In June last year a large number of Focus staff enrolled in the National Certificate in Community Support Services – Level 2, and so their learning journey began.
For many this was the first learning they had undertaken since leaving school and found the whole concept quite daunting.
Each trainee had to complete a series of nine workbooks and have each one verified. The workbooks were completed at a pace that suited the individual trainee.
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Over the following months huge numbers of books were coming and going from the Focus office each day. We became very well known at our local Post Shop as the books don’t fit in the Post Office box and required separate collection. Our receptionist thought she was on a weight lifting programme each afternoon when depositing the days mail into the post box.
Joanne and Deborah from our Training Department were making appointments all over Auckland to meet with trainees in groups or individually to verify workbooks and assist where and when required.
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On the 2nd September Focus was proud to hold a presentation of certificates to nearly 60 of the trainees, who have completed their qualification. The certificates were presented by Rob Gill from the Ministry of Health and George Nimmo the CEO of Careerforce, our industry training organization.
The evening was enjoyed by staff, family & friends who had all come to celebrate the success of the trainees and express how proud we are of them. It was wonderful to see how proud the trainees were of themselves.
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It is also impressive to see the confidence gained by many of the trainees and how they are applying what they have learnt to their work with our service users.
We know that this will be just the beginning of a longer journey for our staff, as many of them are already asking when they can start the Level 3 qualification.
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