On 27th September the Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) celebrated the work of schools, colleges, businesses, and careers professionals with its annual careers awards ceremony for 2019.
Over 200 nominations were accepted and the winner was chosen by a panel of independent expert judges at an awards ceremony at The Royal Society of Chemistry in London.
Sarah Barley, Trust Director of Employability, was announced the winner of The Innovation of The Year Award for the work that she has done on the Employer-Led Engineering Programme here at Malet Lambert School.
The Employer-Led Engineering Programme enables Year 10 pupils to study for their GCSE qualifications and take part in a range of activities, masterclasses and workshops, enabling them to apply for some of the region’s most competitive job roles, apprenticeships, college and university courses. This programme has already been discussed with Her Majesty the Queen, won The National Apprenticeship Award and featured in The Parliamentary Review.
Pupils on the programme are given the opportunity to;
Over 100 employer partners now work with the Education Alliance on this programme offering mentoring, work placements or masterclass opportunities.
Pupils across our Trust schools have already completed the programme and secured some of the most competitive and high profile apprenticeships, university courses and college courses in the region. The majority of pupils on the programme are working with large employers such as Siemens Gamesa, Rolls Royce, BAE, HETA, Audi and Airbus.
Sarah Barley said “I am delighted with the result. The Employer Led Engineering Programme has now grown to achieve national recognition through The Careers and Enterprise Company which aims to develop careers programmes in schools and colleges and bridge the gap between education and employment across the UK. I am thrilled that Malet Lambert School has been selected as having one of the most innovative careers programmes in the country. It’s a fantastic achievement for all of the staff and students involved in the programme”
The programme was commended for its ability to reach all of the Gatsby Benchmarks which are a framework of eight guidelines that define the best careers provision in schools and colleges. Professor Sir John Homan; who researched and created these guidelines, was on the judging panel and praised the programme for its innovative approach to reaching all eight benchmarks.
Claudia Harris, chief executive of the Careers and Enterprise Company, said: “The organisations and individuals recognised are setting the bar in careers provision across England and changing the lives of the children they work with. “We are delighted to be able to celebrate their work and and look forward to seeing their continued impact in the years ahead.”
Mrs Barley will deliver a presentation on the benefits of the programme at the Y9 Options event in November and will continue to send out updates to all other year groups through The Voice.