Category: Skills

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Growing our Digital Future

We are working closely with Accenture to encourage schools to participate in their Digital Skills programme – a free initiative for schools to help students enhance their experiences of digital communications.

Thanks to Ryan Gibson, Facilitator for the Good Career Guidance Benchmarks pilot, for this blog about digital careers in the North East, and the many reasons why teachers should encourage students to participate in the programme.

I wonder if like me, you have often heard phrases such as the ‘digital economy’, ‘digital literacy’ or ‘digital community’ but not really taken the time to reflect on what these actually mean, their impact on economic growth, the prosperity of the region, more and better jobs and the implications for how we prepare young people to enter and thrive in an ever changing labour market.

A North East of England Chamber of Commerce survey in 2015 found that 66% of businesses believed that education was not effectively preparing young people for work. The House of Lords have stated that digital skills should be taught as a third core subject, valued as important as achievement in Maths and English.

How many of us now check the news using an app on our phone, connect with friends and family on facebook, use internet banking, shop online, follow people on twitter or connect with them on LinkedIn. When reflecting on your own professional role, I wonder if you recognise similar things to me? I am increasingly working with platforms such as Google Docs and Dropbox, collecting, collating, presenting and evaluating big data, tweeting, using LinkedIn, using Skype and writing blogs! It is challenging isn’t it and certainly something I was not prepared for. I had to learn as I went, picking up bits and pieces from colleagues who seemed to have mastered this whole new world.

Businesses, and especially SMEs, report that digital skills are becoming essential in all areas of work, regardless of the sector. Indeed a quick glance at online job posts and vacancy websites reinforces the growing demand for digitally competent individuals. While it is not possible to predict exactly what digital skills a young person may need in the future, it is important that we work to ensure that they can evidence a level of digital skills that will appeal to an employer – ensuring that they are both prepared and equipped to take advantage of better job opportunities.

So what exactly are those job opportunities in the North East. Well, take a look at our refreshed Strategic Economic Plan for the region. The North East digital community is one of the most vibrant, productive and rapidly developing in the UK.

With over 29,000 IT and digital employees working in the region and a further 15,250 creative industries employees, we have a technology industry valued at £2 billion – part of a northern ICT economy worth £12 billion. And isn’t it fantastic that the Headquarters of FTSE 100 listed software leader, Sage, shared service centres for HP, BT, Accenture and IBM are all located in the North East.

There is also a fantastic network of business support organisations operating here in the region, which I will talk about in a future blog.

So, with fantastic opportunities comes a key challenge – how can we better prepare and equip each and every young person with the digital skills they need to take advantage of job opportunities and thrive in this hotbed of digital activity? We are delighted to support Accenture’s ‘Digital Skills’ programme, as it’s a fantastic way of doing just that.

This free online course, designed by Accenture, is available to 16+ year olds and focuses on six modules:

  • Digital fundamentals
  • Social media
  • Digital marketing
  • User Experience
  • Mobility
  • Analytics

These six units can be integrated into sixth form / college curriculum or can be studied by students in their own time and at their own pace. The MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) uses the Future Learn platform to deliver an innovative social learning approach, supported with over 90 bitesize videos and individualised assessments to recognize achievement. On completion, students receive an Accenture ‘digital badge’, accrediting and validating their learning and allowing them to evidence their skills to employers across the region.

As an educator, I can’t help but see how beneficial this could be on a student’s UCAS, apprenticeship or job application form and how important it is to help young people build their professional online profile. With 27% growth in digital salaries in the North East, over 1500 current vacancies in the region, a projected 745000 more workers needed with digital skills by the end of 2017 and 49% of SMEs saying they lack workers with basic digital skills – can we really afford not to take advantage of such amazing opportunities?

If you think that your students could benefit from this free programme, please contact [email protected] by the end of June. Sign up now and be ready to begin the course in September.

Home / Skills / Page 19

North East LEP initiative supports students with special educational needs into the workplace

Children and young people from Northumberland with a wide range of learning difficulties and disabilities are being given valuable experience of the world of work thanks to the North East LEP’s Enterprise Adviser initiative.

