As Visitor Economy week 2020 quickly approaches. The Albert Dock Charitable Foundation has organised four days of educational tours for young students. Running between the 3rd till the 6th February; a whole host of tenants around the Royal Albert Dock will be opening their doors and showing their spaces to young people from four different schools around Merseyside. It will be the highest number of educational/career tours the foundation has ever done for VE Week. The aim of the tours is to encourage and inform the students on a whole range of different career options looking at how businesses run and explaining certain job roles to encourage future job aspirations among the students. Maray is one of the restaurants taking part in the educational tours in which they will be sharing inspiring and positive stories from their staff members. Others taking part include Rosa’s Thai; explaining how their restaurant works in sustainability and their connection to local people in Thailand. All the tenants involved are offering a range of different expertise and different insights into careers which will be a great opportunity for young people to learn about the process of looking for work placements and job opportunities.
The Royal Albert Dock Charitable Foundation would like to thank all the following tenants for getting involved:
- TATE Liverpool
- Rosa’s Thai Café
- Liver Tours
- Smaller Earth
- The Holiday Inn Express
- Merseyside Maritime Museum
- Maray
- CBRE
- Gusto Restaurant
- Adventure Dock
- Lunyalita
- Royal Albert Dock Ltd - Events team
- De la Salle Academy
- Calderstones School
- Hillside High school
- Notre Dame Catholic College
News
Winter Newsletter 2019
The Winter term not only welcomes the frosty weather and the Christmas cheer but a whole host of opportunities for young people within our Mersey region. As well as welcoming into the new year brand new plans and ideas for the Foundation.
What’s been happening?
October Event – Breakfast Information Session
The Royal Albert Dock Charitable Foundation sent out an invitation inviting all the businesses around the Albert Dock to learn about what they do and how others can get involved with the Foundation. Listening to success stories from local business around Albert Dock, it allowed others to see how they could engage with the Foundation and what they could offer to support local young people. The event was supported by Clockwise; offering an amazing free venue space, and Gusto providing a complimentary breakfast to all those who came. The event was a great success and saw 42 people attend from various businesses around The Royal Albert Dock.
Jamie Griffin, Managing Director of Joint Rail Projects said: “I thought the event at Clockwise was very well organised, the hospitality was excellent, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening and learning from the various speakers within the Charity. Great morning all round.”
A presentation was delivered showcasing some areas of work and to encourage new tenants to get involved within the Foundation. A pledges sheet was given out asking how each business would like to get involved. The event sparked so much interest from new businesses wanting to take part; either engaging with educational/careers tours, student work placements or showing an interest in the ‘Intern to Work’ programme. Many new pledges were received including Maray, Rosa’s Thai and Smaller Earth.
Lauren and Roisin from the Smaller Earth team said: “The presentation outlining the work they have done so far blew us away, and we couldn't wait to get involved. We felt the passion and enthusiasm from everyone involved in the charitable foundation and we at Smaller Earth are now excited to be part of the story. To say that the breakfast morning sparked an incredible partnership is an understatement.”
Who are Smaller Earth?
Smaller Earth are an organisation that send thousands of young people on work and travel programmes each year. Having 15 offices all around the world, Smaller Earth believe that by inspiring people to go further, they can change the world one person at a time, by providing programs that provide meaningful cultural experiences for young people.
After the October event at Clockwise it was no surprise that Smaller Earth were so excited to get involved when they heard about the Royal Albert Dock Charitable Foundation. Follow up meetings were arranged, and ideas were shared about how Smaller Earth could get involved. The ‘Go Further, Give Back’ day was a perfect opportunity for young people from the intern to work programme to get involved. Each year Smaller Earth have a ‘Give Back Day’ in support of their ‘Go Further’ project working with charities from across the globe. On November 19th six interns from the ‘Intern to Work ‘programme had the opportunity to spend the day working with the UK Smaller Earth team situated on the Royal Albert Dock.
