With a career at Kibble spanning 15 years’, Ross has become a familiar friendly face to young people and adults. He is based at The Skills Academy at Hillington but often travels across all locations to perform vehicle check-ups, making him recognisable to all.
Ross oversees Kibble’s fleet of over 70 vehicles completing essential maintenance to keep cars safe and roadworthy. Ross also delivers City and Guilds qualifications to young aspiring mechanics.
“My favourite part of my career at Kibble is mentoring young people and seeing them do well.”
Currently, two young people are completing their Vehicle Maintenance and Repair qualifications. With Ross’ direction, young people are trusted with the daily vehicle checks. The youngsters understand the responsibility and importance of car safety and are determined to achieve increase their knowledge and skillset. They are particularly interested in servicing a car and repairing tyres.
“It is rewarding to see young people take a genuine interest in mechanics. One young person I previously taught is now a successful mechanic who continues to progress further – I hear from them often as they’re extremely proud of the career they’ve now got!”
Each day at Kibble is different and Ross wouldn’t change it – he enjoys completing a wide range of tasks and spending time with young people and colleagues. He is sociable, outgoing and ready to offer assistance to anyone who needs a helping hand with their car.
“I thoroughly enjoy my career. It’s a good crowd at The Skills Academy who I work with every day. I also travel to visit the houses and discuss any requirements with their cars as well as answer any call-outs.”
“I meet all the good people who work at Kibble in my role and I am grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the team.”
Catering Trainer Julie is based at Kibble’s Skills Academy as she mentors young people to develop their own culinary skills. Julie is often found smiling in the kitchen, surrounded by young people as her enthusiasm, positive energy and clear direction is enjoyable to be around. Julie’s guidance inspires young people follow suit and work towards their own career in catering and hospitality.
Julie initially joined Kibble as a part-time Domestic Assistant and in the 13-years since, she has progressed through various roles to now be a Catering Trainer. Kibble prides itself on being a forward-thinking and innovative organisation and Julie’s career journey emphasises the job variety and longevity we can offer. Julie, herself, is a shining example of an ambitious, caring and loyal team member.
“I started off as a part-time Domestic Assistant before one of my talented colleagues from the catering team supported me to gain an SVQ3 in catering and qualify as a Cook; before beginning an assessor qualification to become a Catering Trainer.”
“The team and I cater for all of Kibble’s services including Goudie Academy, the various residential children’s houses and their different locations as well as St Mirren Football Club.”
“While completing the catering requests, I train two or three young people through their SQA in Hospitality.”
“I would describe the catering roles at Kibble as fast-paced. We need to be highly organised to make sure all requests are met and delivered to the correct destination plus tailor meals to each dietary requirement.”
“A highlight of my role is spending time with young people and getting to know them. I enjoy seeing them come out their shell and growing in confidence to complete tasks independently.
I would highly recommend beginning your career at Kibble as it’s a great company to work for. I look forward to each day ahead.”
Operations Manager, Dave oversees some of our children’s residential houses located near the centre of Paisley and July marked his 25th year at Kibble.
Meet Dave
Overlooking a seaside view on a sunny day, tucking into a white pudding supper sitting with one young person who he had watched grow up to become a confident young man was just one of the many moments Dave felt lucky to call his time at Kibble his job.
Dave reflected on the fond memory and described it one of those great days where you felt incredibly grateful to be part of young peoples’ lives.
The young person was only 11 years-old when his foster care placement fell through and he was introduced to Dave at Kibble. Over time, Dave and the young person bonded over their love of motorbikes.
One day, the young person achieved their own motorbike license and had saved to buy their own motorbike. Immediately, the young person told Dave and exclaimed he wanted to travel home to show his family and friends the accomplishment. The pair agreed to safely travel together and had a fantastic time.
The young person still visits Dave to this day.
The above story sums up Dave’s career at Kibble: a friendly and happy guy who puts kids first. Everyday he shows up to encourage those around him to be the best versions of themselves.
