We hope you are all settling into the new term, we have shorter update for you this week. Thank you to all of you that attended our Term 2 Kick Off meeting. You can view the slides from this briefing here.

All Careers Leaders should now have received a calendar invite to our first masterclass of the term which will be a 30 minute virtual session with an additional 15 minutes Q&A and discussion. This is taking place on Thursday 30th January and will cover Internal Leadership reviews including how careers can be positioned as a driver for school, special school and college improvement, the benefits for Careers Leaders and an opportunity to hear from local careers leads that have recently undertake an Internal Leadership Review.

If you would like to attend and have not received a calendar invite please email careershub@southmidlands.org.uk

Reminder – Key Dates for the Spring Term

• Wednesday 22^nd January – New Career Leader & Industry Partner Careers Hub Introduction (for all new CL & IPs that have not yet attended, an opportunity to join our Hub Leads and learn more about South Midlands careers Hub. Invite will be sent via Teams, email careershub@southmidlands.org.uk if you would like to attend)
• Masterclasses – Calendar invitations will be sent out to all Career Leaders, if you do not receive an invitation and would like to attend please email careershub@southmidlands.org.uk.
  • Thursday 30^th January – Masterclass – Internal Leadership Review
  • Tuesday 25^th February – Masterclass – Parental Engagement
  • Tuesday 18^th March – Masterclass – Making in Meaningful
  • Thursday 24^th April – Masterclass – Universal vs Targeted Careers Education Programs
• Career Leader Network Meetings
  • 05/02/25 West Northants Career Leader Network Meeting
  • 06/02/25 North Northants Career Leader Network Meeting
  • 06/05/25 Central Bedfordshire Career Leader Network Meeting
  • 27/02/25 MK Career Leader Network Meeting

Adding a volunteering opportunity to our Careers Hub Website

It has been great to see the variety of career learning opportunities taking place across the South Midlands! We though it would be helpful to share some feedback and tips on how to make your volunteer requests stand out.

• Increase engagement by adding a photo from a previous event or if not your school/college logo
• Remember to ensure you give enough information and a full description of the activity easily understood by someone outside of education
• Offer flexibility where possible for volunteers that may not be available for the duration of the event
• Volunteers love to feel valued, include how them volunteering will impact students
• Don’t forget to proof read your content
• Add events as far in advance as possible

Show your appreciation by capturing volunteers in a photo and or sharing some student/staff feedback on the impact they have had. We now produce a termly newsletter for our volunteers and this type of content would really help encourage more volunteers. Please share any potential content with your Careers Consultant or email careershub@southmidlands.org.uk

We hope you have had a great festive break and are feeling well rested and refreshed! As we ease ourselves into 2025 we wanted to celebrate our current volunteers and share volunteering opportunities for businesses and individuals across The South Midlands to support our young people to become career ready!

For those of you new to South Midlands Careers Hub (previously South Midlands careers Hub, SEMLEP) we are the strategic arm of the Department for Education (DfE) responsible for supporting schools and colleges to improve the careers provision. We currently support 152 schools and colleges across Bedfordshire, Luton, Milton Keynes and Northamptonshire. Our mission is to strengthen business and education links locally and build career-ready young people. Employers are vital to help bridge the gap between education and employment and there are lots of ways you can support young people and school leaders, provide personal development for your staff and identify new talent. 

Partner with one of our schools or colleges as an Industry Partner

Enterprise Advisers partner with a school or college for a period of time, offering careers education support from an industry perspective, as a consultant, critical friend and coach, or to support a specific project. This is an great opportunity to make a real and lasting impact in the community.

Thank you, thank you, thank you

Massive shout out to our Industry Partners (previously known as Enterprise Advisers) who provided a match to one of our schools or colleges in 2024

New Industry Partner Matches

Pictured above, a new partnership between Manor School, Raunds and Industry Partner, Adam Fox, Senior Vice President of Wellingborough & East Northants Chamber of Commerce & Director of Evolve Business Coaching Ltd. Careers Leader, Simon Hill, SLT Careers Link, Justine Mitchell-Bunce & Careers Coordinator, Lisa Smedley provided a warm welcome to Adam and have already established a positive partnership.