The day consisted of three workshops to help develop a range of employability skills within the interns. By the end of the day they had produced a flyer which will promote the ‘Intern to Work’ programme at the Liverpool City Council event on 28th January next year.
Lauren, Marketing Coordinator at Smaller Earth said: “We are so glad that Smaller Earth had the opportunity to get involved in such an incredible initiative. We’re so glad we got the chance to positively impact them whilst helping to develop the ‘interns to work’ brand.”
The branding workshop allowed the interns to learn about the creative process of building a brand, looking at the importance of layouts and colours. They used these skills to build their own, which was then integrated into a leaflet that they made themselves.
In the photography session they investigated the importance of photography and how a good photograph can speak a thousand words. Working with resident photographers from Smaller Earth, the interns looked at various photography styles learning new terms and doing a variety of real-life, professional scenarios, including headshots and presenting.
In the last session, the team who regularly carry out interviews were able to share best communication practices with the interns. Communication is not only vital for every work environment; it is essential to our everyday lives. For most people job interviews can be a daunting experience, their something we may fear or perhaps never feel quite ready for, especially if you are young and have educational needs. It was a great session for the interns to get involved with, practising doing mock styles interviews with each other which not only allowed them to practise answering questions, but also think about what types of questions would be asked. The session was incredibly beneficial for the interns covering all the vital skills needed in a professional environment.
“I learnt the most from doing the mock interviews. It’s given me more confidence and made me feel more prepared for when I’ll have to do interviews in the future.”
The entire day was extremely successful. Not only did the interns get to take some merchandise from the day, but fun memories and skills that will help them in their future professional roles. To say thank you, the interns surprised the team at Smaller Earth the following day by bringing a card, sweets and chocolate to show their appreciation to the staff involved.
“It was fantastic to see the engagement of the interns throughout the entire day. We’re looking forward to seeing the intern's progression over the next couple of months and we will be more than happy to have them back with us at some point soon.”
You can find out more about the day on the Smaller Earth Blog & Video below:
Adventure trail
Since the start of the adventure trail in the summer term, there has been a great response from many families picking up copies and completing the adventure trail. Free badges and stickers have been happily received by the children when paying a visit to The Nest and if they are involved in Children’s University (CU) then they can also gain a stamp on their CU passport from Katherine.
Katherine Caldwell, Owner of The Nest said: “We are delighted to welcome visitors in store to collect their Family Adventure Trail booklets. It's a great way for families to learn all about the local history of the Albert Dock in a fun and interactive way. We love seeing the sense of accomplishment on children's faces when they bring their completed booklets to us.”
Educational/Career Tours
This year’s new young people on the ‘Intern to Work’ programme spent the morning of October 2nd taking part in an educational/career tour around The Royal Albert Dock.
The responses from their evaluations were very high with 11/13 interns rating the highest mark for how they found the tour. When asked “What have you enjoyed?” the majority of responses said that The Tate and The Nest were their favourite. Responses included “I enjoyed learning about the Dock and how friendly the staff were.” As well as “I enjoyed all of the tour and found it very informative. I especially enjoy the Nest shop. I loved the artwork.”
The following day VIP tickets had been organised by Jemima Pyne, Head of Audiences at Tate Liverpool for a special free viewing of the Keith Haring Exhibition for the interns involved.
Interns very happy with their Keith Haring VIP Exhibition tickets
Update on Ellie and Emma – Student from LJMU
After her 8-week internship with Royal Albert Dock Liverpool LTD, Ellie from Liverpool John Moores University has now been offered a permanent part-time position with the Events Team. Having worked alongside Kevin Essery, Events Coordinator as his assistant, Kevin stated that “Ellie has been a valuable asset to the team and has continually made great contributions towards organising our events here at the Dock”.
Ellie said: “Since my Internship finished, I have loved working the events that have been developed from the summer events we hosted here at the Dock. It’s been amazing to see the great reactions to the events, such as the Halloween and Christmas Cinema, and I look forward to helping develop the events schedule for 2020.”
