Roundhay High Leeds: School launches 'first of its kind' NVQ barbering course for lucky students

Following 18-months of preparation, Roundhay school launched the course in partnership with Leeds barber Tonie Browne – owner of Jax Barbers.

Two lucky students, Ash, 15, and Abhi, 14, were chosen following a vigorous interview process and have the chance to earn an NVQ Level 2 work-based qualification.

The idea for the course came from Tonie who was keen to give back having struggled from an academic exams standpoint during his school days.

Speaking to the YEP, he said: “"I wanted to try and give back in some way. In school I struggled in class and and leaned towards more practical learning. I thought it would add value to students who struggled academically.

"We did not have a clue how to go about it, so we needed an open-minded teacher to help. It's taken quite a lot of time to do."

Tonie managed to set the course up with the help of Roundhay career enrichment and engagement leader, Anne Powel, who described the launch as a long time coming.

She said: “The launch went really well it’s taken 18-months to get through all the necessary paperwork and to set up a classroom as a mini studio so it was great to finally see it working, with the students in and excited.

"They absolutely loved it. We had one of our teachers, Mr Smith, who came in as a model. The students were using the equipment right from the start so it wasn’t just watch and learn but really hands on.”

While 12-week course, which includes practical and theory work, remains in its infancy both Tonie and Anne are hopeful of securing the necessary funding required to continue the course going forward.

Anne said: “We’d like to be able to establish this in the curriculum as a vocational option for the right students and we’ve already identified students we would like to take through for the next programme if we can get the funding.”

Tonie added: “There’s so many kids who struggle in school and are more creative than academic so giving them the chance to learn a career trade early on is so important.”