Students at Cleaswell Hill School, Choppington, Northumberland, will be undertaking work placements and hearing direct from businesses about jobs in the North East economy thanks to the school’s involvement with newly appointed Enterprise Adviser, Keith Nicholson, General Manager of the sustainable development company, Earth Balance.

Keith is the latest North East business leader to join the North East Local Enterprise Partnership’s Enterprise Adviser initiative, which seeks to improve careers education in schools and colleges and support them in working towards the Good Career Guidance Benchmarks, a national pilot scheme led by the North East LEP to improve the quality of careers advice.

Keith Nicholson, General Manager of Earth Balance said:

Physical and mental disability should not be a barrier to employment. That’s a really important message we need to send to young people and employers.

I’m looking forward to working with the staff and students at Cleaswell Hill School to show them the opportunities available to them in their area. I want students to have a realistic picture of what it’s like to work in different sectors so they can make an educated choice about their future.

I’ll also be working with businesses to dispel some of the myths around employing someone with a disability.

Emma Steele, Sixth Form Cluster Leader at Cleaswell Hill School, said:

Working with Keith and Earth Balance has been a fantastic experience so far as we’ve been able to introduce the students to a range of different employers and open their eyes to a host of different careers.

Giving them experience of a real life work environment will be really important in creating and raising aspirations. This experience could be the start of future career for many of our students.

Cleaswell Hill School provides specialist education for children and young people aged four to 19 with a range of complex needs and disabilities. Its key aim is to equip students with the skills, knowledge and experience needed to live and work in society with the highest level of independence as possible, contributing and caring for one another.

It provides support and guidance to help overcome the barriers that may have affected many students’ progress in the past.

In addition to Emma’s role at Cleaswell Hill School, she also chairs the SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) Working Group, a partnership between the North East LEP and a range of public, private and charity organisatons that work to ensure young people with special educational needs and disabilities can access quality careers advice and benefit from the Good Career Guidance Benchmarks in their schools.

Lindsey Peek, Enterprise Coordinator at the North East LEP said:

One of the aims of the SEND Working Group is to address the potential barriers to work for young people and how, as a group, we can find innovative solutions to those problems.

Our Enterprise Advisers are helping that work by championing their positive experiences of working with SEND Schools to the business community. Keith is the perfect Enterprise Adviser to partner with Cleaswell Hill School. Not only is his business based in the area, he has a real commitment to ensure all young people, not matter what their physical or mental ability, have access to the same opportunities and experiences. We share his belief that everyone should be able to achieve his or her career aspirations.

Enterprise Advisers bridge the gap between business and education, ensuring schools and colleges provide the best possible careers advice and students have an excellent understanding of the opportunities available to them in the North East.

The initiative also supports schools and colleges in delivering the Good Career Guidance Benchmarks; eight clearly defined benchmarks for high quality and effective careers guidance. The pilot in the North East LEP region has proved so successful the benchmarks are expected to form part of Government’s new statutory guidance for schools in delivering careers advice. The North East LEP also hopes to expand the scheme to include Primary schools.

The North East LEP’s Enterprise Adviser programme has been running since December 2015. Part of a national initiative developed by The Careers and Enterprise Company, Enterprise Advisers work in partnership with enterprise coordinators to support schools and colleges to navigate the range of possible employer interactions and to help them create a whole school strategy for careers, enterprise and employer engagement.

Find out more about the Enterprise Adviser Network and register your interest.

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Celebrating success: The Enterprise Adviser Network

The North East LEP’s Enterprise Adviser Network connects senior business leaders with schools and colleges, working closely with their senior leadership team to develop and drive a careers strategy that helps young people gain more experience of the world of work and have meaningful encounters with employers.

Lindsey Peek, North East LEP Enterprise Co-ordinator, gives an update on the Network’s success so far:

We’ve had an excellent response from the region’s schools, colleges and businesses since we started the North East’s Enterprise Adviser Network in 2015.

 

To date we’ve partnered 45 Enterprise Advisers with 45 schools and colleges across the North East, and we’re looking to achieve more. We’re proud to have some of the region’s most influential business leaders involved, representing a range of different sectors.

