Case Study
Kelly
McPhee
Work It Out Extra (Animal Care)
The Meden
School, Worksop
September 2007 to June 2009
Kelly came to us as
part of the Nottinghamshire Training Network Excelerate
Programme. This scheme was aimed at young learners capable
of level 2 who would benefit from vocational training with a
work placement.
On her own
admission, Kelly did not get on well at school. She started
being naughty and cheeky to teachers initially for a laugh
and then it all got out of hand. She had been excluded
several times and was on the verge of permanent exclusion
when her Head of Year put her forward for the scheme.
Our initial
assessment revealed that Kelly was very keen to work with
animals but would need clear guidelines and regular
support. Kelly has a younger brother with autism and
sometimes struggles herself to communicate, often taking
things literally thereby causing problems for herself.
Jackie Loftus, our Animal Care Team Leader, was keen to
place her at White Post Farm which she felt would provide
the right sort of caring environment.
Kelly started at the
farm in September 2007 working two days per week. She loved
cleaning out and feeding all the animals and especially
taking part in activities with visiting children. She made
a lot of new friends and was well on her way to completing
her NVQ Level 1 in Animal Care. However, as the year
progressed, Kelly was having increasing problems getting
there as she had to rely on her Mum for transport and
sometimes problems with her younger brother meant that she
could not attend. This finally resulted in her losing her
placement at White Post.
In September 2008 we
placed her at K9 Cuts in Shirebrook, which is a dog grooming
parlour near enough for Kelly to be able to catch the bus
to. Here she learnt to look after dogs, bathing, grooming
and exercising them and very quickly she was attending there
for three days per week as she was still unhappy at
school. She soon completed her NVQ and then started on her
Key Skills with Tutor, Liz Stacey. Whilst Kelly had clearly
matured, she was still having some problems with
communication and there came a point when she did not want
to go anymore and was in danger of leaving without
completing her qualifications. It was at this point that
she came to one of our Open Days as she wanted to progress
to an Apprenticeship in Animal Care and to stay with a
company that knew her. After much discussion with Kelly,
her Mum and Christine Coxon of NTN, we managed to persuade
Kelly to stick at it with K9 in order to finish her Key
Skills. It is much to her credit that she did and shows
just how much she had matured in her time with us on our
pre-16 programme.
July 2009 sees her
starting with us on a Programme Led Apprenticeship in Animal
Care with a placement organised at Sherwood Forest Farm Park
where she will be working with rare breeds of cows and pigs
as well as donkeys, wallabies and guinea pigs. She now has
the confidence to catch a bus from Warsop to Shirebrook and
then a train from there to Nottingham – a journey taking
over an hour – in order to attend the Induction. Kelly has
made new friends on the course and says:
“Doing my NVQ Level
1 has given me hope for the future as this is the area I
want to work in. So far the course is good and I’ve made
some new friends”.
Kelly has always had
horses and is an experienced show jumper. She has recently
qualified for the Royal International Show in London with
her Aunt and her Mum for the “In Hand” class which involves
controlling young horses who are too young to be ridden. We
wish her luck.
Kelly receiving her
award from John Endersby at the Access Training Awards
Ceremony in May 09