“As soon as I met Dave I knew straightaway – he has the kids’ best interests at heart.”
– Head of Operations, Natalie
Natalie continued: “Dave is extremely hard-working and leads by example. Even during difficult times, he can remain calm with his sense of humour shining through.”
About Dave’s Career at Kibble
Dave began his career at Kibble when he was around 30 years-old. He began as a ‘sessional’ member of the team, acting as a helping hand to permanent members of the staff team. His natural ability to relate to young people and be a positive role model meant he quickly progressed to a full-time Child and Youth are Worker before becoming a leader as a Service Manager and further developing into an Operations Manager.
The career journey is an example of the job variety Kibble offers. Dave has worked across different services, taken on a nightshift role and earned promotions. Kibble is full of opportunities for you to enjoy diverse roles and responsibilities.
Ultimately, Dave has enjoyed spending time with young people and being surrounded by uplifting and enthusiastic colleagues.
“A highlight of my 25-year career at Kibble has been the kids I have spent time with – all the kids have been wee characters.”
– Operations Manager, Dave
Dave shared his appreciation for the team around him too: “I have had the privilege of working with fantastic colleagues – really good passionate people who genuinely want the best for young people.”
“I have truly admired the commitment of people I have worked with over the years.”
Join Dave
Dave would 100% recommend you join him in building a long-standing career at Kibble.
“Kibble is always moving forward. The organisation has taken time to understand kids and bring in trauma-informed ways of working. Kibble continues to ambitiously do its best to help young people.”
We arranged a fun get-together at our Kibble Community Hub in Paisley for young people who are part of our community-based services to chat through their thoughts and feedback about the care and support they receive.
Young people were invited along to ‘Our Voice Promise event’, which was arranged by Kibble’s Promise Lead, Natalie and co-hosted by Who Cares? Scotland.
The dedicated time together gave young people the opportunity to share their opinions about their daily lives from the adults who are part of the staff team to what makes them happy and if they’d like to see any changes being made.
To make sure everyone enjoyed themselves and felt settled and relaxed, we started with cake-making. Each one of us felt proud of our creatively decorated cakes. Starting from scratch, we watched our own cakes take shape and during that time, caught up with one another and had fully open discussions amongst ourselves.
By completing an activity as a group, we can take the time to understand how we feel before voicing our opinion. A safe space is formed.
Going to college, moving into a flat, horse-riding and helping another person carry their shopping. All are moments young people described as a time they felt proud of themselves. The event let young people reflect on themselves and their actions and feel a sense of achievement.
It is extremely uplifting to hear our talented young people accomplish greatness from small to monumental milestones.
The conversation moved onto young people describing what makes them feel loved with the heart-warming responses confirming each one had someone or a particular thing in their life that helps them feel fulfilled with happiness.
“I feel loved when the adults around me make sure I am ok” – Young person
“I feel loved when seeing my family and friends.” – Young person
“My cat makes me feel loved” – Young person
Young people also agreed they felt safe by either an adult or their friends. The group spoke about their house being nice and quiet with great laughs being had by all.
All children have a right to be heard and involved in decisions that affect them and our event encouraged young people to express their views. Listening to young people is part of Kibble’s overall culture as we have a commitment to keep the promise and fully incorporate the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
Posted: August 6, 2024
BAFTA award-winning Director Michael Hines, who is critically-acclaimed for his work on the beloved Scottish comedy show Still Game, delivered a workshop to young people at Kibble’s Skills Academy about his career as a successful Film and TV Director.
Throughout the school holidays, Kibble’s Skills Academy launched ‘Future Ready’, a summer programme focused on getting young people ready for employment. The project is fully supported through Renfrewshire Local Employability Partnership’s employability grant programme. The academy welcomed young people aged from 16-years-old who live within Renfrewshire to get involved with taster sessions for different career options as well as CV preparation and interview techniques. The teenagers have explored a different industry including creative arts and digital media to science, how to start up your own business, AI & technology, and sustainability.
