Giving youngsters a chance
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By Laura Hailstone
LANGDON INDUSTRIES is working with local schools and colleges to offer students the chance to take a level 2 qualification in logistics, thanks to government funding it was awarded last year.
The temperature controlled operator was the only logistics firm to win funding in round one of the Employer Ownership of Skills (EOS) pilot in 2012, which received 269 applications.
Langdons HR manager Colin Snape put the bid together and has spent most of this year finalising the details of the project, while approaching schools and colleges close to its depots to come on board.
"I have taken the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport [CILT] UK Introductory Certificate in Logistics and modernised it as an e-learning package," said Snape. "We went live last month with students at Castle Community College in Deal, Kent [pictured below], and five Year 10 pupils at Robert Blake Science College in
Bridgwater, Somerset [pictured above], as well as students from Liverpool, Doncaster and Barnsley."
The course is offered to educational establishments as either a two-year GCSE alternative for 14 to 16 year olds, or as a one-year sixth form subject for college students.
"We subcontract tutors from N-Gaged Transport Training to deliver the in-class tuition on logistics [160 hours over the course duration], and then the students spend as much time as we can afford on work experience at Langdons depots and our supply chain partners," said Snape.
At the end of the course, Langdons will select the top four from each group to join its apprenticeship scheme. "Those we cannot take on we will [help] get interviews within the industry," said Snape. "If any logistics firms would like to get involved and offer interviews to these young people on completion of their training, we'd love to hear from them."
• Contact Colin Snape on csnape@langdons.co.uk for more information.