Successful work experience pilot delivered with the Focus Training Group
Every year work experience week for Year 10 sees a large number of students looking to secure placements with employers to gain valuable skills and insights into the world of work to help them prepare for their choices after GCSE exams at the end of Year 11.
We recognise competition is fierce for limited work experience places with businesses across Plymouth especially for construction related placements. This year in response Drew Tombs, Group Sales and Marketing Manager at the Focus Training Group came up with the innovative idea to offer their purpose built training centre at Modwen Road to host a week long programme for a group of local Year 10 students.
As a member of Building Plymouth this seemed like the perfect opportunity to work in collaboration to offer this pilot programme opportunity to students from Eggbuckland Community College and Plymstock School given their existing relationships with the Focus Training Group.
Drew Tombs, Group Sales and Marketing Manager at Focus Training said: “The idea of developing a work experience programme came from observing the frustration of my daughters trying to find a placement for a week. I reached out to several employers to ask their thoughts around work experience and each employer said they would like to support the programme but due to demands on their company they were not always in a position to offer work experience. From this feedback I reached out to Building Plymouth to see what interest there could be in joining forces to help develop a work experience programme delivered by a training provider. We looked at offering a combination of Gas and Electrical skills to help give students an insight of two trades delivering a real hands on experience providing insight into the roles in both trades and highlighting what apprenticeships are available in Plymouth.”
The programme offered a week long insight into what it is like to be both a plumbing and electrical apprentice, with practical tasks and projects to complete. On the final day students joined Building Plymouth industry members GASJACK Plumbing and Heating and Morgan Sindall for inspiring talks on what they look for as employers when taking on apprentices and the key skills and qualities needed. Emma Hewitt, Skills Lead for Plymouth City Council and Building Plymouth also gave some background and context to the booming world of construction in Plymouth and the importance of attracting new talent to be able to fill the many apprenticeship vacancies and keep the new talent joining the industry through the various career pathways.
Jack Bellingham, Director at GASJACK Plumbing and Heating said: “It was fantastic to be asked to speak to the work experience students to help guide the next generation of construction workers. We are always keen to motivate students to get into construction as there is such a skills shortage at the moment which can really be felt across our industry.”
Working closely with the Focus Training Group to help develop the pilot programme, Morven Maclean, Construction Coordinator for Building Plymouth said: “ We wanted the week to be aspirational and so students from both schools had to apply to secure their place and then go through an interview with myself and Drew before being offered a place on the course. This was an important process for the students in developing their employability skills and building confidence in taking positive steps in the future We felt that this would also give them the chance to experience what it is like to apply for apprenticeships and get feedback on how they did to help them improve for the future as these skills are so important.”
The pilot work experience week created opportunities for 13 students across the two schools to take part with the PPE being kindly supplied by Safeware SW Ltd which the students could take home after the week to be set up for a potential apprenticeship in the near future.
The evident success of this pilot work experience programme will further expand next academic year including potential collaboration with other construction related training providers across the city in order to increase the number of trades and skills that students will be able to experience, plus enable more real life employability skills development through the application and interview process.
Lyn Harris, Careers Coordinator at Eggbuckland Community College said: “The opportunity for students to spend time within a construction environment provided an excellent opportunity for them to see if an apprenticeship within the electrical or plumbing & heating sector appealed to them. Students enjoyed the practical elements of the week as well as meeting and hearing from local employers who also provided an overview of the industry. Initial feedback has confirmed that they are still keen to pursue a career in this sector, they now have relevant experience that will bolster their CVs for future applications. Our School is very grateful to the Focus Training Group and Building Plymouth for allowing our students to be a part of this exciting pilot project.”