King's Trust Team programme expands partnership with life-saving service

The King’s Trust Team programme in Warwickshire, which is delivered by WCG (Warwickshire College Group), has extended its partnership with Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service.

The Nuneaton arm of the programme, formerly known as The Prince’s Trust, has had connections with Nuneaton Fire Station for a number of years, and the Rugby programme is now working with Rugby Fire Station to provide even more students with valuable experiences.

Students currently on the programme benefitted from a day at Rugby Fire Station which included a careers talk from Gosia Zielinska, of Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service’s community engagement team, alongside former Prince's Trust Team programme student Daniel White, who is now an on-call firefighter.

The group of 12 students were also given a ‘Fatal Four’ presentation which educated them on the four main driving offences which are the biggest causes of casualties, CPR and defibrillator training and a hands-on practical skill building session in which they were able to use the fire hoses.

They also had the opportunity to take a tour of the fire station and speak to all of the crew members on duty.

Corvyn Larque showed a particular interest in finding out more about a career as a firefighter and was given a rare opportunity to complete a one-week placement with Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service, including taking part in formal first aid training.

All future Rugby King’s Trust Team programme cohorts will now be given the opportunity to visit Rugby Fire Station as part of the partnership.

Nikki Manzella, King’s Trust Team Programme Coordinator, said: “We’re extremely pleased to expand our partnership with Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service to cover Rugby.

“This opportunity provides our students with an incredibly valuable experience to find out more about the various careers available in the fire service, while gaining some interesting hands-on experience. It also benefits the fire service in their community outreach goals.

“All of the students who took part thoroughly enjoyed the day, and it was wonderful to see Corvyn secure a rare work placement at the fire station after speaking to the team about his aspirations to become a firefighter.

“The team has also said that they would be more than happy to support him in the application process should he wish to apply for a permanent position.

“We now look forward to returning to Rugby Fire Station with our next cohort of students in the coming months.”

WCG is largest provider of programmes for The King’s Trust in England and last year celebrated completing its 200th project in Warwickshire.

To find out more about WCG, visit https://wcg.ac.uk/