New Bristol WORKS Team
The Bristol WORKS team has had a make over. With a schedule that is busier than ever, the WORKS team now has two apprentices, a Career Coach Lead and a new Project Manager on maternity cover. Read more about the new team below.
Hayley Galpin – WORKS Project Manager
As Project Manager of WORKS, no day is ever the same which was a huge attraction to the role. From my previous experience as a careers lead and also a Police Officer, I am hugely passionate about ensuring young people are positively prepared for their future and ensuring they have access to the range of opportunities across the City. From undertaking these roles, I am aware of the pressures placed upon schools so WORKS has meant that we can positively collaborate with schools to offer meaningful experiences of work and alleviate some of the pressures felt.
A day for me could involve meeting with local and national organisations to plan activity and discuss how they can support the programme or attending school events to see how the planned activity runs within the schools we support. Very recently, I have been busy running our first Disability Equality Training day in collaboration with WECIL. We also presented at the very well-attended Careers Best Practice meeting sharing good practice from around the City. Throughout the rest of the week, the team is presenting at various stakeholder meetings to provide colleagues with information about our work experience offer within Bristol City Council (something of which we lead on).
We successfully hosted 49 placements during the school holidays and are continuing to support applications across the coming months. In fact, these applications have included two individuals joining our own team…
Intisar Abdala (WORKS Apprentice)
My role as Business Support Apprentice is a varied role. I do tasks that involve; data inputting, creating and implementing surveys from WORKS events, event planning and minute-taking as well as taking part and attending wider meetings to do with WORKS. I also get opportunities to take on projects and tasks – more recently this has involved organising and planning the WECIL Disability Equality Training Day and also creating a work experience handbook for those joining us in the Council. As an apprentice under WORKS I also help the team facilitate work experience and help manage this inbox for those applying to do placements within the council. Last week, I attended my first careers fair event where I was able to promote the offer of work experience, apprenticeships and also the wider team we are involved in – the Post 16 Participation team (https://www.p16p.co.uk/) where we offer/advertise opportunities and events going on across the City. Something I am really enjoying is having the opportunity to undertake a woman in tech course in my spare time as I am interested in gaining a skill/understanding in graphic design and marketing and how this links to my role. Within my role, one thing I love is that I am overall promoting and helping young people to achieve or get into employment, education and training. I also enjoy that my apprenticeship is quite diverse and has given me various skills to build up my portfolio and CV.
Adam Saleh Business Admin Apprentice
I am Adam Saleh. I do Business Support Apprentice with Employment Support Team (ESL). Every morning I read emails and check the Ways2Work Web/Social Media. I start posting Jobs, Courses, and events into the Ways2Work website and social media. Furthermore, I take meeting minutes sometimes and I have been practicing ABW and finance. Recently I have had the opportunity to get involved and organise different jobs fairs at City Hall, Horfield and the Galleries. I also attended careers events with the WORKS team at Bristol Met (my old school). I felt this is important to raise awareness about apprenticeships in school and encouraging more students to consider this because it offers another pathway for students to achieve a higher education qualification. I was able to share my story with students since I left Bristol Met and to discuss what it is like since leaving the school and being an apprentice.
Tim Holmes – Career Coach Lead
I work within the WORKS team one day per week leading on Bristol Career Coach, supporting children in care. With our third launch around the corner, it is a privilege to be leading the programme. We will be up to 38 career coaches who will commit for five years working with a child in care from Year 9 to Year 13. This is a significant time for any young person with many transitional stages to go through. A career coach will help support their young person with many opportunities including experiences of work.
We have attracted skilled professionals from a range of backgrounds during the past eighteen months. They meet their young person at least once a term. Coaches receive group supervision from a psychotherapist as well as ongoing training to support them in their voluntary role. Naturally, the main beneficiaries of the commitment from the coaches have been young people, but it could be said it’s a two way process. All of us involved in working with young people learn about ourselves in the process with coaches involved suggesting that it’s great CPD.
My ambition is that at some point in the future, all children in care in Bristol will have a career coach they can be proud of, and rely upon to create opportunities which will be long lasting.
Look out for more Bristol WORKS activity soon.
