Pupils get to work on their trade skills

Dundee teenagers have been learning new skills while helping revamp a charity centre. Braeview Academy pupils spent five weeks learning how to paint, plaster, tile and garden as part of the Transition to Trade project.

Ru n by A l e x a n d e r ’s Community Development, a charity set up by businessman John Alexander as a way to give back to his home city, the project aims to bridge the gap between schools and the construction industry.

But even while learning, the S3 pupils have already been able to put their skills to good use by combining their training wi t h a refurbishment of Signpost International’s Dundee centre in Whitfield.

It is part of Signpost’s work to create a Centre for Global Learning to educate people in Tayside about poverty at a local and global level, as well as how to address it.

T he centre will also include a pay-it-forward café and food distribution project.

Jamie Morrison, chief executive of Signpost International, said: “The project run by Alexander’s Community Development is an amazing help, we wouldn’t have been able to do half of this work if it were not for this project.

“The Centre for Global Learning will be a space where people can come and learn and gain a greater understanding of some of the complex issues that we face today like poverty, food insecurity and climate change.

“We aspire that future Braeview Academy pupils can benefit from the work of these pupils by being able to take part in programmes at the Centre for Global Learning.”

The Transition to Trade project aims to bridge the gap between school leavers and potential employers by giving pupils the chance to try out different careers early and gain qualifications.

By the end of the next school year, the project will have trained more than 60 pupils in trade skills.

Aled B a r t l e y - Jo n e s , Transition to Trade project leader for Ale xander ’s Community Development, said: “T he purpose of Transition to Trade is to remove some of the barriers that young people currently face when they want to enter a trade.

“It is very difficult for school leavers to get into employment but there is a massive shortfall in the construction industry at the moment.

“It is amazing to see how much the pupils grow from the start of a project to the end.”

JUST THE JOB: Braeview Academy S3 pupils with Transition to Trade project leader Aled Bartley-Jones, left, and trainer John Nicoll. Picture by Dougie Nicolson.