Kaci Temple, aged 15, from George Pindar School attends Scarborough Construction Skills Village as a pre-16 learner one day a week.

Kaci started her one-day placement in October 2017 after she was referred by her Careers Adviser at school. The school referred Kaci as she was interested in construction and she preferred a hands on learning environment compared to a typical classroom curriculum.

Initially, Kaci attended a site visit to Scarborough Construction Skills Village and as she enjoyed this experience the school decided to pursue this alternative curriculum. It was agreed that Kaci’s school timetable reduced to four days a week and she attended the Construction Skills Village for one day a week.

Since October 2017 Kaci has flourished in the Construction Skills Village environment. Kaci has decided joinery is the career path for her and she has been placed with the Joiners on site. So far she has completed a number of practical activities including halving Joints, dovetail joints, mortise and tenon joints and produced a mitred frame.

Kaci finds learning at the Construction Skills Village easier than if she was at school. Previously, Kaci struggled with Maths, but whilst on site she finds applying the subject in a practical environment helps her to understand. In addition, her communication

and interpersonal skills are developing as she learns alongside Construction Skills Village tutors and learners.

Kaci is currently in Year 11 and she has already enrolled to join the Construction Skills Village on a full time qualification once she has left school.

Kaci Temple a student at George Pindar School said “My confidence has grown since joining the Skills Village. I definitely want to be a Joiner or work on a construction site in the future. I want to challenge gender stereotypes and I would like to see more females come into construction”

Julian Leader Head Teacher at George Pindar School said “Since developing our strategic partnership with the Construction Skills Village we have seen a number of positive impacts. As a school we have developed our curriculum offer to provide opportunities for students to study construction within our curriculum, we have worked together with Skills Village to provide careers, information, advice and guidance for students around the wide variety of employment and career opportunities in the construction industry and we have taken advantage of our links to provide students with hands on experiences of the construction sector through experiential visits, work experience opportunities and specific placements for students.”

‘These specific placements, providing a day a week for students to work within the Skills Village, have not only provided invaluable experience and training for the student, but have also supported an improvement in their engagement within their core curriculum. Without this strategic link our curriculum and CEIAG opportunities would be narrower and some of our students who needed wider opportunities to support their progress would have been unable to access wider alternative provision and as a result been less motivated and energised about their future opportunities.”