David Wood

Could I ask your name, please?

Rachael Talbot

Yes, I’m Rachael Talbot.

David Wood

And Rachael, which home are we talking about today?

Rachael Talbot

We’re talking about Acorn Lodge today.

David Wood

Thank you. And could I ask how old you are?

Rachael Talbot

48.

David Wood

Thank you. So, could you explain for the listeners a bit about where we are today and what your role is here?

Rachael Talbot

Yes, absolutely. So we are working  with the Sixth Form College in Anton and part of the Better Futures Maths , working with young people from the ages of 16 to 19. The majority of those young people are on a level three program, so A levels, BTECS, applied general qualifications. We have a small number of students that do a route two program, so a level two programme and a small number of students that do HSCs as well.

David Wood

And what’s your role here?

Rachael Talbot

So my role is Aspiration Lead. Um, so what that means is that I work with our students right from, kind of before they start with us really, with a marketing and admissions team and raising aspirations while they’re here at college, running the volunteering programme, more strategic stuff around careers as well.

David Wood

Excellent. And could I ask, how long have you been doing that?

Rachael Talbot

So I’ve been at the college for 13 years now and I’ve had a variety of roles throughout the college. So this one is a new role, January this year, but I’ve been in middle leadership for about four years now and prior to that within tutoring and careers as well.

David Wood

So I think we’ve known you for about 10 years.

Rachael Talbot

I think we have. Yes.  I think that would be about right.

David Wood

And, for all of those 10 years, at some level you’ve been involved in supporting students reaching out into the community. Am I right there?

Rachael Talbot

Yes, that’s right, from day one.

David Wood

Excellent. Did you have a history of that sort of role in your own life or how does it go? How did you get there?

Rachael Talbot

Yes so I think for me, giving back has always been really important. So most recently I’ve been on the committee for the hockey team, the hockey club, that I paid for, so that’s good. I’ve also been involved with Scouts when my children were younger and various things over the years prior to that, volunteering with young people, which is actually what got me first into working with young people, so young people on holiday camps, within youth groups as well. So that was the thing that drove me to make a career out of it.

David Wood

So I’m, I’m loving this title, Aspiration Lead. So how do you, how does the college think that getting involved in the community helps develop young people?

Rachael Talbot

So for young people, it is really important to start developing those skills to prepare them for the wider world. So whether that be, starting to be able to talk to different people, so to develop their communication skills — which obviously works in a Acorn Lodge volunteer and Acorn Lodge really helps with that — but also adapts their communication to different people. So not just talking to their friends, but older people, perhaps residents at the home or people that they’re working alongside. That would be one thing. It’s also, it is sometimes challenging for young people to find paid work. So being able to volunteer gives them a sense of purpose, a sense of meaning and it allows them to give something back as well. And we’ve got lots of evidence of them doing that, and then that’s supporting them to be able to find employment further down the line. So yes it fits nicely into  our college values and our college attributes as well.

David Wood

And it’s interesting because I’m sure that cynics will say, “Oh, it’s just easy for the school to send the students out and get on with stuff.” But certainly our experience here is that you take a really active interest in how it’s going for your students and what they’re doing. So what sort of things are you aware that students have got involved in over the years?

Rachael Talbot

So yes, I think when we first started it was very much befriending. So students were going in, they were spending time with residents and perhaps making memory boxes with them and sitting down, having a cup of tea, doing baking and generally having a chat and being good company for them. I know we had a student a few years ago that was a really good pianist and he wanted to go in and play for the residents. So he spent a lot of time when he went in, not just talking to the residents but actually entertaining them. And we found out later on as a result of that, one of the residents had then taken up playing the piano again. So it was really, really engaging  for him to be able to do that and to be able to give something back.

Rachael Talbot

Also we’ve had some charity fundraisers, so particularly I think they started straight after COVID when we couldn’t get in the homes. We wanted to be able to still support the residents and the staff that were there. We know how challenging it was after COVID for people. So we did some collections, collecting money from staff,  students collected money as well from their peers and bought lots and lots of lovely gifts that we were able to take in and they arranged for the residents to come into the reception and they were very, very grateful. It’s a really lovely moment,

David Wood

It’s been lovely and it’s been a great summary. When you knew I was popping by today, is there anything you wanted to tell me you haven’t had the chance to say yet?

Rachael Talbot

Oh, what would I say? I mean I think, generally, it’s really nice to have that relationship within the community where our young people can see a home such as Acorn Lodge central to their community, but then able to give something back. And I think one thing that we’ve noticed over the years for young people that particularly wanting to go into like health-related careers, like nursing or medicine or any of those other allied health professions — going in and building up those skills really puts them in good stead for those courses. It helps support their university applications. If they’re looking to do apprenticeships, it helps support that and keep evidence, those types of things. And that’s been absolutely paramount in letting those young people succeed in those areas as well.

David Wood

That’s been lovely. Thank you for your time.

Rachael Talbot

Okay. Thank you very much.

David Wood

Thank you.