The Royal Albert Dock has offered an internship to another student from Liverpool John Moores University. Emma has been doing one day a week working to support the Foundation and also looks to get involved with the Events Team. She has assisted on writing about the Christmas Projection at The Albert Dock for the press and been a part of the follow up for the Smaller Earth give back day where she interviewed the interns to ask about how their day went.
Emma White, Liverpool John Moores University said: “I’m thrilled to have been given this amazing opportunity working with the Albert Dock and the Charitable Foundation. It’s a great chance for me to put my skills into action but also learn something new. Everyone here has been so welcoming; I couldn’t have asked for anything better. I’m really excited to see what the year brings and I’m keen to get involved and help the team in any way I can.”
Clare Rawlinson, Head of Marketing said: “Having Emma in the office has already given the team extra support. She has been able to capture the story of ‘Love Returns’, our Christmas projection, which we then used as part of our press launch night for Christmas 2019.”
Visitor Economy Week (VE Week)
Visitor Economy Week will see a range of activities taking place from different colleges all around the Liverpool city region with their respected partnerships. Running from the 3rd till the 6th of February 2020; The Foundation sets out to run 4 educational/career tours around The Royal Albert Dock. It will welcome the faces of new tenants getting involved such as Maray, Gusto’s and Rosas Thai, which will open their doors to these students for the first time. The number of schools to get involved next year will see the increase from 2 to 4, with 100 young people in total to join The Dock for VE Week. It will be the highest number of educational/career tours the foundation has ever done for VE Week. Itineraries have been agreed for the 4 half days with some really exciting input from many new tenants all offering something completely different.
Student Work Placements
The foundation has received great feedback from the summer work placements, and they have undoubtably made a difference to some of the students’ aspirations and goals for their future professions.
Julie Jones, Fazakerley High School said: “Amazing placement, by far the best we had this year, so thankyou very much for all the hard work.”
Joanne Huddart, Elevate said: “The placement from Childwall went really well. I saw a post on LinkedIn from the young person stating how much of a difference it had made and helped him to focus on his future.”
More placement opportunities have been made available throughout the autumn/winter term with 3 students from Holly Lodge Girls School taking part in work placements over December. The placements took place at; Castle Forge, Clockwise and the Holiday Inn Express.
Kerri Mckenna Manager at Clockwise said: “I would like to thank The Royal Albert Dock Foundation for giving Clockwise the opportunity to meet such an inspirational student from Holly Lodge. She showed a real promise of a young businesswoman in the making and we would be happy to work with the school and foundation again. It is such a great cause which is very close to our hearts.”
Helen Roberts Manager at Holiday Inn Express said: “Ailyah was a pleasure to have on work experience. She was punctual, well mannered, eager to learn and a credit to both herself and Holly Lodge whilst she was on work placement. Having never thought about working in hospitality before her work placement, hopefully we’ve given her some ideas as to potential careers after she leaves school.”
Work Ready 2 programme
The funding application to ‘Awards for All’ has been successful and will provide a project co-ordinator for an 8-month period. The ‘work ready 2’ programme will commence in January 2020 which will see Jo Lee from Sefton CVS return to deliver the programme on a secondment. In partnership with Rotunda, the Charitable Foundation will work with young people who are furthest away from the job market and help prepare them for work placements. There will be 2 cohorts during this period with 10 young people on each programme.
Clockwise supporting the Foundation
On December 12th Clockwise, Edward Pavilion will be holding their very first Christmas market networking event where they plan to raise money for The Albert Dock Charitable foundation.
The Royal Albert Dock Charitable Foundation would like to thank all our partners, schools/colleges and universities who have been involved with the Foundation over this period and wish you all a Wonderful Festive Season and every good wish for the New Year.
Summer Newsletter 2019
What’s been happening?
The summer Term has brought a whole host of opportunities for young people within our Mersey region.
