12th September 2016
Five Painting & Decorating apprentices from Barking & Dagenham College have just completed a two-and-a-half-week project to give St Augustine?s of Canterbury Church and Church Hall in Rush Green a top-to-toe make-over.
The apprentices are all employed by Aspire - hence the A-Team nickname- a social enterprise created by Barking & Dagenham College to give real work opportunities to apprentices and students currently in training. Demand for apprentice and student skills from local organisations and businesses range from painting and decorating to video production.
Community linksSt Augustine’s priest, Father Martin, praised the initiative and the results, saying
“This is an excellent example of the community working together: the local College working with the local Church to give a dedicated group of young people a chance to make a start in their working lives. Everyone at St Augustine’s is delighted with the standard of their work. Always cheerful and keen to get started, they have done a great job.”
Before and afterSam Berrecloth, 18, from Dagenham took before and after photos, and declared the finished result which included re-varnishing all the woodwork
“Just lovely,” adding “The church hadn’t been decorated for about 15 years, so to see it transformed like this is so satisfying.”
The apprentices all agreed on the hardest part of the project, the ceiling.
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Above L-R: Painting & Decorating Apprentices Clare Greenbaum, Harry Dardis, Stephen Buers, Jade Walker and Sam BerreclothHoward Jeffrey MBE, Head of Aspire, said
“The apprentices are all training for their City & Guilds in Painting & Decorating Level 2 at the College. The St Augustine’s project forms part of their apprenticeship, which means they are assessed on the job for their skills and professionalism. We’re finding there is a steady demand as word gets around about the high quality service offered at a competitive price.”
Does your organisation have a project that could be a good match for student or apprentice skills?Aspire accepts commissions from local organisations and businesses which it matches to student and apprentice skills. Projects include:
- IT development
- animation
- painting and decorating
- plumbing
- carpentry
- bricklaying
- plastering
- video/film making
- graphic design
- photography
- floristry
- music performance
- and book-keeping.
Call or click to find out more
020 3667 0250
Email Howard Jeffrey, Head of Aspire