Michael Hines started out in a theatre and dance company teaching young people therefore was delighted to return to his origins and accepted the invite from The Skills Academy to inspire youngster and share his take on the film and tv world.
As avid-fans of Still Game, young people were instantly intrigued about meeting ‘the Director’ with one researching him online beforehand and the group discussing the earning potential of having a career behind the camera lens.
Michael introduced himself to the young audience and asked if any were interested in pursuing a career in the film and television industry and was pleased to see many were, he enthusiastically shared the variety of roles and departments available from filming, editing, costumes and set design. It was thought-provoking for youngsters to see how their artistic talent or own interests could be valued within film and television production.
An insight into the process of creating a comedy series like Still Game was given too and an outline of the number of weeks allotted to prepare locations, shoot and edit. It’s fast-paced with a high level of attention to detail required.
We were taken on Michael’s career journey – he talked us through the early days of teaching himself how to do camera work and having to become a magician to earn before directing and working alongside producers, actors and editors. It was also exciting to hear the director discuss moviemaking as Michael is fresh from launching his debut feature ‘Man and Witch’ in the US.
A piece of life advice from Michael was to learn how to advocate and stand-up for your opinion or viewpoint as you may have to justify your creative choices. Michael also broached the interest youngsters had wondering if a Director could become rich and famous. He shared that budgeting is key as most professionals in the industry operate as free-lancers and must learn to manage finances across multiple short-term projects for the full-year. It was an honest account reinforcing that enthusiasm and hard-work ethic are essential to building a successful career in the film and tv industry.
Young people were keen to ask Michael his favourite thing about directing Still Game and the project he is most proud to have been a part of.
The session had an impact on young people who were inspired that a career in creative arts is possible. The group of youngsters have a range of interests and one is particularly talented in creating colourful artwork, which has the potential to bring to life any film and tv set design.
Lisa, Head of the Skills Academy at Kibble, said: “The Future Ready programme has been incredibly popular with young people across Renfrewshire and we are thrilled there has been such a good uptake from professionals to come into the centre and share their skills and insight in order to inspire our future generations.
“Many of our young people at the Skills Academy were very familiar with Michael’s work and came armed with a host of questions to ask him.
“Michael’s workshop was very insightful and incredibly well-received by the attendees and we would like to thank him for giving up his time to come and join us on our Future Ready venture.”
Michael, Film and Television Director added: “I really enjoyed talking to the group at the Skills Academy.
“They were engaged, interested and inquisitive.
“I would urge any professional to give a little of their time – you’ll get so much in return.”
The visit was a highlight of Future Ready, The Skills Academy’s summer career taster sessions, which is fully supported through Renfrewshire Local Employability Partnership’s employability grant programme.
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Young people in Renfrewshire aged from 16-years-old are spending their summer holidays trying out different career possibilities and have particularly enjoyed learning about sustainability, nature and gardening.
Future Ready is a summer programme focused on getting young people ready for employment. The project is fully supported through Renfrewshire Local Employability Partnership’s employability grant programme. The career taster sessions are being delivered by Kibble’s Skills Academy who have welcomed young people from 16-years-old. Each week concentrates on a different industry and topics have spanned from creative arts and digital media to science, how to start up your own business, AI and technology, and sustainability.
Head of The Skills Academy, Lisa and Skills Academy Gardening Instructor, Stephen led a practical gardening workshop inspiring young people to transform an outdoor space from a wild garden to a fully functional allotment. As part of the project, young people were taught all aspects of the process from how to operate machinery and plant vegetable and flower beds.
The aspiring-gardeners were keen to get outside and be involved in the allotment renovation challenge. Youngsters enthusiastically cleared weeds and rocks; cut the grass and trimmed the hedges. One young person proudly held up a 5-foot tall thistle weed they had conjured out of the ground in the tidy-up.
Young people were made aware of the career possibilities gardening can offer. Already at the academy, the SVQ Gardening qualification is a popular choice. The partnership between Kibble and St Mirren Football Club also seen the launch of a Groundskeeper Traineeship role recruiting one young person to become qualified in helping to maintain the pristine condition of the football grounds and operate the advanced machinery.
