Archive
Since 2019, Shay had been interested in stonemasonry and when his sister saw an advert for AB Masonry he took the opportunity to apply. Andrew Beattie, who started the company in 2014, heard about the support that Barnardo’s Works Highland could offer through SACO (Scottish Academy for Construction Opportunities) and got in touch.
Through Barnardo’s, Andrew as an employer could get the support in ensuring that Shay had the employability skills to sustain employment. For Shay, he received support with skills, knowledge of the workplace as well as “scheduling and holding onto my money”.
When asking Shay what he enjoys about his job he said. “Everything. I enjoy working outdoors, everyone I work with is great and Andy is the best boss I’ve ever had”. Since starting Shay has perfected his pointing and has learned how to do blockwork. He hopes to stay at AB Masonry for as long as he can and work towards being a fully qualified stonemason.
On working with Barnardo’s Works, Shay says
“Anyone who gets this opportunity should take it!”
What we do
Scottish Academy for Construction Opportunities in partnership with Construction Industry Training Board
We can help with
Employability/skills
- Providing advice and advocacy on the skills needed to support sustained employment. Focuses on increasing confidence, resilience and self esteem through employment, work experience, volunteering, educational opportunities and qualifications.
Mentoring Support
- Provide mentor support for a minimum of six months.
Where can you access SACO support
Scottish Academy for Construction Opportunities support is available through all 5 Employment Training and Skills Centres across Scotland
- Highland
- Aberdeen
- Tayside
- Edinburgh
- Glasgow
This Employability Day we are shining a light on Shay, a labourer and apprentice stonemason, at AB Masonry.
Since 2019, Shay had been interested in stonemasonry and when his sister saw an advert for AB Masonry he took the opportunity to apply. Andrew Beattie, who started the company in 2014, heard about the support that Barnardo’s Works could offer through SACO (Scottish Academy for Construction Opportunities) and got in touch.
Through Barnardo’s, Andrew as an employer could get support in ensuring that Shay had the employability skills to sustain employment. For Shay, he received support with skills, knowledge of a workplace as well as “scheduling and holding onto my money.”
When asking Shay what he enjoys about his job he said: “Everything. I enjoy working outdoors, everyone I work with is great and Andy is the best boss I’ve ever had.” Since starting Shay has perfected his pointing and has learned how to do blockwork. He hopes to stay at AB Masonry for as long as he can and work towards being a fully qualified stonemason.
On working with Barnardo’s Works, Shay says: “Anyone that gets this opportunity should take it!”
Katie Roddam, Project Worker at Barnardo’s Works Highland.
SACO is supported by CITB.
Linda Mezals is our Finance Officer & Administrator, responsible managing financial and admin support for the Barnardo’s Works Highland and Moray service, supporting the team with the resources required as part of our commitment to ensure the services delivered have a positive impact on children, young people and families. Linda has worked for Barnardo’s Works for 5 years, prior to this Linda’s early career was in vocational training, then changed direction that took her into finance and admin in the care sector.
Hobbies/Interests: Variety of mediums of crafting, including miniatures (dolls houses) recreating historical era’s or miniature scenes etc. Also have a keen interest in social history.
Patricia Anderson is our Employer Liaison & SACO Project Coordinator. She is responsible for engaging with employers and supporting them to employ young people entering the world of work. Not only this but Patricia works closely with employers within construction and supports young people into jobs within the construction industry.
Patricia is the longest standing member of the team, with 14 years of experience of employability and supporting people into employment. Patricia started working at 12 doing an evening paper round, all her work experiences have involved customer service skills, and she feels this is the single most important skill a person can bring to a job. She left school with no qualifications but understood the importance of having a good work ethic to make up for this
Hobbies & Interests: Anything family, friend and fun focussed. At the moment I am really enjoying wild water swimming, it’s the best stress reliever ever!
Angela is one of our Project Workers based in Inverness. She currently works with young people and single parents assisting them into employment, further education, or providing wellbeing support. Her background is adult nursing until she took a career change and returned to university, completing a BA (Hons) in Child and Youth Studies. Seeing young people believe in themselves and their abilities is one of her highlights of the role.
In her spare time, she enjoys listening to music, being outdoors, reading and cooking curries.
Elaine has worked for Barnardo’s Works since February 2019, currently delivering our Discover your Potential program offering a tailored holistic approach for care experienced young people across Highland, supporting them to achieve positive outcome.
Interest/hobbies: I enjoy reading books and going on walks with friends and family. I especially love spending time with my two young boys who love been outdoors.
Darren Hamilton is a Project Worker 2 for the Barnardo’s Works Highland and Islands service and is currently delivering our Access to Trades programme which is a 6 week introduction to construction in association with our Scottish Academy for Construction Opportunities partnership with CITB.
Darren has accumulated a total of 7 years’ experience in supporting young people to reach their full potential in the Highlands but for the past 3 years he has been with Barnardo’s delivering person centred employability support to young people all over the highland area.
Hobbies/ Interests – I am a fully qualified Personal Trainer and spend a lot of my free time in the gym. I am also part of the local club night scene within Inverness as I am a DJ and club night owner/promoter. I also enjoy playing football with my friends as often as I can.
Anne Walker is our Children’s Services Manager, responsible for managing the Barnardo’s Works Highland and Moray service, to ensure a positive impact on children, young people and families through effective and efficient delivery of service activities and practices. Anne has worked for Barnardo’s Works for 6 years, prior to this Anne took the ambitious step of a complete career change aged 35, moving from the structured world of human resources and records management to embark on a BA Honours Degree in Child & Youth Studies to fulfil her passion of working with disadvantaged young people, helping them to realise their full potential.
Hobbies/Interests: Anything DIY, I love building work, upcycling, decorating, anything creative.
Barnardo’s Works Highland delivers a continuum of employability support for young people aged between 15-29 years who require support to gain engagement into a positive, sustainable destination. We work with young people on a 1:1 basis and also in small groups from initial induction through to connectivity to next step training, education or employment.
Our Courses:
- Scottish Academy for Construction Opportunities
- Access to Trades
- Head to Work
- Access to Industry
- Discover Your Potential (DYP)
- Explore & Believe
- Multiply
Our Offer:
- Young people will be supported by a key worker throughout their journey at a stage that is appropriate for them.
- Young people will have access to local work experience opportunities and SQA qualifications.
- Promoting positive health and wellbeing will be integrated within all stages of the pipeline
- We aim to build confidence, skills, resilience and promote positive health and wellbeing.
