North East Connected

Silverdale School looks to boost talent pipeline with business event

A free event by Silverdale School and Additionally Resourced Provision (ARP) aims to boost the talent pipeline for North Tyneside businesses and help young people into the world of work.

The Wallsend-based special needs school is opening its doors to local businesses at a business breakfast on Wednesday 20 November in a bid to build relationships and help link classroom teaching with future career pathways.

The event forms part of work with Silverdale’s Enterprise Adviser, Emma Watson at Engie North Tyneside, who has been liaising with the school to introduce new ways of supporting students as they move into employment or further education.

Enterprise Advisers are business leaders who work closely with a school’s senior leadership team to develop and drive a careers strategy that helps young people gain more experience of work and have more meaningful encounters with employers.

The Enterprise Adviser programme is a national initiative which connects senior business leaders with schools and colleges. It is managed in the North East by the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), as part of its North East Ambition programme.

Silverdale School and ARP caters for students between the ages of seven and sixteen who experience emotional, social and behavioural difficulties. The team there has already successfully helped students into work at organisations including North Tyneside Council and Trespass.

Alan Henny, standards manager and careers leader at Silverdale School, said: “We know that businesses want to support young people and help them develop the skills, attitudes and behaviours that employers seek, which is why we are holding this event to create opportunities through new partnerships.

“We are very proud of the achievements of our students and know they can be a valuable resource for businesses looking for young talent. We hope lots of local companies will sign up to find out more.”

Emma Watson, Schools HR Business Partner at Engie North Tyneside said: “This is an amazing opportunity for businesses to support young people through working with Silverdale.

“We are evolving how organisations and businesses can support young people in their education and choices beyond education. Many businesses typically think that we want work experience placements, but this isn’t what we are looking for.

“We want to tap into the potential that the pupils at Silverdale have, and the best way to do this is to create shared experiences with local people and businesses. This provides opportunity and choices for our young people, while the organisations involved benefit from knowing that they have added value to a worthwhile careers programme and many of the individuals themselves.”

Businesses who would like to attend the free business breakfast from 9am on Wednesday 20 November can register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/prepare-to-be-wowd-silverdale-school-tickets-77720180151.

The North East Ambition programme, delivered by the North East LEP, aims to support every secondary school and college across the region to adopt and implement the government’s Good Career Guidance Benchmarks.

For more information visit northeastlep.co.uk.

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