Dow Silicones, UK Ltd in Barry are delighted to announce the launch of the 2020/2021 Project SEARCH Programme with 9 young adults joining the Barry site for an academic year.
We’d therefore like to welcome Daniel Harding, Joe Coles, Tom Case, Zac Cooke, James Clark, Harvey Milsom, Ewan Heppenstall, Macauley Morgan & Cameron McCourt to The Dow Team.
The team are coming to the end of an intensive induction period during which they have met with Dow guest speakers on a daily basis, covering a wide variety of topics, such as Navigating WEBEX, the DOW Online Learning System, the DOW Quality Management System, Ergonomics, Environmental Practice, Diversity & Inclusion at Dow, Customer/Product Overview & Intervention Culture at Dow.
They also had the pleasure of meeting colleagues from Dow sites at Dewsbury, Birch Vale & Manchester for a broader view of the Dow Chemicals business as a whole.
On reflection of the first half term the interns gave some feedback –
DOW Online Learning System:
- “It has been very interesting”
- “I have really enjoyed these sessions”
- “It has been intriguing”
- “These sessions have been hard work”
WebEx calls:
- “Wow, these have been so fascinating”
- “I have loved meeting new people”
- “It has been great learning lots of new things”
Other feedback included:
- “Everything we have been doing has helped us to ‘gel’ as a group,
- “We have built a really good connection between us all and now feel like we have a great support network”
- “This has been a very strange journey so far but been made easier and more enjoyable as we are doing it all together”
Over Study Review Week the interns are completing a PowerPoint to Review thoughts and feelings further and the calendar for the next half term is already looking colourful. Each intern has been matched with a department at DOW Barry and will be weekly meet with their team on a Monday. This is very exciting and will enable the interns to develop many new skills, including communication, working virtually and independence.
Education has been running alongside the workplace induction. So far the Interns have completed 2 units, Equality and Diversity and Customer Service Skills. They have discussed how these can transfer into DOW and other workplaces and the interns have developed confidence along the way with regards to their communication skills, questioning skills and professional behaviour.
An exciting year awaits the Project SEARCH team, during which Dow will offer the Project SEARCH students an immersive transition to work programme, setting them up for future success.
DFN Project SEARCH CEO Clare Cookson said: “Our partnership With Dow is a fantastic programme that is helping change thelives of young people with learning disabilities and supporting individuals to find meaningful jobs”.
Good luck team, have a great year at Dow!
Kim Eversham, ODMS Leader, Project SEARCH Business Liaison Dow Silicones UK Ltd
Read DOW’s previous blog from 2019 here and August 2020 here.