News

Message from the Chief Executive

ITS Newsletters

Dec 2007

Sep 2007

June 2007

December 2006

August 2006

June 2006

The drive to find employment or training opportunities for young people aged 16-18 is still a priority in Barnsley.

Barnsley was the third worst area nationally for the number of young people aged 16-18 not in employment, training or education. During the last three months we have made a concerted effort to reduce these numbers which has resulted in some impressive progress. There is however, still a great demand for employment and training opportunities.

If you can help in any of these areas please get in touch with us. There is no cost to the employer for offering work trials or work experience opportunities as these are fully funded by the local Learning and Skills Council via our E2E programme.

May I wish a happy and prosperous New Year to you all!

Terry Connolly, Chief Executive

Jeremy Kyle tells learners to ‘Get a Job!’

We treated our E2E learners to a trip to a television studio as a reward for those who had done well in centre or at placement. The trip was offered as an opportunity to encourage learners to develop their personal and social skills. We were offered tickets for the Jeremy Kyle show which was filmed on 18 October at the Granada studios in Manchester.

The learners found the visit fascinating as they were able to see how a television programme is made. Their attitude and conduct while on the trip was excellent.
During his warm up act, Jeremy asked the audience if any of them were students. Our learners responded rather loudly and proudly that they were, to which Jeremy promptly told them to ’Get a Job!’. This must have had quite the impact as shortly following the trip, 6 of the 10 learners did! The remaining 4 progressed on to higher level qualifications or placement opportunities.
Subjects covered on the show were life issues such as young alcoholism, parental access and cheating partners.

Unbelievably, one of the guests on the show lives on the same street as one of the learners who attended the trip. The learners genuinely enjoyed the show and it really did have a positive impact. The show is to be aired on 2 January 2008 at 9:25am on ITV.

Preparing to Defend Queen and Country

The ITS A r m y Preparation Course is a 13 week actionfilled programme which aims to get young people ready to pass the entrance test into the army. In all walks of life with fun comes
pain and the pain in this course is the fitness side - at least at the beginning. After a few weeks of hard work the pain goes and then
the fun starts. The programme allows learners to visit many different aspects of Army life including fire power demonstrations, para displays, assault courses, shooting, campcraft and survival
in the field.

The best input was from Sgt Ledinham who led the practical activities throughout the course. He is ALL Army. Some call him crazy but he kept things interesting, and most learners cannot stop talking about him. Even the ITS trainers get involved, just ask ‘GI’ Amy who had a fun filled week at Strensall getting dirty in the mud with the learners. The success of the course was celebrated when we all got together
for the presentation evening. Of the learners who started the programme with us in September 2007, 4 have already joined the forces and many others are awaiting a start date .