Screwfix partners with Yeovil College on construction course for school pupils
Trade retailer Screwfix has teamed up with Yeovil College to launch a pilot course covering core construction skills for year 10 and 11 school pupils.
The course aims to educate young people about the benefits of a career in the trade before they leave school as it looks to play a part in helping to fill the UK’s construction sector skills gap.
Thought to be the first of its kind in the UK, the Screwfix Construction Trade Academy will have 16 students on the course, with all learning the foundations of bricklaying, plumbing, carpentry and electrical contracting. They will aslo become City & Guilds qualified.
As part of Screwfix’s commitment to support the future of construction, the retailer has also invested in a new purpose-built site at the college. Work has started on the new Screwfix Trade Skills Centre where students will benefit from a dedicated space.
The centre will open in December and features two state-of-the-art work training areas. Each area will have the capacity to train up to 20 students at any one time. Students will attend the college for half day weekly sessions.
Graham Smith, marketing director at Screwfix, said: “Our trade customers tell us how busy they are but that they also struggle to recruit skilled labourers and don’t always find it easy to hire apprentices. The skills shortage facing the construction trades is widely talked about, therefore the partnership with Yeovil College is one of the ways we’re supporting tradespeople and playing a small part in protecting the future skills supply in construction, while demonstrating how interesting and rewarding a career in the trade can be.”
In addition to its work with Yeovil College, Screwfix offers support to the future of the trade through its annual Trade Apprentice competition, a nationwide search for the brightest apprentices. The campaign will return early in 2018.
Screwfix is alo looking to help tradespeople overcome some of the perceived barriers associated with taking on an apprentice by offering an online guide to hiring an apprentice.
