state the hands on workshops are not only for teenage girls.
‘We teach up to 100,000 teenagers a year in schools, across all parts of Sydney,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
‘The primary aim is for teenagers to feel comfortable behind the wheel. Ultimately they are driving very big vehicles which can be very expensive if not looked after properly.
‘We can’t stress enough to all our students you should never ignore a problem with you car, you need to address it for your own safety.”
Amy Smith, the assistant principal for well-being at Stella Maris College, said the students all found the recent workshop a valuable exercise.
Credit: Daily mail