The Royal Albert Dock Charitable Foundation has coordinated lots of exciting initiatives including…
11 Student work placements
There have been 11 work placement opportunities for students at various businesses around the Dock.
Students experiencing the excitement of working at the Royal Albert Dock
Quote from Ben from Broadgreen International School – “I felt like I was part of a team.” “Now I know what work is like.”
One young lady from Archbishop Blanch C of E School was offered a part time job after a successful week with one of our relatively new eateries - Lunyalita
Quote from Elaine Kinsella, Lunyalita “Kimberly was like a breath of fresh air – she was enthusiastic, engaging and keen to learn new things. She built up good relationships with staff and customers, very quickly and easily. We were so impressed we have offered her a job and hope that she takes it!”
Quote from Kimberley – Archbishop Blanch School “To summarise my experience at Lunyalita in just a few words would be difficult. From the staff to the restaurant itself was such a splendid place and environment to work at. It also improved my skills of adapting to different situations as there is always something new to do and learn everyday while I was there. It went so well that I was also offered a job there part-time if I was free”.
“Finally, on the Friday Betty Boner, (Project Coordinator) and Jeff Dunn, (Schools Parliament Lead) went out of their way to introduce me to people with different job roles and I had never heard of before until then. This gave me an insight too. We had a lovely time and it definitely motivated me to keep working hard to achieve my aspirations for the future, Thanks again for everything”!
Apprenticeship Opportunity
The Foundation is now exploring the possibility of developing an apprenticeship pathway through the Liverpool Apprenticeship Hub following an enquiry from one young student.
Quote from Paul from Fazakerley High School “After being part of this placement I would like to look on apprenticeships once I finish school.”
Year 10 Student from Fazakerley High, working with Estates Team
Quote from Terry, a member of the Estates Team - “Paul’s attitude is very good for a young chap who is willing to do anything asked. He asks questions, ‘willing to have a go’, punctual, polite, respectful and I would gladly give him a reference for a job in the future”.
Quote from Sean Morrison, Estates Manager – “Having had the pleasure of meeting Paul on numerous occasions during his 2 weeks with the Royal Albert Dock Estate Team, it was clear his attitude and aptitude were both an absolute credit to him. We discussed Paul’s experiences to date and his wishes for the future. Paul expressed a wish to look at apprenticeships upon leaving school, our conversation was centred around the importance of High school and further education, attaining the best possible results from his academic time, ultimately giving him the best possible head start in whichever path he chooses in the future. With Pauls amazing attitude, I am sure he will be a huge success in all future endeavours”.
Students from Cardinal Heean setting up at Mattel Play
David, Duty Supervisor Mattel Play –
"The students provided a lot of help across our business and proved to be valuable members of the team."
An 8 Week Internship for Student from Liverpool John Moores University
The Royal Albert Dock Liverpool Ltd (RADL) offered an Internship to a young lady from Liverpool John Moores University. Ellie has been supporting Kevin Essery, Events Coordinator as his Assistant. She has been assisting on the delivery of events for Royal Albert Dock Liverpool, specifically the Royal Albert Dock Liverpool Food and Drink Festival which is taking place Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th September.
Ellie has worked on obtaining quotes, confirming bookings and sorting out arrangements with partners and suppliers. She has also assisted Kevin, in completing Event documentation and checklists for the Royal Albert Dock Liverpool Food and Drink Festival to make sure that all agreements are adhered to.
Kevin & Ellie, having a well deserved break after setting up on the floating pop-up cinema club
Quote from Kevin Essery - “Ellie has been a very valuable asset to the Royal Albert Dock Liverpool Ltd Events and Marketing team. She has assisted on helping us organise our brand new large scale consumer event – Summer on the Dock and has carried out a variety of duties in order to do so, such as sourcing quotes from suppliers, researching relevant celebrity hosts to compare tenant cooking demos, supported with onsite set up logistics and much more. I am certain Ellie will have a bright future in the creative industry and it’s been pleasure to have her on board as a member of the team here”.
