A training initiative with a difference is looking to boost the supply of apprentices to firms in Mayo, while teaching participants basic life skills in the process.
Is Féidir Linn Trade School will take in its first 12 students next Monday at its centre in Balla.
As part of the programme, the apprentices – 10 of which come from a farming background – will rotate through eight different trades in their first year.
The apprentices then specialise in the trade they wish to follow for the subsequent two years. Accreditation for the qualifications from the Balla school is provided by UK-based training body Lantra.
Donal Byrne of BRB Homes and Is Féidir Linn Trade School.
Under the programme, the student apprentices will get a six-week grounding in carpentry; plumbing; mechanics; steel fabrication; plant and machinery operation and groundworks; aviation; hospitality; and administration.
In addition, 3D modelling and heritage studies are being offered as optional courses.
On-site work experience will comprise three days of the students’ week – Tuesday to Thursday – with Mondays and Fridays being spent in the classroom.
These two days will involve a mix of talks from motivational speakers as well as training in foundation skills such as manual handling, first aid and Safe Pass certification.
In addition, the students will prepare for the driving licence theory test, learn how to open a bank account, how to read a payslip and how to budget.
The apprentices will also be taught practical life skills, such as how to cook a nutritious meal, wire a plug, sow a button in a shirt and iron it.
The vocational training will be provided by firms which support the initiative. These include Mayo-based businesses Harrington Concrete, BRB Homes, Beattie Custom Fabrications and Eirtrade Aviation in Knock Airport.
A number of businesses in the hospitality sector have also come on board, as well as firms from as far away as Donegal and Dublin.
The students will be paid a wage of €350 per week for their time at work. The fee for the course is €2,000 per year or €166 per month.
Donal Byrne of BRB Homes in Swinford, who is the main driver of the initiative, said the trade school is focussed on young people between the ages of 16 to 18 who are “not suited to traditional academic education but have a good pair of hands, are practical and want to learn by doing in the workplace”.
The idea for the trade school grew from the difficulties local firms were experiencing securing skilled trades people on the one hand, and the problems school leavers were encountering on the other hand getting apprenticeships, Byrne explained.
There has been huge interest in the trade-school concept from within Mayo – next year’s cohort of students is already enrolled - and from across the country, Byrne said.
But while the long-term aim is to “foster change” and replicate the Balla school in other counties, Byrne insisted that the immediate focus is on “getting this year’s class through”.
A training initiative with a difference is looking to boost the supply of apprentices to firms in Mayo, while teaching participants basic life skills in the process.
Is Féidir Linn Trade School will take in its first 12 students next Monday at its centre in Balla.
As part of the programme, the apprentices – 10 of which come from a farming background – will rotate through eight different trades in their first year.
The apprentices then specialise in the trade they wish to follow for the subsequent two years. Accreditation for the qualifications from the Balla school is provided by UK-based training body Lantra.
Donal Byrne of BRB Homes and Is Féidir Linn Trade School.
Under the programme, the student apprentices will get a six-week grounding in carpentry; plumbing; mechanics; steel fabrication; plant and machinery operation and groundworks; aviation; hospitality; and administration.
In addition, 3D modelling and heritage studies are being offered as optional courses.
On-site work experience will comprise three days of the students’ week – Tuesday to Thursday – with Mondays and Fridays being spent in the classroom.
These two days will involve a mix of talks from motivational speakers as well as training in foundation skills such as manual handling, first aid and Safe Pass certification.
In addition, the students will prepare for the driving licence theory test, learn how to open a bank account, how to read a payslip and how to budget.
The apprentices will also be taught practical life skills, such as how to cook a nutritious meal, wire a plug, sow a button in a shirt and iron it.
The vocational training will be provided by firms which support the initiative. These include Mayo-based businesses Harrington Concrete, BRB Homes, Beattie Custom Fabrications and Eirtrade Aviation in Knock Airport.
A number of businesses in the hospitality sector have also come on board, as well as firms from as far away as Donegal and Dublin.
The students will be paid a wage of €350 per week for their time at work. The fee for the course is €2,000 per year or €166 per month.
Donal Byrne of BRB Homes in Swinford, who is the main driver of the initiative, said the trade school is focussed on young people between the ages of 16 to 18 who are “not suited to traditional academic education but have a good pair of hands, are practical and want to learn by doing in the workplace”.
The idea for the trade school grew from the difficulties local firms were experiencing securing skilled trades people on the one hand, and the problems school leavers were encountering on the other hand getting apprenticeships, Byrne explained.
There has been huge interest in the trade-school concept from within Mayo – next year’s cohort of students is already enrolled - and from across the country, Byrne said.
But while the long-term aim is to “foster change” and replicate the Balla school in other counties, Byrne insisted that the immediate focus is on “getting this year’s class through”.
SHARING OPTIONS