The Department of Education have congratulated Nicole Torres Byrne on her Learner of the Year award in this year’s British Association for Supported Employment (BASE) graduation ceremony.

In her role as Supported Internship Coordinator, Nicole, pictured to the left with Kathy Melling, Course Leader and Assessor, facilitates assisted employment and work placements for young adults with disabilities. Nicole has successfully established Gibraltar’s first ever appropriate Supported Employment Service. In a single year Nicole has formalised the offer to young adults and is currently working to develop supported internship provision for young people in their last year of education. Nicole works diligently to expand these services and her work is proving key to the drive to increase the number of disabled people in employment in Gibraltar.

Minister for Education, the Hon. Professor John Cortes, said: “It is Hugely satisfying to see how a new initiative in such an important area bears fruit, and I am especially pleased that Nicole’s work has been recognised in this way.”