Quote from Ellie McPartland, Liverpool John Moores University -
“I’ve taken part in a really valuable experience putting the things I have learnt in university into real-life practice, in a sector I haven’t worked in before. It’s been great to be part of such a welcoming team who have assisted my learning whilst working on their fantastic new and re-shaped events schedule this Summer.”
The Development of a Royal Albert Dock Liverpool Adventure Trail
The foundation has been working in partnership with Sefton’s Children’s’ University to develop a Royal Albert Dock Liverpool Adventure Trail for families.
Students who were part of the ‘Intern to Work’ programme from Bank View High School, Sandfield Park & Greenbank College went out and about around the dock and developed the questions for the trail.
Young people on ‘Intern to Work’ programme busy developing questions for the Family Adventure Trail.
Quotes from Interns:
“I enjoy thinking of questions”
“Like being part of a new venture”
“Liked working as a team”
“I liked going around the different places to learn about each different place we went to”
“I enjoyed walking around the dock. I found it fun coming up with the questions and answers”
We are delighted to announce that the family learning Adventure Trail is now available for families to pick up and enjoy.
Where can I pick up a copy of the Free Adventure Trail?
You can pick up a copy of the Adventure Trail from various locations around the Albert Dock: The NEST Art/Gift Shop: TATE Liverpool: Holiday Inn Express: The Estates Team: Edward Pavilion: The Maritime Museum and more to follow (keep an eye on our website for updates).
Once the adventure trail questions have been answered, you can pop along to ‘The NEST’ (Unit 8 on the Inner Colonnades) to pick up a sticker/badge and or to gain a stamp on your CU passport where you will receive a warm welcome from Katherine or a member of her team.
If your school is not involved with Children’s University then you can still download a copy here, or pick up a copy of the Adventure Trail at the Royal Albert Dock.
Pick up a copy of the Trail and have fun around the Royal Albert Dock Liverpool
“A big THANK YOU to our 10 young Interns for their dedication and support”. Betty Boner, Project Coordinator.
Children’s University Graduation
Two Interns Harry & Jordan and Betty Boner, Project Coordinator were invited as guest speakers to the Children’s University Summer Graduation which took place at Edge Hill University.
Jordan & Harry speaking at Edge Hill University, congratulating students on their hard work
What is Children’s University (CU)?
Children’s University is a charity that works in partnership with schools and partners to develop a love of learning in children.
They do this by encouraging and celebrating participation in extra-curricular activities in and outside of school. The impact of these activities is proven to be positive which is why they are committed to creating a level playing field of opportunity and opening access to children of all backgrounds.
Supported Internships
In September 2018 both the Maritime Museum and Holiday Inn Express started working with the Intern 2 Work programme by offering 5 young people with special educational needs and disabilities a year long internship.
The interns have all done an amazing job throughout the year on their placements, they have each grown in confidence and learn many valuable skills to support their employability going forward.
Two of the interns from Holiday Inn Express have now been offered permanent roles within the hotel. Mark and Michael have now started their roles as Guest Services Assistant, Breakfast within the hotel and are doing a great job.
Quote from Gareth Davey, Bank View High School
“The year they have spent in the Holiday Inn Express has had a huge impact on the lives of the interns and the opportunities now available to them. Both students have increased their confidence and life skills through the year spent as an intern. They can now travel on public transport independently, communicate with others effectively and attend appointments without requiring support from others.”
Photos from recent celebration of achievements event held at the Marriot Hotel
All smiles following the presentation of achievements
Outreach – Archbishop Blanch C of E School
Clare Rawlinson, Head of Marketing and Kevin Essery, Events Coordinator supported Archbishop Blanch School by carrying out Mock Interviews.
