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Over the course of the project, we are employing 2 trainees each year, who undertake work-based conservation learning ‘on the job’. During their year on the program, trainees get to work across the Sherbourne team and with the wider Warwickshire Wildlife Trust team, undertaking placements across about the full range of what we do. This can be as varied as surveying, tree planting and river management to helping lead a school educational visit. Our current trainees explain what is involved below, to help you get a full picture.
Trainees complete a City and Guilds level 2 Diploma in hands-on conservation during their placement year, with a view to this opening up opportunities to work within the conservation and environment sector after completion.
Our traineeships are recruited during June/July for an autumn start date. Please check back here for the 2024 round of recruitment.
Kai City Natue Challenge
“The trainee experience is a great way to get your foot in the door with environmental work, I came from a background in ecology and zoology at university however due to the pandemic I fell into a different line of work. This gave me an opportunity to have a change of career back to what I originally loved. You’ll spend a lot of time learning from experts in their fields through training courses, meetings, personal action on projects and development. The traineeship is quite broad so its good if you don’t know just yet what you want to be or do, but with the diploma it gives you an option to focus on specific aspects you may find you enjoy most during the start of the traineeship. A highlight for me was getting to work with and coordinate with volunteers, giving me the confidence to apply this to leading my own volunteer work parties.”
Volunteering with the Sherbourne Valley Project brings so many benefits to those who get involved. Thanks to our funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, we are able to provide a range of free accredited and informal training for volunteers. Our project partners have also added their own expertise, by hosting training sessions for our volunteers too.
So far we have offered accredited Emergency First Aid, Mental Health First Aid, accredited Riverfly surveying, Botany/Plant ID, Butterfly, Amphibian & Reptile ID and surveying amongst many others. Our volunteers benefit from the expertise of those within the trust and those from outside who come in to deliver specialist knowledge. See our upcoming training sessions.
We can also offer bursaries for our volunteers to undertake training courses which will benefit them in looking after our sites and Coventry’s nature in the future.