“Gardening is something I now enjoy since trying it at The Skills Academy. I found it therapeutic even though before this I had never picked up a gardening tool in my life.
I could be a gardener one day!” – Young person involved in Future Ready
Future Ready is proud to deliver a wide variety of career taster sessions for young people to discover new interests or build on an existing talent as well as prepare a CV and feel confident in attending interviews. The six-week course continues throughout the upcoming month with sessions from a graffiti-artist and DJ music-making workshop.
Watch our video with Head of The Skills Academy, Lisa to find out more about the academy’s Future Ready summer programme.
Posted: July 2, 2024
Kibble’s Skills Academy further enhanced St Mirren’s first-team changing room, raising the already high standards of the club. After previously redecorating the space with the club’s iconic black and white stripes, young people were motivated to continue the development project and manufacture wooden locker areas for each player.
Young people attend Kibble’s Skills Academy to achieve qualifications and complete work experience that will ultimately help them enter the world of work. Many choose to learn skills in construction, painting and decorating and visualise themselves building a career related to the valuable trades. By attending The Skills Academy, the young apprentices have plenty of opportunities to gain practical experience in a real-life business setting. The chance to see their skills transform the space of a professional football club is extremely motivating to the young learners.
The young apprentices applied their skills to design a first-team a changing room that exceeded all expectations. As St Mirren qualified for European competition for the first time since 1987 it was agreed the players’ environment must match their professionalism. For the upgrade, each player would have their own dedicated compartment area to help prepare them for the upcoming games.
St Mirren football players spend a lot of time in the changing room pre-and-post match and research suggests a stylish, highly functional and aesthetically-pleasing changing room can help bond teams. Described as the ‘starting place’ for the game ahead, players get to the changing room early and now, being together while having their own space. There was a lot of responsibility bestowed to Kibble’s Skills Academy to design a high quality, professional changing room.
Together, students and their Skills Academy instructors took the required measurements and built wooden benches and shelves from scratch before using their joinery skills to make individual solid units that slot together to create a unified look and feel. Young people put their painting skillset to the test and decorated the units to fit in with the club’s theme of black and white stripes.
All agree the young apprentices continue to meet exceptionally high standards.
Kibble CEO, Jim Gillespie explains the project is an example of exactly why the partnership between Kibble and the club was formed: “When Kibble and St Mirren partnered, the reason was to develop our young workforce development opportunities and now, to see the results of the partnership is phenomenal.
Young people have demonstrated drive and ambition in transforming the St Mirren changing room. The students have seen the project through from beginning to end and applied their own talent and skillset add value to the Scottish Premiership team surroundings.”
St Mirren Chief Operating Officer, Keith Lasley was impressed by the skill level demonstrated by young people: “The St Mirren changing room has been completely transformed by The Skills Academy young people and their instructors. As soon as you walk in to the changing area, you know it’s belongs to St Mirren” We are extremely grateful to all young people involved.”
Posted: June 12, 2024
Senior learners from Goudie Academy dressed in their finest to celebrate their school prom and all of their achievements.
This year’s theme was Glitz and Glam, as decided by learners, and the afternoon’s celebrations certainly lived up to the glamorous title! Graduates were formally greeted at the entrance to the Gannochy Theatre – the glittering backdrop of the day’s events. Fifth year learners were integral in the organising of the day’s events, including the planning, design and dressing of the room, under the watchful eye of their teachers.
It was a day of huge celebration and pride as senior learners graduated from Goudie Academy, with a special ceremony to congratulate them on their many achievements. Awards were handed out by key tutors to all graduates, who proudly and emotionally spoke of their key pupil’s academic journey, their achievements, all that they are and all that they will go on to achieve. The sky is the limit! Everyone also watched a video showcase celebrating their many educational milestones.
