THE FINAL day of Sunderland’s unique education initiative will give head teachers and business leaders the opportunity to share experience and expectations about young people entering the world of work.
Work Discovery Week draws to a close on Friday (15 July) with a full day of activities involving schools from across the city of Sunderland.
And for the first time in the event’s history, the final day will launch with a Business Breakfast, where business leaders and representatives from local authorities and education will be able to ask questions to a panel of head teachers.
The event is being organised in conjunction with leading business networking organisation, The Mussel Club, and sponsored by furniture manufacturer, Godfrey Syrett.
“Work Discovery week is an excellent initiative to educate young people about the world of work and we’re very happy to be sponsoring the Business Breakfast on the final day of the event,” said David Hall, Group Sales Director at Godfrey Syrett.
“As a supplier to the education sector, it’s key for us to spend time with the people who are making decisions on the learning environment and to understand the key challenges and opportunities they face.”
Paul McEldon, co-chair of Work Discovery Sunderland said the breakfast would be the culmination of an extremely successful week.
“This is the first time we have run anything like this ahead of the final day’s events and we are delighted that around 100 people will be coming along to share experiences and to help improve the employability of the young people of Sunderland,” he said.
The breakfast will be followed by the annual Business Schools Challenge, where young people from nine schools across the city will present to a panel of experts a new product, piece of equipment or service they have created.
The day – sponsored by Calsonic Kansei – will see the young people questioned by the panel before a winner is chosen.
Work Discovery Week is now in it is fourth year and more than 1000 pupils have been involved across the week.
The event opened on Monday at the Stadium of Light, with around 800 young people involved in a range of activities including a careers fair, hand-on activities, workshops and demonstrations.
Work Discovery Week forms part of the year-long Work Discovery Sunderland programme which includes specific sector days and guest speaker days.
The event is sponsored by a range of key business including Accenture, Nissan, the University of Sunderland, Sunderland College and Make It Sunderland along with Arriva, Unipres, Calsonic Kansei, Gentoo, Leibherr UK, North East LEP, the Bridges and Northern Print Solutions.
SAFC, NECC and Sunderland City Council are also key partners of the Work Discovery Sunderland programme.