Students experience the world of work with visits to Asda Bootle

Our Bootle store's community champion Colette Joynson welcomed students from Hugh Baird College with learning disabilities and special educational needs into the store for a series of work experience sessions.

The students have been given behind-the-scenes tours, learned about our counters and tried their hands on the checkouts as part of their Learning For Life course, which aims to help them develop the skills and abilities they have so they can achieve their life and career ambitions.

Colette said: “They loved their experiences. Everyone – colleagues, customers and management – were so supportive. The whole experience is valuable for them and valuable for us as a company. Hopefully some of the students would look at retail as a career."

Colette plans to hold more visits with students from the college in September.

She said “I have a good rapport with the college as I did my GCSEs there, so when one of the tutors contacted me to see if some of the students could come along as part of their Learning For Life course I was only too happy to help.

"The students were given behind-the-scenes tours of the store – from the stockrooms to the checkouts and from the bakery to the pizza counter. The highlight for them was going on the checkouts.

"They put their Asda badges on, got baskets of shopping and then were trained to use a checkout. Some didn’t want to at first, but as soon as they saw their friends doing it they all wanted to try.

"One of our group, Thomas, was partially sighted, but still had a go on the checkout and at creating a pizza with support. He loved it!"

Learning For Life course tutor Christine Angus says the sessions were invaluable.

She said: "The students got to see all the jobs available in a supermarket. They thoroughly enjoyed their time in store.

"I'd like to thank Colette and Adsa for arranging these sessions and we hope to be back later in the year."