A GROWING number of youngsters in a Gwent care system are going straight into full-time apprenticeships thanks to a groundbreaking new project.

Torfaen social services has so far helped 20 young people into work since the £1million ACE project was launched at the end of last year. ACE (After Care Employment) is the first of its kind in Wales.

Gail Hammett, employment and training coordinator, and her team have fast-tracked those in care aged 16 to 21 into placements that suit their skills and ambitions.

Emma Friend, 18, left school without any GCSEs. She found her dream job as a hairdresser with Sky's The Limit, a hair and nails salon in Croesyceiliog last month, just days after first making contact with ACE.

"Gail came to see me to ask what sort of job I wanted, a week later I had the interview and they called to offer me a three-year apprenticeship," said Emma.

Her only other job was as a part-time assistant in a chip shop, which she did for two years shortly after beginning a foster placement in Cwmbran aged 16.

"I wasn't going anywhere in that job but now I am and I'm really looking forward to getting my NVQ."

Andrew Notley, 18, struggled to find a job that allowed him to use his creative side and was unemployed for nine months after leaving school. He joined Woodside staircase manufacturers in Llantarnam as an apprentice carpenter last month through the ACE project.

Andrew, who has a severe hearing impairment after contracting meningitis as a baby, has struggled during the past two years. Now he's on the up.

"I'm getting a flat of my own in Cwmbran in five weeks with a housing association - I'm becoming more independent.

"If it wasn't for Gail and my careers advisers I wouldn't have got a job in the wood business."

Ms Hammett said: "We open doors but the work is down to them." She hoped the project, which is jointly funded by the EU and Torfaen council, would continue to add stability to young people's lives after so much upheaval.