There was lots of toe-tapping, singing and dancing as the Kibble band ‘The Komonauts’ took to the stage to perform a medley of popular songs in front of an excited audience. The accumulation of years of band rehearsals, performances and coaching.
Delicious food and mocktails were served by HE Teacher, Carol, and perhaps the icing on the cake was the doughnut wall and sweetie stall. With dressing up the theme of the day, there was much hilarity at the photo booth, with young people and teachers getting celebratory snaps in silly hats, glasses and other crazy props.
There was a real energy in the room as pupils invited important people in their lives, and were joined by teaching staff from Forest View, Mirin Academy and Skills Academy to enjoy the celebrations.
Leona Donnelly, Deputy Head of Education, commented:
I would just like to thank everyone again for the tremendous effort you all put in for the Class of 2024 event. It was a HUGE success and certainly a day that our young people will remember forever. It is events like today’s that help us to remember why we work here and the positive difference we can make to our young people’s lives. The key tutor speeches were excellent and brought a few tears to my eyes. I saw several other people reaching for hankies also. The hall looked great, the food was delicious, hoodies fab and the video was lovely.”
We’d like to take this opportunity to express our sincere congratulations to the class of 2024 and we know that they will go on to achieve so many great and wonderful things in the future. It’s been a pleasure and honour to welcome you to classes each day and share in all of your incredible achievements.
Posted: June 6, 2024
Kibble were amongst an entire network of individuals, organisations and local authorities who all influence the lives of children and young people on a daily basis.
Children and Young People’s Commissioner, Nicola Killean opened the conference with Young Person Chair, Mhairi and together they began the two-day event filled with powerful keynote speeches and insightful workshops. The following day, the delegates were welcomed by Chief Executive of Voluntary Action South Lanarkshire and Board Convenor of Children in Scotland, Steven Sweeney alongside Young Person Chair, Olive.
The highlight of the event, in our opinion, were the workshops held by our very own Kibble colleagues.
Therapeutic Practitioner, Rachel; Principal Teacher, Lucy and Service Manager, Caitlin led a session titled, “When young people are risky, complex or ‘stuck’. A case study of integrative working from Kibble.” Each of them gave an honest account of working alongside one another while striving to work also with young people; rather than young people feeling therapy and care is something done ‘to’ them, it must be carried out ‘with’ them. Rachel, Lucy and Caitlin were upfront about their experience of trying to change environments to care for young people with complex trauma and reinforced the essential requirements of time and patience. The session ended on an extremely positive note with Rachel’s sharing an uplifting monumental moment: when a young person felt ready to go cold water swimming.
Additionally, SAFE and IVY delivered a workshop about the difference being made through the two community-based services. Senior Family Service Practitioner and Family Psychotherapist, Amanda and Social Worker, Mhairi spoke of the progress made to date.
John Paul joined Kibble almost four years ago and has since received a Postgraduate Certificate in Autism from Sheffield Hallam University and is set to graduate in November.
Advice from John Paul to anyone considering Further Study is to understand the commitment involved. He advised the course he chose was intense with two modules having to be completed within 7 months of the start date. It was his genuine ambition to gain a formal qualification in autism and learn valuable new skills that motivated him to pursue the academic challenge.
John Paul shared, “I applied for this course as I have always had an interest in autism. I previously worked in an autism specialist school and whilst I have had training, I had no formal qualification until now.”
As the Acting Principal Teacher of Additional Support for Learning, the Further Study experience
Kibble is focused on offering you and your colleagues the chance to gain qualifications suitable to your job role. The Further Study experience gave John Paul the opportunity to develop tangible skills and a newfound understanding in autism, which was helpful in his role as Acting Principal Teacher of Additional Support for Learning.
“I think the main benefit of achieving the qualification is that it keeps me up-to-date with current teachings on autism as knowledge in this field is continually growing and developing.”
I would definitely encourage others to apply for the further study programme. We are very lucky Kibble offer this!”
The accomplishment was due to John Paul having a genuine ambition to learn new tangible skills he could bring to his role and to young people he supports day-to-day.