 

They include Giselle Stewart, Director of Corporate Affairs at video game company Ubisoft Reflections, Sophie Pickup, ‎Learning & Development Manager at Northumbrian Water Group and Jen Chamley, Community Engagement Manager at Capita Property & Infrastructure Ltd.

 

Other leading organisations to join our Enterprise Adviser Network initiative include Barclays, British Engines, Bellway Homes, Unipres, ORE Catapult, Accenture, Printed.com and Campus North.

 

The role of the Enterprise Adviser is to bridge the gap between business and education and create a whole school or college strategy for careers, enterprise and employer engagement. From routes to employment and interview skills to work experience and apprenticeships, students learn about the many career opportunities available to them in the North East and educators develop a better understanding of the local economy, which improves the quality of the careers advice and guidance they can provide to students.

 

Creating a meaningful link between education and business has greatly improved student’s understanding of the labour market and helped the business community access a talented and enthusiastic future workforce who will build the economy of tomorrow.

 

Just one example of the success of our Enterprise Adviser Network initiative is Churchill Community College’s partnership with Accenture.

Karen Marshall, Apprentice, Education and Engagement Lead at Accenture, introduced students to a range of careers-themed events including career speed dating, interactive careers fairs, mock interview events and assemblies. Karen, in partnership with Churchill Community College, also delivered an innovative Assessment Centre simulation exercise for Year 13 students to equip them with experience of a real life work situation. Accenture put the whole year group through the selection process offering guidance on CV writing before taking 40 students for a full assessment centre experience. Many of the college’s GSCE students have also met curriculum targets as part of site visits involving Accenture staff.

 

The Northumberland Church of England Academy’s partnership with ORE Catapult has been citied as an example of best practice by education experts.

As well as taking part in the Academy’s World of Work Day, which sees over 50 leading employers and learning providers give students an insight into a range of different careers, ORE Catapult has also provided work experience opportunities and one to one mentoring. Mark Fox, Careers and Employability Manager at Northumberland Church of England Academy and Tony Quinn, Operations Director at ORE Catapult will be continuing to work together to provide students with unique career guidance and development experiences.

 

To highlight some of the fantastic work being delivered as part of the initiative, we’ve produced a series of videos featuring some of the schools taking part.

Sam Mcloughlin at Studio West School, Newcastle upon Tyne, shared his first-hand experience of the benefits that come from working with an Enterprise Adviser. You can view the video here:

Studio West

We’re still looking for schools and colleges across the North East to join our Enterprise Adviser Network Initiative and partner with leading businesses on a journey to improve careers education and guidance for young people in the region.

 

If you’d like to find out more, please contact me or one my colleagues:

Lindsey Peek
[email protected]

Denis Heaney
[email protected]

Andrew Mills
[email protected]

We look forward to working with you

Lindsey Peek
Enterprise Co-ordinator, Enterprise Adviser Programme at the North East LEP

Home / Skills / Page 19

Youth employment officer – North East region

Leonard Cheshire Disability is recruiting for a Youth Employment Officer, to be based partly from the North East LEP offices and partly from home.

About Leonard Cheshire Disability

Leonard Cheshire Disability is one of the world’s leading charities for disabled people. We believe that disabled people should have the freedom to live their lives the way they choose – with the opportunity and support to live independently, to contribute economically and to participate fully in society.

Salary and benefits

£27,042 per annum (expenses costs also covered)

Working hours

Full time contract, 35 hours per week (Pilot contract initially agreed till September 2018)

Find out more

To find out more, and apply online, visit the website.

Closing date: Wednesday 17 May

Home / Skills / Page 19

A lesson in employer engagement

Representatives from three North East schools and colleges visited School 21 in London to find out about the school’s innovative approach to employer engagement. The visit built on the progress the schools and colleges have already achieved as part of the Good Career Guidance Benchmarks, which are being piloted in the North East and which aim to transform careers guidance in schools.

School 21 is known for having developed strong links with local employers, with each of its students completing practical work placements, during which they work on a solution to a real workplace project.

Leanne Johnston, Assistant Headteacher at The King Edward VI School in Morpeth was one of the attendees.

The team at School 21 really are inspirational and I had heard from them at various events, so as soon as the opportunity to visit came around, I wanted to go.

