At the beginning of May, KP Foods received Learning for All Fund funding to open a new learning center, and the search was on for learners who wished to gain maths and English qualifications.
Kath, who is 50 years old and has worked at KP since leaving school, was eager to take up the opportunity to further her learning in both subjects, especially maths.
On 21st May 2009 KP Foods held a Learning at Work Day and invited David Hedgecock from the City of Sunderland College to talk about skills for life. Employees were asked to register if they were interested in completing an initial skills assessment and Kath was one of the employees that signed up.
As a training instructor, Kath teaches employees all aspects of the production role from showing people how to pack boxes to running complex machinery. Kath has always taken her role very seriously and employees have had the benefit of her thorough and detailed training programmes.
After completing her initial assessment, Kath was given her maths workshop schedule and she also attended extra classes to ensure that she grasped the solutions to maths problems.
Kath is usually full of confidence, but when it came to maths it was a different story as she had no confidence at all.
Kath (Centre) enjoying her maths workshop
Kath put a great deal of time and effort into her maths classes, including spending many hours accommodating her studies around her home life. She has great determination, and when she decides she wants to do something, she strives to do it to the best of her ability.
Kath has just sat her maths test and is delighted to have passed and she would now like to go the next level. She has also completed the first part of a Union Learning Representative course so she can then pass on some of her own experiences to learners.
