Wycombe Wanderers Sports & Education Trust is pleased to announce the appointment of Penny McLain-Smith to her role as Kickstart Education Assistant.
Penny joins the team with a proven track record of making a big difference to the young people she has worked with. This is something she has great experience in, having guided her younger sister, who has Autism, through the Covid-19 pandemic as her primary carer.
Penny leaves her previous role as a Private Lifeguard for the prestigious ‘Waterbabies’ organisation, where her role was to help to support the physical and emotional development of every child in her care, and to make sure that each mother and baby is fully supported. She used this experience to move on to also be a qualified swimming coach for children of primary school age. On top of this, Penny has experience as a group leader for the Lighthouse summer camps, having attended as a child, she returned as a group leader at 13 years of age.
Penny will be assisting with the delivery of the new Kickstart scheme. Wycombe Wanderers is one of 65 EFL clubs that have a charitable arm to have signed up for the government’s Kickstart scheme, providing hundreds of jobs for young people. Nationally, the scheme has already created more than 38,000 vacancies across the UK and received over 4,000 applications from employers. Tens of thousands more jobs are expected in the coming months.
Standing at 6ft 1in, Penny describes herself as a ‘friendly giant’, and she is passionate about fundraising. She has completed multiple fundraising events for charities such as Breast Cancer and Autism Awareness, raising thousands of pounds in the process.
Away from the office, Penny is something of a whizz on the crazy golf course, and given her experience in the pool, it is perhaps no surprise that she is also a keen swimmer. She also loves to bake and is fond of taking long walks – her favourite place to go for a stroll in the Peak District where she likes to holiday and explore the rolling hills. Penny has a Poodle-Bichon-Yorkie cross (which she hilarious nicknames a ‘poochonkie’) called Charlie.
