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Work experience success in Dumfries and Galloway inspires another local school to follow suit
Work experience success in Dumfries and Galloway inspires another local school to follow suit
March 3rd 2010
Students from Dumfries and Galloway have enjoyed an invaluable insight into future employment opportunities after seeing the benefits a work experience scheme brought to another local school.
Connaught Partnerships Ltd, who is providing repairs, maintenance and planned improvements to Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership (DGHP) properties in the area, agreed to offer work experience to students from Wallace Hall Academy after teachers saw the success of a recent similar scheme at the nearby Sanquhar Academy.
As a result, four Third Year students from the Thornhill area participated in the week long programme that offered experience in all aspects of the repairs and maintenance programme including plumbing, joinery, plastering and customer service. Alan Hill, Connaught partnership manager, explained: “The recent work experience programme with Sanquhar Academy was a great success and when Wallace Hall enquired if we could extend the programme to include them we were delighted to help.
“We are committed to utilising local skills and labour whilst working with Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership and an extension of this is to provide work experience and careers guidance to the next generation of the local workforce. The students who participated were a credit to Wallace Hall and demonstrated great enthusiasm and ability and hopefully the work experience programme will have gone some way to help them decide if work in the maintenance and repairs industry is for them.”
Barry Graham, Headteacher at Wallace Hall Academy, commented: “We were delighted that Connaught agreed to give a group of our Third Year pupils the opportunity to experience a wide variety of work situations. The pupils concerned had a very valuable week which they thoroughly enjoyed.”
DGHP and Connaught are working in partnership for four years to provide repairs, maintenance and planned improvements to 10,500 properties across Dumfries and Galloway.