Junior Achievement is on target to work with 5,000 Manx students this academic year and to help support its work in the island’s schools the charity needs to recruit more volunteers.

In May this year Ballakermeen High School became one of the first schools to benefit from the updated ‘Learn to Earn’ programme, sponsored by the Chatha family. The workshop is designed to help Year 9 students develop the essential soft skills that employers are seeking and was delivered by a team of volunteers drawn largely from the island’s business sector.

Among the volunteers was ‘new recruit’ Lloyds Bank island director Peter Reid who said: ‘As one of the island’s leading employers Lloyds Bank applauds how Junior Achievement is responding to the ever-growing need to equip young people with the essential skills they will need when they enter the increasingly competitive jobs market.

‘It was against this background that I was pleased to become a Junior Achievement volunteer. I found Learn to Earn to be a very engaging way of introducing students to the “real” world of work and for them to better understand what employers are looking for from young candidates when they go to an interview. From my perspective “going back to school” was a brilliant experience, with the workshop providing an excellent insight into what the next generation expects from their careers and, importantly, from their employers. It also reinforced my view of the high calibre of students we have in the Isle of Man, which bodes well for the future.’

Junior Achievement chief executive Sue Cook said: ‘We are very grateful to Peter and all the many others like him who support us by giving so generously of their time. Volunteers are our lifeblood; without their commitment and dedication we could never reach as many students.

‘It is only by volunteers applying their skills and experience in the classroom that we can set young people on the path to better career opportunities and make a very real difference to their lives.’

If you would like to become a Junior Achievement volunteer call 666266 to find out more or visit www.jaiom.im.

Photo - Junior Achievement volunteer and Lloyds Bank island director Peter Reid with Ballakermeen High School’s James Arnold, Owen Reed, Jay Skelcher-Maxwell and Jake Pressley, all 14, and Adam Scarffe, 13. Picture Andrew Barton.