A huge welcome to Adam and our other new Industry Partners who we have listed below

• Agnieszka Smith, easyJet
• Celine McGuigan, easyJet
• Lydia Selby, University of Northampton
• Natalie Gibbings, Aiimi
• Charlotte Sykes, CWR Consultancy
• Elaine Kendall, Kori Construction
• Kushilka Zaharia, easyJet
• Sandra Trew, Get Real Parental Coaching
• Wendy Ingram, easyJet
• Lucy Randall
• Robin Evans, easyJet

Industry Partner Vacancies

We are keen to ensure that all young people across the South Midlands benefit from the support of an Industry partner. The schools below do not currently benefit from am Industry Partner. If you live, work or are Alumni from one of these schools and interested in a match please let us know, email careershub@southmidlands.org.uk

Industry Champions

Our Industry Champions inspire and help prepare young people for the world of work. Volunteer requests from our schools and colleges are advertised here. This is an opportunity to share your knowledge, insights and experience on an ad-hoc basis. Current activities include speed networking, year 7 networking, dragons den activity, business breakfast and real life math activity.

Business Breakfast Networking Event – Wrenn School, Wellingborough

As part of Wrenn Schools’ drive to develop relationships with community partners and local businesses, their Careers Leader and Careers Consultant worked together to invite business/community leaders to attend their first ‘Business Breakfast Networking Event’ to communicate and showcase Wrenn’s aspirational Careers Programme. The event took place on: Wednesday 23rd October 2024 from 7.30 – 8.30am, at: Wrenn School, Wellingborough

Head of Careers, Jo Bolton presented an overview of the Careers Programme
Claire Coles AIEP Coles, Careers Consultant and Debbie Dymock RCDP, Industry Partner and Owner of Northamptonshire Careers delivered short presentations detailing support of Wrenn School.

The event concluded with an opportunity to network and speak to members of the Careers Team to explore opportunities to engage with Wrenn School over the coming year.

Successful collaboration between Tui and Luton Sixth Form

The collaboration between TUI and Luton Sixth Form College represents a significant partnership aimed at enhancing educational and career opportunities for students. This partnership leverages the strengths of both institutions to provide students with practical experiences and insights into the travel and tourism industry. TUI sees the partnership with Luton Sixth Form College as part of a broader strategy to invest in local communities and nurture future talent. By partnering with educational institutions, TUI aims to bridge the gap between academic learning and real-world application, ensuring that students are well-prepared for careers in the tourism sector.

TUI support Luton Sixth Form College students by offering career inspiration days. These days allow the students to visit the head office and become immersed in the TUI culture whilst learning about the different roles on offer and entry points into the business. The students also engage in practical activities, focusing on teambuilding, teamwork and collaboration and presentation skills. Some of TUI’s pilot and engineering team have also visited the college to deliver talks around our MPL (multi-pilot license) programme and our engineering apprenticeship opportunities that the students can apply for. The Emerging Talent Team also support the colleges careers fairs and offer pop-up stands at different points of the year to provide information on current and upcoming vacancies and apprenticeship programmes.

TUI have recruited many Luton Sixth Form Alumni into the business. For our emerging talent programmes, we recruited two students in our most recent campaign. Charlotte, one of our new commercial apprentices from Luton Sixth Form said ‘Throughout my time at school and college, I had several interactions with the TUI team. I remember coming away feeling excited about the opportunities that they offered! These memories helped me find a pathway to my current role on the apprenticeship which still gives me that same excited feeling!’

TUI hopes to continue to build the relationships we have with Luton Sixth Form College and continue to support the recruitment of students from the local area by providing key insights and local opportunities.

easyJet collaboration to apprenticeship success for Challney High School for Boys student

As a large local employer for the town, easyJet work closely with Luton schools and colleges,to inform students of the breadth of opportunities available across the organisation and wider aviation industry. easyJet got in touch with Louise, our Luton Careers Consultant to offer visits to the schools, to talk about an exciting new apprenticeship that was launching in Autumn 2024.

Shital Pancholi, Career Leader for Challney High School for Boys, was quick to sign up for this, given easyJet’s relationship with the school as an Industry Partner, and the familiarity to the students, through the many trips and encounters they’d had.

easyJet colleagues, Ruth Martin and Pete Foreman, attended a year 11 lunch time drop-in session and were joined by 10 serious students. They talked through the new Maintenance Operations Apprenticeship including the application process and what the training and role would involve. Student Arman Chowdhury submitted an application after attending the talk and was successful. He started his apprenticeship in September.

