News 3


WORKING WELL: Some of our former apprentices


Bursary help will make a big difference


GHA is offering lifeline support for tenants and their families to pursue their dreams of going to university. Our new bursary


programme, through the Wheatley Foundation, will give tenants and their children a grant of £1500 a year to help them cover the costs of higher education. The grants – available to


Kick start your career W


New modern apprenticeships available for young people


E’RE giving 90 young people the chance to kick start their career through new apprenticeships.


Wheatley Group, GHA’s parent organisation, and City Building launched the double recruitment drive ahead of plans to form a Joint Venture next month. Wheatley is looking for 30 new Modern Apprentices from its communities while City Building is taking on 60 trades apprentices. Both schemes are part-funded by the Wheatley Foundation, a charitable trust set up to help people in our communities have better lives, and by Glasgow Guarantee, the city council’s wage incentive scheme. Wheatley’s two-year apprenticeships give


youngsters the chance to take the first steps in a rewarding career in housing and business support. The successful candidates, who don’t need


any formal qualifications, will work across Wheatley’s partner organisations, including GHA, while studying for an SVQ qualification. City Building’s apprentices, which will include joiners, plumbers, electricians, plasterers, painters and decorators, heating and lift engineers, will get a four-year programme and work towards an SVQ level 3 craft qualification.


Both sets of apprentices will get a generous benefits


package and help to find a full-time job when the programmes finish. Shannon McGreechin, 19, from Shettleston,


started her apprenticeship at a GHA office in 2015 before moving to YourPlace, where she landed a full-time job as a factoring agent.


“It’s a great chance to gain qualifications and get experience of different parts of the company”


Shannon, pictured below, said: “An


apprenticeship is a great opportunity. It’s a great chance to gain qualifications and get experience of different parts of the company. “It has also helped me find what I’m best at and decide what sort of job I want to do. It’s really helped me get started in my career.”


Since Wheatley’s Modern Apprenticeship programme started in 2009, the Group has taken on 282 apprentices. To apply for Wheatley modern apprenticeship, email ma@ wheatley-group.com by Monday 24 April. Applications to City Building can be made via www.glasgow.mappit.org.uk


anyone living in a GHA home – are a great chance for tenants to gain qualifications, increase their skills and help them land their dream job. They’ll also reduce the need


to take out unaffordable credit, and avoid reliance on student loans.


The financial support is another way we’re increasing opportunities for tenants – and helping transform people’s lives.


The bursaries of £1500 per


year – £750 a year for part- time students – are available for up to two years. They’re for anyone studying for an HNC, HND, undergraduate or one-year postgraduate degree at any university in Scotland. A total of 50 tenants will benefit each year.


GHA Chair Bernadette Hewitt said: “This is a life-changing opportunity for tenants to get to university, gain qualifications and increase their job prospects. “Going to university really does change people’s lives – and I’m proud the financial support from GHA can help increase those opportunities for people in our communities.” Applications open on 18 April. Email bursaries@ wheatley-group.com


theKEY - www.gha.org.uk


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