Ashley Harries, 23

Ashley left school at 16 and joined the army. He served in the Royal Welsh for a few years completing a tour of Afghanistan until the birth of his daughter made him reconsider his career options. When he left the army he wanted to learn a trade to secure his family’s financial security. After the first year at college he heard about Y Prentis and was accepted onto the scheme. He and fellow Y Prentis intake Daniel Hearse are now working towards their level 2 qualifications while building a new primary school for local children in Pen Y Rai, Bridgend. Ashley said:

“If I had just stayed at college I wouldn’t have got the on-the-job experience which I think will give me a head start when I’m looking for a job.”

Ben Morgan, 22

He is at nash college studying carpentry. He is now working towards his Level 2 and will be starting on site with Cowlins in Canton, Cardiff. Before he was doing agricultural fitting beforehand. He thought there weren’t many jobs around in that area so wanted to retrain as a carpenter.

“There was no real work with that so I wanted to pick a trade where I thought there would be more work. The opportunity means the chance of getting a career.”

In 5 years time he would like to be self-employed.

Matthew Noster, 18

He had another apprenticeship before joining us but they couldn’t cover the range of work he needed to comply with the requirements of his NVQ. The company he had the apprenticeship with then went out of business. He has been out of work for a month before joining Y Prentis. He is now going to be starting work on site at RCT Abercynon school site.