Duvall was referred to the GRoW Programme through the Family Case Worker at her children’s school and starts a new job next month.
Duvall said “I really needed to find work after my personal circumstances changed quite suddenly. Margaret, the Family Case Worker at Cranford Park Academy recommended I speak to the people at GRoW and I was put in touch with Tosin as my GRoW Adviser.
I had been out of work since February after I had to leave my job at Heathrow where I had worked for 8 years. As my job entailed a lot of contact with customers and handling cash I felt it was too high risk to continue as my mum and stepdad are in a vulnerable group and I could not risk exposing them to the coronavirus.
Tosin was very helpful with regards to the type of jobs that are available now during the pandemic and really helped to manage my expectations. I was looking to do something different to what I was doing before, I worked shifts with very early starts and I had to rely on my mum to help me a lot with my children. My mum is moving home soon though which means I will have less support and so I needed to find a job with hours that fit around my children. I have experience in customer service and I also did a 4 year course in Health and Social Care which boosts my cv. I hadn’t considered working in a school before but Tosin opened my eyes up to the opportunities it presents, particularly as it means working term-time only and fitting around my children.
I applied for a job that I saw in the GRoW Newsletter and Jobs Bulletin, it was for a Lunchtime Controller at a local primary school. I filled in their application form online and they contacted me soon afterwards and they have given me a start date of November. The job entails helping to assist the children at lunchtimes and helping them follow the guidelines due to the new covid-19 restrictions.
I am hoping that now I am already working there that new opportunities might arise to increase my hours and expand my job role. I will continue to check out the GRoW Jobs Bulletin every week though to see what other jobs are out there for me to apply for.”