During the 2019 summer holidays Salford Connexions teamed up with partners from housing providers Keepmoat Homes and Salix Homes and local charity Inspiring Communities Together to put on an Introduction to Construction summer transition programme for school leavers who had been identified as being at high risk of becoming NEET.
The aim of the programme was to give the students a positive learning experience where they could try their hand at different Construction skills, learn more about working in the industry and develop ‘softer’ skills to support their transition to post-16 opportunities. Working closely together the partnership of Connexions, Keepmoat, Salix and ICT designed and delivered a programme of two sessions a week over 7 weeks during July and August which included:
- Team-building, games and confidence-boosting activities
- Practical taster sessions in Joinery, Plastering, Tiling and Bricklaying
- A Construction site visit and tour
- CV writing and job search sessions
- A visit to Salford City College’s Construction training department
- GCSE results day support
- ‘Community Reporting’ sessions where the young people learnt how to interview each other, professionals/partners and members of the public, recording their interviews using smart phones/tablets and editing the footage to make a short film of their experiences on the programme
- Support to enrol for post-16 opportunities and liaison with colleges and training providers
- Ongoing support once the learners had started at college
The Results
8 young people started on the programme, with one leaving politely after the first two sessions as he realised Construction was not for him. Of the 7 remaining learners, attendance and engagement were excellent throughout the programme. The learners enjoyed the practical Construction taster sessions most and all 7 progressed to a college place during the first week of September and have maintained their places so far.
We held an end of programme celebration which was attended by parents/carers, professionals and partners, the learners’ school teachers and local councillors. The learners were also awarded with tool kits provided by Travis Perkins to help get them started in their trades.
Zak, 16, commented:
“I wasn’t sure what to think of the programme at first, but I made some new friends and got to try out the different Construction skills, so I really loved it. I thought I wanted to do Plastering but I really enjoyed Carpentry, so I signed up for this at college and love my new course so far”.
Congratulations to all the learners and we wish them well in their future careers!
