Staff at Heworth Grange School in Gateshead, part of Consilium Academies, hosted a Business Education Enterprise Partnership (BEEP) conference this month to create employability and progression pathways for students in the local area beyond their time at school.

 

Twenty local employers, five local education institutions and Senior Leadership staff from schools across Gateshead met with Heworth Grange, to discuss how students can understand and engage with their future careers. Attendees included the Military Preparation College for Training (MPCT), Procter and Gamble, Ford Aerospace and Access Learning.

 

On the day, everyone came together understand how to make students aware of the alternative pathways they could take after school, with a focus on Science Technology Education and Maths (STEM) technical education routes. Neil Willis, Regional Lead for Education Challenge, spoke about how the North East Local Enterprise Partnership is supporting young people with early careers intervention and aims to improve social mobility across the region.

 

The BEEP initiative was created a year ago by the North East Learning Education Partnership, which offers essential networking opportunities with a bank of local business to Gateshead secondary schools to support students with their future careers.

 

Funded by the Gatsby Foundation, a charity-led organisation dedicated to providing high-quality career guidance in education, the initiative has helped Heworth Grange in developing a curriculum aligned with the skills of employers and the future economy, giving young people in Gateshead the best chance of a positive next step. The project has gained momentum both nationally and regionally, with strong support from local MPs and the Gateshead Council.

 

The BEEP project has also developed a digital resource with employers, which will help Heworth Grange students to practice job-searching and provide mock interview skills and techniques.

 

Martyn Searles, Personal Development Lead at Heworth Grange School, said:

“A key aim of our careers programme is to provide all students with a rich diet of experiences. The BEEP conference has enabled us to further develop our connections with major employers, and apprenticeship and further education providers across the region.

 

“Giving our students access to the whole spectrum of the world of work and further education is vitally important and something we are constantly striving to expand.”

 

Allie Denholm, Headteacher at Heworth Grange School, part of Consilium Academies, said:

“We realised very early in the development of our careers strategy that improving aspirations, broadening horizons, and raising attainment for our students meant that they needed meaningful encounters with external providers, for students to understand and engage with their next steps in life.

“We are very grateful to be working alongside a dedicated and supportive employer and further education network.”

 

Claire Bell, Careers Lead at Heworth Grange School, said:

“The conference was a huge success. We want to thank all the employers, school leaders and staff who engaged with it so brilliantly.

 

“Funding from the BEEP initiative has enabled us to pilot and evaluate different approaches to bridging the education and enterprise agendas, with a focus on achieving good careers benchmarks and progression pathways.”