Gary Nelson Email & Phone Number

I left school with minimal qualifications and started out as a fabric cutter in a factory. This was a job that paid the bills but not something I wanted to do forever. Ten years ago I decided to get back into education and my passion was youth work. This is something close to my heart because as a youngster I was approached by two detached youth workers who changed my life for the better....Ten years ago I approached my old youth worker for advice about how I could get into the youth work profession. He pointed me in the direction of the introduction to youth work course and before I knew it I was graduating with a foundation degree in Education and Care. This then led to me going on to gain my NVQ Level 3 in Counselling. An opportunity arose within The Percy Hedley Foundation to support students with SEN , I got the job and utilised my youth work skills to lead projects and work alongside co workers to enable our students in positive risk taking. This included things like canoeing one mile in the Tyne to raise money for charity. In 8 years I have worked my way up from being support staff, higher level support staff, tutor, senior tutor, programme manager to now being the assistant principal. My role involves managing activity leads, support staff and my own group of service users. I also graduated again with a PCETDofE is a passion of mine and I work with groups of students to build on their skills to enable them to reach limits they never knew was possible. I am a DofE assessor and manager which gives me the opportunity to see our students thrive!!! I also manage The Key Fund within the college which enables our students to build on their skills and build projects from the ground up with funding opportunities. I love what I do and the opportunity I have to intergrade youth work within education is something I am proud of. Working within SEN is something I find motivating and I thrive of seeing people reach their potential.