Welcome to our April blog! We have so much happening in the Education & Training dept at SSG so here’s just a few highlights. Don’t forget to follow our social media for up to date information & announcements!
This month’s planning meeting for the blog took place in person at the Bedford training centre, rather than our usual virtual meeting. As you can see from the photo, we were a little short on meeting rooms, which is a great thing as it means everyone was busy working hard. It meant we utilised the room that was in progress of being set up for the following day’s SEND sensory session for SSG Activities… I thought I’d never get out of that beanbag! It was great to get a sense of the atmosphere on site, it’s such a bright welcoming space & I can see why the candidates & staff feel so comfortable there.
Jobs Fair…
Our most recent Kickstart Jobs Fair was an incredible success. We had over 20 employers gathered in the room & the day resulted in a massive 23 Kickstart job offers & 1 permanent postion being offered to the young people attending. We are so excited to see where this leads for them in the future.
Parents Evening…
Over the academic year, we hold parents’ evenings to update the families of our candidates aged 16-18, with progress reports & discussions the next steps for these young people. We had a brilliant turnout for the second one of the year & are delighted that we already have 47 progressions lined up, including higher level programmes, employment & university places. Well done to our tutors who delivered a well organised evening & of course to the candidates who give us so many reasons to be positive.
Staff CPD…
We held a combination of virtual & in person sessions for our teaching staff as part of our ongoing CPD programme. The workshops included gender recognition, stop & search procedures & mental health awareness. As always, it was great to see such a high level of engagement & understanding, we really have a fantastic team of motivated individuals.
First Aid…
Congratulations to these staff who recently updated their first aid qualification, looks like we’ll be in safe hands with this lovely lot!
Candidates’ Work Experience…
Over February half term, 12 of our candidates had the opportunity to join the staff on the SSG Active Care programme, helping the team deliver activities to dozens of children during the week. This type of work experience allows them to put everything they’ve been learning into practice, which is so important. The feedback received from the managers & the rest of the team was fantastic, they really put a lot of hard work in & had fun doing it. As a result of the week, several candidates have already been provisionally offered traineeships for next year, after they complete their course. We’re really proud of them.
Step Into… Work for Parents!
Having mentioned this programme in2 last month’s blog, we are delighted to report that all the candidates on the first course have successfully progressed either onto another course or to the interview stages of employment. We have lots of interest & ideas for future versions of this programme so look forward to helping many more parents find flexible work, suited to their needs.
Step Into… Bus Driving!
At the time of writing, this programme has already seen 3 candidates successfully complete their training to become bus drivers in the local counties. This number is set to rise as our latest set of referrals undertake our course, covering customer service & other employability skills, progressing to a guaranteed interview for the chance to achieve their bus driver licence. This is a fantastic opportunity for a job with many benefits & the programme is proving to be one of our most popular so far.
CV Workshops…
We have been running FREE CV workshops in partnership with Job Centre to help people create, update or tweak their CVs as they seek employment. This is such an important aspect of the job application process & we take such satisfaction in helping people discover the best ways to present their skills & qualifications to stand out to potential employers in the right way.
Meet the Team!
Every month we like to introduce you to a member of the SSG team. This month it’s Abdulla!
Abdulla Majid
Job Role:
Tutor
What’s your favourite thing about working for SSG?
I see it as an opportunity to contribute to an exciting and forward-thinking company. Not to mention the immense support I receive from my line manager.
What was your first job?
Camera operator.
Do you have any pets?
Yes, as a family, we have seven cats at home.
What is your favourite season?
Summer is my favourite season as everything is bright and lovely.
Any hidden talents?
Directing and Shooting Films.
What would you choose to give up forever if you had to pick between crisps or chocolate?
Crisps.
Have you ever met anyone famous?
Steve Coogan.
What is your karaoke song?
Hey Mickey!
A note from our MD…
We have recently taken some time to review our company vision, mission and values. It has been a really valuable and interesting process to unpick exactly what purpose we are trying to serve as a company as well as what strategies we are implementing to achieve it and recognising some core values that we want to identify to as a company and as a group of people. We recently carried out a workshop with our management team to look deeper in to our values and mission statement and it was fantastic to see that so much of what we hope to have installed in our people and services is coming through but also to take the time to identify what we can still do to improve! We are very lucky to have such a great group of staff that really do love to ensure we meet our company vision.
So, the outcome of our work…….
Our Company VISION is Helping people to reach their potential through being active and developing skills.
We will achieve this vision by adopting the following MISSION statements…
- Participants – ensure we provide enjoyable, engaging, beneficial and safe services for all our participants;
- Staff – be a great place to work where people are inspired to be the best they can be, through opportunity and support;
- Portfolio – bring our customers a range of exciting, innovative and high-quality sport, physical activity, education and training programmes;
- Partners – nurture a winning local network of suppliers and stakeholders all suitable for us to achieve our vision;
- Sustainability – be a mindful, responsible, effective and efficient organisation throughout all our business activities;
- Customer Service – provide an outstanding customer service experience at every possible opportunity.
We will carry out our mission whilst demonstrating our core values as a business and team of staff…
- Helpfulness
- Integrity
- Engaging
- Aspirational
- Acceptance
- Positivity
We can’t wait to get cracking to ensure that our core values become a really central part of our working practices.
Dan Yusuf
Looking Forward…
We have courses starting all the time, with referrals coming in from various partners so there’s never a dull moment at SSG towers! And the busier we are, the more staff we need so we are always on the lookout for suitable people to join our team… I think there may be some new faces popping up in the next couple of months!
