Friday 23 August 2013

Wildwood offers final Trainee positions

Final year of Heritage Skills Trainee positions at The Wildwood Trust

 

Wildwood is now inviting new applications for our final year of the Skills for the Future training programme. After three hugely successful years which have seen trainees go on to start careers in wildlife, zoos and conservation, we are ready to recruit our final batch of trainees to learn wildlife and conservation skills.

 

The 4-year project is funded by a £150,000 grant by the Heritage Lottery fund under their Skills for the Future programme. The grant is funding the training of four trainees per year, over a period of four years, with each trainee receiving a training bursary of £10,000 for the year they train with us.

 

The scheme is great for zoos, wildlife trusts and conservation organisations such as The Wildwood Trust which require a wide range of skills from staff, from providing public education workshops to managing woodland and conservation areas and supporting endangered species captive breeding programmes. These skills are hard to obtain without on-the-job training, so the Skills for the Future programme has been developed to offer specialised training places. After this final year, Wildwood will have provided training for three trainee rangers, three trainee keepers, three conservation trainees, and three trainee education officers.

 

The project will allow Wildwood to train new people in wildlife and conservation skills which will provide a sustainable, representative workforce to protect the UK's native animals and habitats from further decline. On completion of their training the trainees will be able to take their skills on to further education or into employment.

 

Ranger trainees will learn coppicing and coppice management, woodland management, dead hedging, arboriculture, endangered species enclosure design and construction.

Conservation trainees will learn about conservation initiatives including endangered species release programmes, conservation grazing management, handling small animals and engaging the public in species recognition.

Keeper Trainees will learn endangered species enclosure design, animal enrichment, food preparation, diet and weight analysis, and animal husbandry.

Conservation Education trainees will learn how to develop and deliver workshops targeted at visiting schools and groups, and will develop skills including preparing educational resources, setting and monitoring traps, species recognition, and how to handle small animals for workshops.

 

The posts are for one year only and are aimed at those interested in following a career in conservation. The successful candidates will be expected to complete a portfolio of evidence of the skills they have learned. The training will provide the groundwork and experience required for those considering either further academic training (e.g. a conservation degree, or diploma) or developing their career by joining a zoo, wildlife trust or other conservation organisation.

 

Further details about the training positions and how to apply can be found at www.wildwoodtrust.org The deadline for applications is the 8th September 2013

 

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Images attached - for more images please email: fiona@wildwoodtrust.org

 

Skills for the Future

The Heritage Lottery Funds' (HLF) Skills for the Future programme offers work-based training in a wide range of skills that are needed to look after buildings, landscapes, habitats, species, and museum and archive collections, as well as equipping people to lead education and outreach programmes, manage volunteers and use new technology. Its focus is on vocational learning, helping meet the skills gaps identified by heritage bodies, and on encouraging potential trainees from all walks of life. Trainees will learn how to engage families, schools and communities with their heritage, bringing heritage sites and collections alive for the next generation.

Aims
The aims of Skills for the Future are to:

§  fund high quality work based training opportunities to equip people with the skills to pursue a career in heritage;

§  enhance the capacity of the heritage sector to deliver sustainable training and share good practice; and

§  demonstrate the value of heritage skills to modern life.

Outcomes
To receive a grant a project must deliver all of the following four outcomes:

§  increase the range and quality of work-based training to develop skills in the heritage sector;

§  meet identified skills gaps or shortages in the heritage sector;

§  increase the capacity of the sector to deliver training and share good practice; and

§  increase the diversity of the heritage workforce.

 

 

Fiona Paterson
Marketing & Press officer
Wildwood Trust

e-mail: fiona@wildwoodtrust.org
Tel: 01227 712111
www.wildwoodtrust.org

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Wildwood Trust
Herne Common
Herne Bay
Kent
CT6 7LQ

Registered Charity No 1093702

Wildwood Trust is Kent's unique 'Woodland Discovery Park', a visitor attraction with a difference.

Wildwood is not only the best place to bring the family for a day out, but it is also a bold and innovative new charity, backed by the UK's leading wildlife conservationists. As a new charity Wildwood needs everyone's support in its mission to save our native and once native wildlife from extinction.

Wildwood Trust's vision is to bring back our true 'wildwood', a unique new way of restoring Britain's land to its natural state. This involves releasing large wild herbivores and developing conservation grazing systems to restore natural ecological processes to help Britain team with wildlife again.

The Wildwood 'Woodland Discovery Park' is an ideal day out for all the family where you can come 'nose to nose' with British Wildlife. Wildwood offers its members and visitors a truly inspirational way to learn about the natural history of Britain by actually seeing the wildlife that once lived here.

Set in a sublime 38 acres of Ancient Woodland, Wildwood offers visitors a truly unique experience. Come Nose to Nose with our secretive badgers, experience what it is like to be hunted by a real live pack of wolves, watch a charging wild boar or track down a beaver in his lodge.

Wildwood Trust runs a highly successful programme of Conservation Projects - we are the UK's leading experts in rescuing and re-establishing colonies of Britain's most threatened mammal, the water vole. Wildwood Trust has pioneered the use of ancient wild horses to restore nature reserve. Wildwood Trust has been at the forefront of efforts to re-establish the European Beaver back in Britain where they belong. European Beaver have been proven to help manage water ways to bring back a huge range of plants, insects and animals.

 

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