Thursday 31st March
Earlier this month the GBSLEP Skills Hub team attended the ‘Try a Trade’ launch event, funded by The Homeserve Foundation. ‘Try a Trade’ is a unique 12-month programme for schools in the West Midlands which aims to help students and their families understand the fantastic range of career opportunities available through domestic trades.
The launch event, which took place at Streetly Academy in Sutton Coldfield, was attended by Year 10 and Year 11 pupils. The ‘milk round style’ event was a hands-on taster session where the young people could have a try at plumbing, jetting, gas work and the use of virtual reality in domestic trade work! Our delivery partner, Ladder for Greater Birmingham, were on hand to discuss various apprenticeships and they also brought over imitation robots from one of their training providers…very cool!
As well as having GBSLEP representation, the event was attended by West Midlands Mayor Andy Street, who backs the programme, and HomeServe CEO and founder Richard Harpin.
GBSLEP are proud to support ‘Try a Trade’ - this programme is crucial in developing a broader understanding and awareness of domestic trades amongst young people and their families. By doing so they can get a better understanding of employment opportunities currently available, such as traineeships and apprenticeships, that are accessible locally to them.
Our Skills Hub team know that programmes and events such as ‘Try a Trade’ are key to driving inclusive economic growth in a post-pandemic world.
If your business is interested in offering apprenticeships to young people coming out of school, then get in touch with us at info@gbslepskillshub.co.uk to see if we can support you with access to funding and training providers.
Visit our Skills Hub site to learn more about the support available to your business with skills and employment matters. The Skills Hub offers a free training needs analysis, which can be used to identify any skills gaps in your company and how they can be filled by accessing local training providers and making use of any government funding currently available.