Students in Years 10 and 11 from a number of Sutton's secondary schools celebrated completing the 'Key Stage 4 Way to Work Programme' on Wednesday 22 May 2013 at a Way to Work Awards Ceremony held at Nightingales Restaurant in Carshalton College.
The Way to Work programme co-ordinated by the London Borough of Sutton and delivered in partnership with Carshalton College and JACE Training was a series of 10 workshops and work-based learning activities in catering, construction, hair and motor vehicle maintenance. The aim of the programme is to provide learners with an opportunity to learn new skills and try different courses that may enable them to progress to further training or employment at the end of Year 11.
In addition each course supported the development of English, Maths and IT, some had unit accreditation.
All the students received certificates for participating on the programme and there were further awards for 100% attendance, most improved learner and best achiever.
Chris Jones from London Borough of Sutton said "The programme is a great opportunity for young people to get "hands on" experience and work in realistic industry environments. In the vast majority of cases the level of work produced, interest shown and commitment to the programme by the learners was exceptional."
The feedback from learners and schools alike has been very positive with requests to repeat the programme next year. One comment received from Cheam High School was "Our students have talked very highly of the programme and clearly gained a great deal from it".
