A raft of students from North Nottinghamshire College will be given invaluable work experience over the next three years thanks to a partnership with local construction company Woodhead and A1 Housing.
A total of 84 construction students from the college will get the chance to spend a week working on the Smith Square site in Harworth over the next three years, where Woodhead and A1 Housing are in the process of replacing outdated ‘Airey Houses’ with 71 modern and energy efficient homes.
Woodhead, A1 Housing and North Notts College kicked off the programme during National Apprenticeship week as the first three students got a taste of working life.
Derryn Barton-Hanson, one of the first students to complete a week’s work experience said:
“It’s been a great week and we’ve learnt loads for the bricklayers on site, they’ve been able to tell us what we’ve been doing right and where we’ve been going wrong. It’s great to get out of the classroom and put what we’ve learnt already into practice and it feels like I’ve improved my skills loads more by being part of this.”
Don Spittlehouse, Director for Housing and Technical Services at A1 Housing, said:
“From the planning stages of this project it was our intention for local people and local communities to get much more out of this than simply new Council homes.
“As well as employing local tradesmen and contractors, this element of the project will provide local construction students the invaluable opportunity to gain vital work experience and enhance their work-based learning.”
David Woodhead, Managing Director of Woodhead said:
“It’s great to see young people spending time on our sites, learning a skilled trade from our team, especially during National Apprenticeship Week. Each of the students successfully achieved their CSCS card with us last week, which means that they have demonstrated that they are competent enough to work safely on a building site, this is something that they can take with them for future opportunities.
“We are committed to providing employment and training opportunities for the communities in which we work and teaming up with local partners such as North Notts College is an excellent way to reach people that want to work in our industry. We will be working on site at Smith Square for a total of three years, which will really enable us to see the long term impact that investing time and effort in exercises such as this can have on a community.”
John Connolly, Principle at North Notts College, said:
“We are delighted to be able to offer our students this opportunity with Woodhead, as they will benefit enormously from the experience of working on a real project.
“Developing their practical trade skills in our workshops is an essential part of their programme, but there is no substitute for having the chance to apply those skills on the job, along with all of the expectations of them relating to behaviour, timekeeping, health and safety, and so forth.
“We are very grateful to Woodhead, A1 Housing and Bassetlaw District Council in working together to offer this tremendous opportunity to our students.”
Simon Greaves, Leader of Bassetlaw District Council, said:
“This is a fantastic project and a fantastic opportunity for the students. The experience that Woodhead and A1 Housing will be providing over the next three years will hopefully each and every student well and is a great example for other local companies to follow.”