Ellee Carnochan (18) from Newtownabbey, is gaining the experience needed to enter the plastering industry through studying theLevel 2 Traineeship in Plastering at SERC.
After completing her GCSEs and starting her A-Levels, Ellee realised she wasn’t on an education pathway that was right for her. Searching for more hands-on education, she attended a SERC open evening and learnt more about the plastering courses at the college through talking to tutors. She decided SERC was right for her and later enrolled on her current plastering traineeship.
Ellee says, “My favourite part of the course is working in the workshop, we have lots of tools and resources to help us with plastering and tiling. In the workshop, we learn to apply plastering materials to interior and exterior surfaces, fix dry lining, lay sand and cement floor screeds, and more. I really like the work as it’s practical and a lot more interesting than just studying in a classroom.
“Outside of the practical work in the workshop, we also learn a lot of theory in class on topics like health and safety and understanding construction methods and materials. We also get to do group projects where we need to research the cost of materials that we would need for tiling a specific room, which really helps us gain experience with the business side of the trade.
“My work placement is with Equans and, as a trainee, I help tile people's houses, sometimes from scratch and sometimes just fixing pre-existing tiles. I help on site by putting tiles on and marking tiles that need to be cut with the grinder. I also grout and remove tiles. I enjoy working on site a lot as I’m able to do much of the work myself which is rewarding and it’s a really good way to put what we do in SERC into practice. It’s all experience that’s putting me on track to achieve my goal of working full-time as a plasterer, hopefully one day owning my own business.”
Ellee concludes. “I would recommend SERC; my course has a lot of variety to it in terms of what we learn and is great if you like hand-on work. I feel like it’s preparing me well for my future career.”
