On Wednesday 20 March, South Thames College learners welcomed Omar Sharif, Prince’s Trust Ambassador and winner of the Prince’s Trust Young Achiever of the Year Award at The Pride of Britain Awards 2018.

Inspirational and motivational speaker, Omar, ran a series of informative and Guns, Gangs and Knife Crime Workshops to 155 of our young learners. He commented: “I had the honour of sharing my struggles and successes with the staff and students of South Thames College. I can only express my gratitude to everyone involved - it was a full on day, tears were shed, people laughed but most importantly, seeds of change were planted. After delivering for more than 5 hours I felt energised and motivated; I learnt a lot from the students and was very impressed with their behaviour and with the overall moral within the College.”

Growing up in an area of London where gun and knife crime were a way of life, Omar became involved in a gang when he was 16 years old. When three of his friends died as a result of knife crime, it was a horrifying wake-up call and Omar knew things needed to change. Omar now uses his inspirational story and life experiences to coach and help deter other youngsters from following the same destructive path.

On Friday 15 March the College hosted Warren Lubin, Communities Manager for United Living, a major construction management company. During his visit, Warren visited workshops and gave a series of talks to our Level 1 Maintenance Operations learners and Level 2 Plumbing learners on careers in the Construction sector, and opportunities to progress to employment at the end of the academic year.

Warren's insight was invaluable, and focused on key employability skills that organisations such as United Living look for, such as attendance, reliability and the importance of health and safety.

All of the sessions were well received by the learners, with the Q&A session for one group lasting more than 30 minutes!

United Living, in association with some of their subcontractors, have now offered additional Work Experience placements for Construction learners moving forward.

On Thursday 14 March the College hosted James McCallum, Managing Director of Caremark (Wandsworth), one of the largest care providers in South West London.

During his visit James spoke to Level 3 Health & Social Care learners about his career, opportunities in the sector, and the personal attributes he looked for from staff.

The talk concluded with an overview of how learners can apply for existing part-time roles with Caremark, alongside their main course, and how to apply for them. The College will shortly begin advertising vacancies on behalf of Caremark on its internal Learner Jobs Board.