A YOUNG apprentice has gone from foster care to a career after one of the North East’s top museums told her, “you’re hired”.
Carrie Gofton, from South Shields, was just 15 when a family breakdown led her into foster care and disrupted her education.
She said: “I thought that was it – that I faced a life on the dole.”
Now, following a successful, one-year apprenticeship at award-winning Bede’s World in Church Bank, Jarrow, the 21-year-old has been offered a full-time job with the museum’s cultural development team.
Carrie is just one of a number of success stories being highlighted by South Tyneside Council, which last year launched a scheme to help recruit 200 apprentices by March 2014.
It is already more than halfway to its target and is using National Apprenticeship Week to call on employers to help young people like Carrie gain vital experience and qualifications.
Carrie said: “In the past year, not only have I completed a preparing for lifelong teaching course but I have become really interested in the life of Bede .
“When my relationship with my family broke down, it had a huge effect on me and on my schoolwork. My foster family were great, but I thought I’d missed my chance.
“Now, I’ve found a job I love. It really interests me and, what’s more, I’m so happy here. It’s like having a whole new family.”
Bede’s World assistant director Pearl Saddington said: “Carrie’s enthusiasm is infectious.
“Not only has she benefited from her apprenticeship, but we have too. We have three apprentices at present, including Carrie, and will be offering all of them full-time jobs.”
Coun Iain Malcolm, leader of South Tyneside, said: “If anyone is proof of the fact that apprenticeships work – that they match the right people with the right jobs and provide excellent, on-the-job training – it’s Carrie.
“With the support and encouragement of Bede’s World and through her own hard work, she has turned her life around. ”
Small and medium-sized companies can benefit from a £1,500 apprenticeship grant for employers when they recruit their first apprentice.
Details are available from Sarah James at South Tyneside Council’s economic growth team on 424 7396 or e-mail sarah.james@southtyneside.gov.uk
Anyone interested in an apprenticeship can contact Geoff Scott at Adult and Community Learning on 4246488 or e-mail geoff.scott@southtyneside.gov.uk
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* Meet the apprentice from South Shields who now helps apprentices into work in tomorrow’s Gazette.
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