Connexions Berkshire

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Connexions Berkshire

• Gina Carpenter, Partnership Manager, Reading
• Barrie Whelpton, Operations Support Director

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The best defence against social exclusion is
having a job and the best way to get a job is to
have a good education, with the right training
and experience Getting this right offers the
prospect of a double dividend. A better life for
young people themselves, saving them from the
prospect of a lifetime of dead-end jobs,
unemployment, poverty, ill-health and other kinds
of exclusion. A better deal for society as a
whole that has to pay a very high price in terms
of welfare bills and crime for failing to help
people make the transition to becoming
independent adults. Tony Blair, Bridging the
Gap, July 1999
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Connexions Berkshire

• Connexions provides impartial information,
  advice, guidance and support to young people as
  they move through their teenage years into
  adulthood and working life.

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What do we do?

• Provide impartial Information, Advice and
  Guidance (IAG) and support young people 13-19 (up
  to 25 for those with learning difficulties and/or
  disabilities)
• Help young people to engage in employment,
  education or training so that they become
  successful adults
• Provide a targeted service for those who become
  NEET
• Provide additional support to those at risk of
  not making a successful transition

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How do we do it?

• The service is delivered through a network of
  Personal Advisers (PAs) and Employment
  Training Advisers (ETAs) who
• Offer young people IAG on learning and career
  options
• Help young people overcome particular barriers to
  progression in learning and at work
• Maintain up to date records on young peoples
  progress so that they can be appropriately
  supported and resources targeted effectively.

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Placement of Young People 16-18, January, 2007
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How can employers help young people?

• Support young people in learning
• Offer work experience opportunities
• Offer employment to young people
• Offer employment and training

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The Opportunities Service

• We publish and circulate bulletins listing
  opportunities in Berkshire for-
• Employment (including apprenticeships)
• Training
• Personal development activities
• Volunteering
• We also provide a service for employers providing
  specific advice re employment issues specific to
  young people eg minimum wage, working hours etc.

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How can Connexions help employers?
www.connexions-berkshire.org.uk