Partners at Work - Saint Roch's & John Lewis

Saint Roch’s Secondary School and John Lewis Partnership (JLP) in Glasgow are celebrating yet another successful collaboration.

JLP work very closely with Saint Roch’s through SBC’s Closing the Gap project, supporting the school and pupils through various projects aimed at making pupils aware of the opportunities available to them on leaving school.  One such project is their Mentoring programme, offered to pupils in S3/S4 who work with a volunteer mentor from JLP to increase their self confidence and employability skills.

JLP and Saint Roch’s Secondary are both delighted that this has now resulted in one of these pupils, Alan Barclay, securing a Permanent Post within the store after a working in the store at Christmas. Alan is delighted to be working at JLP and plans on a long and successful career within retail. 

Gordon Baillie, Supply Chain Partner at John Lewis mentored Alan in 2005 and recalls that Alan was very quiet at the start but did come along to every meeting that was arranged. Gordon said Alan's confidence grew after he spent his work placement week in the Sports and Toys department where he was given a task of reorganising the racking in the stock room. Alan did the job very well and the Manager in the department praised Alan for this, which seemed to greatly improve Alan's confidence.

Alan joined the store in October as a Christmas temp, his Manager said Alan was a very hard worker and would try to sort out situations using his own initiative, Alan's contract finished on Christmas Eve however in January of this year the supply chain were recruiting two new Partners and contacted Alan as they felt he had the right attitude for work and his attendance and timekeeping were very good.

Jim Hart who is Alan's Manager said, "Alan is doing very well, he is quite mature for his age and is very enthusiastic about his job, he is also a very pleasant young boy, and a pleasure to have on our team."

Jennifer Boyle, Head Teacher of St Stephen’s Primary School said, "I am extremely pleased about Alan’s job. I occasionally see Alan and have always heard only good reports about his time at Saint Roch’s Secondary. While at St. Stephen’s he was an extremely well mannered and attentive pupil. He did not put himself forward but was well liked by his peers. He is a kind, caring boy who was always protective of the younger children. I can only assume that this came across at his interview. He will make an excellent addition to the John Lewis Partnership and I wish him well in his future career."

Claire Gunn from Saint Roch’s said, “I am delighted for Alan, he is so much more confident and this can only expand his skill set.  It is also a very good motivator for other pupils at Saint Roch’s and we would like to thank Joanne and the staff at John Lewis for their continued support.”