Plymouth students learn about Dartmoor Zoo

A group of 20 Plymouth students have come to come face to face with lions and tigers!

The group spent the day at Dartmoor Zoo as part of the Plymouth’s successful Skills Aid Plymouth scheme. The students got to learn all about zoo budgeting, promotion and management skills

Skills Aid Plymouth (SAP) was piloted last year to give some of Plymouth’s young people extra support. It’s a joint project between Plymouth City Council and Plymouth’s Rotary Clubs, which have provided the majority of the volunteer mentors working on the scheme. It is designed to help pupils understand and gain important employability skills which will improve their chances in an increasingly competitive job market and broaden their career options.

Each young person has been assigned a personal mentor who will accompany them on a series of nine business led visits hosted by local organisations. The first group of mentors, who have been recruited on a voluntary basis from across the city, completed their training earlier this year.

The schools taking part this year are Sir John Hunt and Eggbuckland Community College. Both schools have selected ten students most likely to benefit from the scheme.

Benjamin Mee, Director Dartmoor Zoological Park: “I’m really pleased to be asked to take park in the Skills Aid Plymouth scheme again. We really enjoyed taking part last year and I'm delighted that we are again able to support this initiative in getting young people equipped with skills for the workplace. Here at Dartmoor Zoo we ‘re absolutely passionate about creating rich learning opportunities and it is a great pleasure to see young people benefit from them."

Councillor Sue McDonald, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Public Health said: “It's fantastic that Ben, and his team at Dartmoor zoo have decided to take part in Skills Aid Plymouth for a second year. Ben’s story really is inspirational and I know the young people who took part last year really took a lot away from meeting him. The SAP project really is about helping our young people to achieve by offering a little extra guidance and support to ensure they stay on the right track.”

An additional feature of this year’s Skills Aid is the introduction of the Employability Passport into the programme. This will enable the students to receive endorsements of their Employability Skills gained from each of the Businesses they visit. In addition the students have been assigned personal mentors for one year, who will not only help them with practical learning tasks but will also accompany them on Business visits.

The SAP scheme was launched earlier this month at Plymouth Argyle.