On the news of his success, Shital said “We feel so proud of him for taking on this amazing opportunity and are very grateful to easyJet for working with our school to promote these opportunities to their future workforce”.

Milton Keynes Industry partners have had a busy autumn term

MK Industry Partners and Champions have been busy over the past term supporting with school enterprise activities, experiences of the workplace, mentoring, assemblies, careers fairs and even arranging the MK STEM festival.  Santander kindly hosted a tour of Unity Place (I didn’t know there is a microbrewery that uses the surplus bread and leftover loaves from the on-site bakery!)  It was great to show students the range of careers available, not only at Santander, but also within Unity Place. 

Share Your Volunteering Story

If you have a volunteering story we would love to hear from you so we can share as part of our next Hub Newsletter for Industry. Please email details to careershub@southmidlnds.org.uk

Find Out More

Our schools and colleges run many events throughout the year where they require the support of Industry Champions. As an Industry Champion you are able to view all current volunteering opportunities here and express your interest in attending these.

Take a look at our latest Industry Champion volunteering opportunities here

Want to find out more about what we do/ Join our Hub Leads Wednesday 22^nd January for a Careers Hub Introduction. This will be virtual via Teams, Email us careershub@southmidlands.org.uk if you would like to attend.

Happy new year! We hope you have had a lovely festive break and are well rested in preparation for another busy term! Whilst its a shorter term its action packed with both National Apprenticeships Week beginning 10/02/2025 and National Careers Week starting 03/03/25.

We have added key dates below which include a range of masterclasses that link to the five main themes of the updated Gatsby Benchmarks. These will be 30 minute virtual sessions and we encourage you to prioritise attending wherever possible.

We then expect to have had the new careers statutory guidance published and will follow up with briefings (similar to the Gatsby briefings) within a few weeks of publication. In the summer term we will then focus on individual benchmark masterclasses running through May, June and July.

Key Dates for the Spring Term

• Wednesday 8^th January – Term 2 Kick Off (for Careers Leaders and Industry Partners). View the slides from this briefing here.
• Wednesday 22^nd January – New Career Leader & Industry Partner Careers Hub Introduction (for all new CL & IPs that have not yet attended, an opportunity to join our Hub Leads and learn more about South Midlands careers Hub. Invite will be sent via Teams, email careershub@southmidlands.org.uk if you would like to attend)
• Masterclasses – Calendar invitations will be sent out to all Career Leaders, if you do not receive an invitation and would like to attend please email careershub@southmidlands.org.uk.
  • Thursday 30^th January – Masterclass – Internal Leadership Review
  • Tuesday 25^th February – Masterclass – Parental Engagement
  • Tuesday 18^th March – Masterclass – Making in Meaningful
  • Thursday 24^th April – Masterclass – Universal vs Targeted Careers Education Programs
• Career Leader Network Meetings
  • 13/01/25 Luton Career Leader Network Meeting
  • 22/01/25 Bedford Borough Career Leader Network Meeting
  • 05/02/25 West Northants Career Leader Network Meeting
  • 06/02/25 North Northants Career Leader Network Meeting
  • 06/05/25 Central Bedfordshire Career Leader Network Meeting
  • 27/02/25 MK Career Leader Network Meeting

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Celebrating Success

We wanted to ensure that we are recognising and celebrating your hard earned achievements, so are introducing a termly Celebrating Success feature. If you have some innovative practice to share, have recently achieved the Quality in Careers Standard, or have studied hard to complete a careers qualification please let your Careers Consultant know, (pictures most welcome!)

easyJet school collaboration leads to apprenticeship success for Challney High School for Boys Student

As a local large employer for the town, easyJet work closely with Luton schools and colleges, to inform students of the breadth of opportunities available across the organisation and wider aviation industry.

easyJet got in touch with Louise, our Luton Careers Consultant to offer visits to the schools, to talk about an exciting new apprenticeship that was launching in Autumn 2024.

Shital Pancholi, Career Leader for Challney High School for Boys, was quick to sign up for this, given easyJet’s relationship with the school as an Industry Partner, and the familiarity to the students, through the many trips and encounters they’d had.

easyJet colleagues, Ruth Martin and Pete Foreman, attended a year 11 lunch time drop-in session and were joined by 10 serious students. They talked through the new Maintenance Operations Apprenticeship including the application process and what the training and role would involve. Student Arman Chowdhury submitted an application after attending the talk and was successful. He started his apprenticeship in September.

