Avanti West Coast - Careers, Creativity and the Commonwealth
In January 2022 New Leaf launched its partnership with Heart of England Community Rail Partnership. Careers, Creativity and the Commonwealth is funded by Avanti West Coast and supports young people in Birmingham and Coventry who are facing barriers to gaining employment. Participants have access to experience days with a wide range of employers, guaranteed interviews, employability training, and the opportunity to find out about careers in the rail sector and local community projects.
Our first cohort of trainees started in January and have been completing work preparatory training, also exploring different careers available through experience days:
Kenilworth Castle
As well as exploring the history of Kenilworth Castle, our learners met with English Heritage to find out more about careers in the sector.
Birmingham Business Park
Our learners met with representatives from Sulzer and HS2, finding out more about career opportunities. We also had our first experience of “netwalking”, spending time walking in the fresh air talking to different businesses in the business park.
NEC
Learners experienced an amazing tour of the NEC (National Exhibition Centre), hearing about the wide range of careers available across their many venues. They also met some of the amazing Avanti West Coast staff at Birmingham International Station, including previous clients of New Leaf, who still love their careers there.
Coventry Railway Station
We started the day hearing about the work of The British Transport Police and their career opportunities, also meeting a member of staff from Avanti West Coast and hearing about his amazing story. To end the day we had an exclusive tour of the new Coventry Railway Station with learners meeting construction personnel on site.
The next steps for our learners will be completing their training and finding a work experience placement in their chosen sector.
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