As soon as you enter the school you get the impression it’s something different and you can’t help but feel inspired when you go there. The biggest thing for me was speaking to the students. They are confident, eloquent and spoke really well.

At School 21, students typically study for eight GCSEs: one or two fewer than most schools. This is to prioritise the school’s additional activities, including those around employability.

Year 10 students complete two work placements across the academic year – every Wednesday afternoon they are on placement. The students get a mid-placement appraisal, as well as an exit appraisal from their employer which adds to the real experience; it replicates performance management protocols and also allows impact to be measured.

While on placement, students are working towards the completion of a project or brief which has been set by the employer, which makes it different from traditional ‘shadowing’ type of work experience.

We met some of the staff at the school who explained that, when it comes to pitching requests to businesses, there’s no ‘one size fits all’ approach – partnerships need to be nurtured and may take a while to develop.

A lot of the principles which School 21 use in terms of employer engagement we use too, here in the North East, but our situations are very different – for example our location and number of students – we share a lot of principles but in a different context.

The visit was organised in conjunction with The Edge Foundation, an independent education charity which works to raise the status of technical and professional education.

Olly Newton, Director of Policy and Research at The Edge Foundation, said:

It was a fascinating visit. As well as seeing some of the amazing work the students had produced during their projects, we also heard about the school’s approach to project-based learning and met some year 10 students who were really engaging.

The school places a big emphasis on ‘oracy’, highlighting that oral communication skills are as important as written communication, and this really came across when talking to the students about their work placements.

One of the main lessons was how to really engage employers in the life of the school, using specific projects where young people are delivering something back to the business. By taking on a business problem, the placement is delivering a new solution for the business as well as developing the workforce of the future. It’s an alternative to the more usual CSR perspective for offering a work placement.

Find out more about the Good Careers Guidance Benchmarks which are being piloted in the North East.

Home / Skills / Page 19

Sharing good practice with national leaders in learning

It’s been a great year for our skills programme; we’ve really seen our plans start to come to fruition, and have received local, regional and national recognition from government and other organisations for the pioneering activities we’re delivering. Good career guidance for people of all ages is just one of our areas of focus, and with the Good Career Guidance Benchmarks pilot at the centre of this, we’ve seen impressive results, great examples of collaboration and a real sense of cohesion in this space.

We’re very proud that practitioners and school groups from across the country are reaching out to us and wanting to visit our region to see the pilot in action.

Here, our pilot lead, Ryan Gibson, tells us about the recent visit from the Ark Schools Group, who were interested in finding out more about our implementation of the Good Career Guidance Benchmarks pilot:

When I was appointed to lead the national pilot, looking to improve the quality of careers guidance for all young people, I was not only tasked with supporting schools and colleges in the region but to build a model that could potentially be replicated in every area of the country. To do this, we needed to test the benchmarks in action and work directly with schools and colleges to understand the strengths of their current provision and enable them to devise actions that would drive rapid, sustained and measurable improvement.

At the North East LEP we have started to pilot various approaches as to how we can share learning with others across the country who wish to improve the quality of their careers provision. We have explored and developed various models, including visits and practice-sharing events and recently hosted a learning visit from 12 schools from across the country who are members of the Ark Academies Trust.

Hannah McAuley from Ark provides an insight below:

At Ark schools, we have a mission to ensure that every one of our students will access the university or career of their choice.

As a central university and careers team we have always worked with a range of different partners to provide skills development opportunities, financial bursaries, access to role models and engagement with a host of businesses and universities, but of late we have been grappling with how we can ensure that the vital work that is done in schools to prepare young people for their next steps is the same no matter which Ark school you attend.