As part of our commitment to helping young people with life skills and career guidance, we assisted Archbishop Blanch’ lower sixth form girls with mock interviews. The interviews were competency-based questionnaire provided by the school, and they were given some guidance before meeting the girls. Clare interviewed three very different candidates who all had something very different to offer potential employers.
Quote from Clare Rawlinson, Head of Marketing, Royal Albert Dock Ltd – “I was impressed by their composure and maturity and I hope that I was able to give them some assistance with future interviews. As they answered I gave them feedback on how they might think about how this will transfer to skills and behaviours needed in the workplace. For example, one girl did no out of school activities, being a carer for a younger sibling. She didn’t see what she was doing as a skill, when her empathy and negotiation skills will be highly developed.
I found it a very worthwhile exercise and hope it helped the girls in their future interviews. Happy to help with any such activities to support the Foundation”.
Thanks to our partners, schools/colleges & universities who have been involved with the Foundation over this period
Partners - Holiday Inn Express: Elevate, Sefton EBP: CBRE: Mattel Play: Yodel: Hampson Hughes: Lunyalita: Clockwise: Stone Management: THINK Publicity: Maritime Museum: The Tate: Royal Albert Dock Liverpool Ltd
Sefton EBP- Elevate: MPloy: Career Connect
Schools/Colleges/Universities – Broadgreen International: Archbishop Blanch C of E: Fazakerley High: Cardinal Heenan: John Moores University: Petroc College: All Saints 6 Form: Greenbank College: Bank View: Sandfield Park and St John Bosco
Watch this space for news on our new Student Work Placement Readiness Programme …
Self- led Education/Career Activity
4 Students from De La Salle, 4 Students from Mexico and 3 members of staff experienced an afternoon Education/Career session recently with John Hughes at the Tate Liverpool, they then moved onto a tall Ship where they were welcomed by Jim Graves. Merseyside Adventure Sailing.
This is what Sheelagh Trotter, Community Engagement Manager had to say about the experience ...
'The staff and students at The De La Salle Academy, are so grateful to the Albert Dock Charitable Foundation for their recent support. The academy were delighted to host a two week exchange visit for five students from a De La Salle school in Mexico.
Our grateful thanks to Betty Boner who kindly facilitated a visit for the Mexican students and our own students which involved an interesting introduction to The Tate Gallery. In addition, all of the students, the teacher and the Principal from Mexico were enthralled by the opportunity to find out about the rich history of Liverpool as a working port, in particular, centred around the tall ships.
As a teacher in Liverpool, I was delighted that Betty was able to arrange this opportunity for us. Also, our guides John, Jim and Ben were so knowledgeable and entertaining, that the students felt that they had received an amazing and unforgettable experience of Arts & Culture in Liverpool based around the Albert Dock.
We are so fortunate to have the Albert Dock Charitable Foundation to turn to, so that the visitor economy engages with the best of what Liverpool has to offer in such a succinct, engaging and well-organised manner. Thank You.
Sheelagh Trotter
Comments from Sandfield Park School – Learning Mentor
Our involvement with the Albert Dock Foundation Trust has been so positive - this experience has been down to the excellent partnership with Betty and her liaison with the organisations, who we are now we are working with; namely Zac and the team from Mattel, Helen and her team from the Holiday Inn and Jacqueline from the Colonnades - everyone we have been involved with has ensured that everything has is so well organised for when the young people have arrived - the planning has been exemplary and this has ensured that the experience have been the best for the young people.
The young people look forward to their time in the different organisastions every week - one of the young people was really nervous and was not quite sure if she wanted to do something a bit different, but now she looks forward to going every week, her confidence is really increased and has had a positive impact on her well being.
The Albert Dock Foundation is doing some really brilliant work to support young people and it makes such a difference and has such a positive impact. We have really appreciated the commitment made to supporting our pupils and would like to thank Betty and the Foundation very much for the support. We are looking forward to continuing the partnership and supporting more young people with more opportunities along with the development of Supported Internships to make a real change to employment opportunities for disabled young people.
Sarah Spoor