Name: Sara Foster Pedelty
Job: Schools team manager
Joined: September 2001
My job is to support and manage the work of 15 schools officers who go out to schools across London educating primary aged children about fire safety. We also provide help and advice to all Brigade staff, including firefghters, who work with children on fire safety.
I joined the LFB as a schools officer, before that I worked in direct sales for various large companies which is surprisingly quite similar to the role I have now. The job advert for schools officers appeared to have been tailor made for me as the skills required to promote and sell products are very similar to convincing people to take onboard a concept or idea and act upon it.
When the role was advertised I could see that there was an opportunity to make a real difference in making people safer using the skills I had developed whilst working within sales, but without the need to persuade people to spend. I liked that! The best bit about my job is carrying out community safety work with lots of different people from across the Brigade. And the enthusiasm and commitment that every member of my team has for the work they do is so infectious.
We know that we really do make a difference in helping keep children and their families safer from fire and that feels incredibly rewarding – you can’t get any better than that. I’d like to find the next step on my career path within the LFB and to continue to have as much fulfilment in any future roles as I have now with the Schools Team. The Brigade’s community safety work opens up a wealth of opportunities to anyone who doesn’t fancy themselves as a firefighter but still wants to represent the Brigade working within London’s communities.