Last month, I had the pleasure of accompanying a group of 12 colleagues from across Ark schools to visit those taking part in the Career Benchmarks pilot in the North East. Meeting with the North East LEP and the community driving this work was an extraordinary experience for us and there are a few key lessons that we have taken away:

  • The importance of shared language: If 2015 was the year of the selfie and 2016 of post trust then I am pleased to announce that ‘Gatsby Benchmarks’ is well on its way to be the new phrase of choice for 2017! Every business leader, teacher, careers leader and university we met had aligned themselves behind the Gatsby language. This not only created shared expectation, but started to build community of purpose amongst this diverse group of stakeholders. Even after the first day we found that by adopting the language we were better able to articulate the challenges we are facing with this work in our own schools and use it to develop our actions for the future.
  • No careers lead is an island: While it was clear that the careers lead was the central spine driving the work in each school, partnership and a supportive senior leadership team was clearly fundamental to its success. Investing in strategic and lasting partnership work with businesses, colleges and universities provided a richness to the conversations on all sides about what we were preparing students for. This was complemented by a staff body who were bought in to the framework and whose leadership team understood how all school roles were being deployed to support this work.
  • Meaningful over many encounters: A relentless focus on making existing work more impactful meant that pilot schools were not overwhelming themselves or their students with numerous activities. Led by the North East LEP, there is a relentless focus on making existing work in the region much more impactful. One of our group called this process “Squeezing the maximum value” out of every activity and engagement”. For us at Ark, this was the understanding that it isn’t enough to just send a student out to a workplace if you don’t scaffold the experience and help them to learn from it. This is something that we expect in every lesson we teach and the same principles should be applied to any experience we provide for our students.

There is no doubt that being involved in the pilot has been transformational for the schools and colleges in the North East. What I found most inspiring was how the career benchmarks framework had brought alignment between purpose and process.

Every school leader and teacher wants the best possible future for their students, but so often, this work can feel intangible. Whilst the Gatsby benchmarks don’t necessarily tell us how to achieve this work, they force us to have high expectations and set out what it is we need to achieve. I have no doubt that over time; these benchmarks will transform the way schools prepare students for life beyond school.

Hannah McAuley is Head of University and Careers Success at Ark Schools. Ark is an international charity, transforming lives through education. In the UK, Ark has a network of 35 schools, educating more than 21,000 pupils with a mission to ensure that every young person can access the university or career of their choice. These schools are all non-selective and in areas where they can make the biggest difference.

Home / Skills / Page 19

Voluntary sector is vitally important for economic growth

At a recent LEP Employment and Skills Board meeting, the importance of the third sector to our sustainable economic growth was again brought home to me.

Board member Carol Botten, deputy chief executive of VONNE, reinforced how voluntary organisations are changing, adapting to a world where business acumen is a priority as grant funding becomes scarce.

More of their income is derived from delivering contracts and services with an emphasis on being commercially focused and sustainable to ensure future viability.

Carol played a leading role in refreshing the employability and social inclusion section of our new Strategic Economic Plan (SEP), to better recognise the job and wealth creation value of our third sector to the North East economy.

Voluntary organisations often reach out to those people deemed by some to be ‘unemployable’.

Using their care and expertise, they are helping the North East LEP and its other partners implement the SEP’s employability and social inclusion agenda on the ground.

Strengthening our employment rate is crucial to sustainable economic growth, and for those on the margins of society, finding meaningful employment is a fundamental route out of poverty and exclusion.

Newly released Third Sector Trends Data for 2017 underlines the economic importance of voluntary organisations and their activity. Figures show there are 7,000 formal voluntary groups based in our region.

They employ 37,500 full-time equivalent employees. Across the whole of the North of England, the third sector is a larger employer than the finance and insurance industry.

Its value to the North East economy through salaries is estimated at £750m.

A growing number of third sector organisations are experiencing rapid growth, such as Changing Lives in Gateshead.

Back in 2006 it was a North East focused employer of 84 people with a £2.2m turnover.

Fast forward just over a decade and it works with disadvantaged people from the Midlands to Berwick, with 465 staff on its books and a turnover of £16.3m.

As my fellow board member Paul Varley tells me, profit is no longer a dirty word in the third sector.

Paul is chair of Northern Rights, an acclaimed social enterprise managed by local people helping the disadvantaged find work.

Taking surplus profits and investing them into doing even more good through the core services they deliver well, means charities reach more people who need their help.

The North East LEP and its partners have set the region the bold target of creating 100,000 more and better jobs over the next seven years.

In doing so, we recognise the growing contribution of organisations such as the Tyne Gateway Trust, its sharp business acumen creating the revenue to be able to invest into the business and grow.

Pauline Wonders, the trust’s strategic director, and her team work with the long-term unemployed, people whose self-confidence has been shattered to the point where some don’t consider themselves worthy of work.