On the news of his success, Shital said “We feel so proud of him for taking on this amazing opportunity and are very grateful to easyJet for working with our school to promote these opportunities to their future workforce”.

Industry Partner Supports Successful Business breakfast at Wren School

As part of Wrenn Schools’ drive to develop relationships with community partners and local businesses, their Careers Leader and Careers Consultant worked together to invite business/community leaders to attend their first ‘Business Breakfast Networking Event’ to communicate and showcase Wrenn’s aspirational Careers Programme. The event took place on: Wednesday 23rd October 2024 from 7.30 – 8.30am, at: Wrenn School, Wellingborough

Head of Careers, Jo Bolton presented an overview of the Careers Programme
Claire Coles, Careers Consultant and Debbie Dymock, Industry Partner and owner of Northamptonshire Careers delivered short presentations detailing support of Wrenn School.

The event concluded with an opportunity to network and speak to members of the Careers Team to explore opportunities to engage with Wrenn School over the coming year.

Careers Leader and Careers Adviser Qualification Completions

Congratulations Zoe Correa on completing your Level 6 qualification in Careers Leadership – no mean feat alongside developing your programme and your many other commitments and responsibilities. The students of Huxlow Academy have benefitted from a range of careers activities including a Careers Fair, drop down days, and support from South Midlands Careers Hub Industry Partner, Adrian Green FITOL.

‘It has been a joy to work with you over the past year and I look forward to achieving more of our aims over the next one – watch this space!’ Claire, North Northants Careers Consultant.

Joanne Ripley, Career Leader at Lincroft Academy completed her Level 6 Careers Leader award in August 2023 while still fairly new to post. Joanne went on to start her Level 6 Guidance and Development qualification in October 2023 and completed it by August 2024. Joanne has completed this all while developing a proactive careers programme for the students of Lincroft Academy.

Careers Leader Simon Hill offers peer to peer support on developing careers area of school website

Simon Hill, Careers Leader: Manor School, Raunds recently answered the call to support two North Northants Careers Leaders by sharing his approach to the development of his Careers page on the school website, sharing insight and a list of top tips! We really appreciate Simon generously providing his time and expertise in this peer to peer project.

We are also delighted to celebrate a new partnership between Manor School, Raunds and Industry Partner, Adam Fox, Senior Vice President of Wellingborough & East Northants Chamber of Commerce & Director of Evolve Business Coaching Ltd. Careers Leader, Simon Hill, SLT Careers Link, Justine Mitchell-Bunce & Careers Coordinator, Lisa Smedley provided a warm welcome to Adam and have already established a positive partnership.

Milton Keynes schools have had a fantastic start to the new academic year

Sir Herbert Leon have been rated as a good school by Ofsted showing how a careers programme can have an impact on whole school improvement when it’s seen as a golden thread.

We have welcomed a number of new Careers Leaders with Nadia at Watling Academy, Laura at St Pauls, Aline at Sir Herbert Leon and Cheryl at Stantonbury all joining us for the local cohort of Career Leader training! It’s great to have so many new Career Leaders engaging early on in the support available to learn more about the leadership role. The positive impact the training is having can already be seen. Sam at Oakgrove is undertaking her guidance qualification and working hard to support students whilst achieving this qualification.

Shout outs to Cat at Denbigh and Dawn at Kents Hill for sending out the Future Skills Questionnaires to students – it’s fantastic to have student voice to help shape the future careers progamme in school and will be so important with the new Gatsby benchmarks.

MKA have run a great enterprise week and had a STEMX, Red Bull visit. St Pauls have started an apprenticeship academy for Year 13’s and it will be great to see the outcomes 😊 Thanks to Donna at Walton and Alyce at 5 Dimensions Trust for running an apprenticeship information session and sharing how they run apprenticeship ‘academies’ – it really helps sharing best practice. Renuka at Lord Grey has been arranging fantastic experiences of the workplace for her students and Slated Row and Woodlands School are brilliant at providing their students with the best opportunities to succeed.

Many schools have held fantastic careers fairs and employability events and the pictures below show how engaged everyone has been!