St. Luke’s CARES charity shop are due to start running their free neighbourhood retail skills courses from September 2016. This follows on from the previous TRY! Retail training course which ran for 5 weeks and only offered participants a ‘certificate of attendance’.
After the success of the previous course, St. Luke’s applied and was awarded the Big Lottery Fund to provide a longer and accredited course to the community. This course will now offer the qualification Level 1 Award in Skills for Further Learning and Employment and will explore subjects around the charity retail industry including:
- Retail Work Experience
- Social Enterprise
- Basic IT skills
- Marketing and Valuing second hand goods
- Customer Service
- Recycling and Reusing
The first 5 weeks of the course will centre around the theory of the retail of the charity shop. The following 5 weeks will concentrate on the work experience side to the charity shop including visiting other St Luke’s CARES charity shops and the social entrepreneurship programs such as Shine Nail Bar on Beeston Hill. And the final 5 weeks will include the participants learning new skills in social enterprise by helping to make and sell items in the shops.
The course which takes place above the shop on Dewsbury Road in Beeston will start on the 19th September 2016 and is due to complete in the second week of 2017. Applicants wishing to join the course must contact St. Luke’s CARES for a place and request either a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday to study each week from 10am -2.30pm. The places are free but limited, so please contact lucy@stlukescares.org.uk or call 07913 202559 for more information. No previous experience or knowledge required.
St. Luke’s Charity is a community charity empowering young people in south Leeds.