Her team of 24 staff – all of whom were previously unemployed themselves – connect with people, nurture their self-esteem and give them the tools to start their own community enterprises or support them into sustained work.

Inspiring, important activity with real economic value.

Andrew Hodgson,

North East LEP Chair.

Home / Skills / Page 19

Learning from School 21: employer engagement in practice

Representatives from four leading North East schools will visit School 21, a pioneering school in Stratford, East London, to learn about the school’s approach to embedding employer engagement in the curriculum and share best practice from the North East schools’ own experience of implementing the Good Career Guidance Benchmarks which are being piloted here in the North East.

The four schools and colleges making the visit have all made excellent progress as part of the national pilot and have developed the systems, structures, partnerships and approaches required to deliver good career guidance and enable all of their students to make fully informed decisions about their future career choices.

Following very successful practice-sharing visits to the national pilot in the North East by the Edge Foundation, the Ark Academies Trust and schools from across the country, the four North East schools will visit School 21 to share their experiences of delivering good career guidance, discuss good practice and explore opportunities to collaborate.

The visit is being organised by The Edge Foundation, an independent education charity which works to raise the status of technical and professional education.

Olly Newton, Director of Policy and Research at The Edge Foundation, explains more about the forthcoming visit.

School 21, which teaches pupils aged from 4 to 18, presents a strong example of employer engagement and the work it does fits well with the Good Career Guidance Benchmarks which are being piloted by schools in the North East – it is representatives from these schools who will be visiting School 21 with us during March.

Students at School 21 spend some of their time working with an employer on a practical project – this could be working with a local restaurant to design a menu and work with the chefs, for example. The students learn practical skills in a business environment.

Every year 10 student spends half a day a week in the workplace and for a term and a half they are tasked with solving a real problem for a real organisation.

During our visit we’ll be spending time in the school and seeing some of these projects in action. We’ll hear from Peter Hyman, the Executive Head Teacher and one of the school’s founders. We’ll also meet some of the members of the school team who are involved in developing links with employers, and we’ll get the chance to talk to some of the school’s year 10 students.

It’s a chance to understand how the school manages to have such a strong emphasis on employer engagement and to gain some practical ideas about how to put this into action –could schools here in the North East make links with employers and structure their students’ time in a similar way?

The North East schools which will be taking part in the visit are Harton Technology College, King Edward VI School, East Durham College and Excelsior Academy.

Home / Skills / Page 19

Accelerating Opportunities for North East Teens

Ryan Gibson reports on how the National Citizen Service (NCS) is supporting schools and enhancing vital careers education – accelerating opportunities for young people in the North East.

At the NCS North East stakeholder group meeting last month, I was encouraged by progress toward a permanent statutory footing for this incredibly important programme. The move is especially welcome here in the North East, a region in which I am extremely proud to say a staggering 95% of our schools are working with NCS right now.

Now the biggest youth movement of its kind, NCS is for 15-17 year olds. Like the Good Career Guidance Benchmarks pilot, for which I am facilitator, its inclusive approach aims to create long-term impact that benefits individuals, schools and communities as a whole. Indeed, the NCS programme is mapped against the eight Benchmarks of ‘good career guidance’. Both programmes seek to improve social mobility, by ensuring that all young people benefit from extended networks of support – whether these are within the community, with information or with employers who can help them.

Many young people have internalised ideas about what ‘people like them’ might do and where they might fit into the education system and the labour market. For some it is about class, for others its ethnicity or gender. Good careers guidance, enhanced by the work of NCS, actively tackles these assumptions by allowing young people to challenge themselves and explore talents they never knew they had. Young people gain the confidence to apply their skills in practical contexts – meaningful experiences that will help them when it comes to applying for jobs or engaging in job, apprenticeship or university applications and interviews.

Through NCS, teenagers gain confidence, leadership and communication skills – as well as resilience and grit – which are vital for employability and life.

Last year alone, teenagers in our region gave over 214,000 hours volunteering through NCS – equivalent to £1million invested into the regional economy. Youth-led community projects offer teenagers compelling real world opportunities to develop and evidence skills that make CVs and UCAS statements stand out. The NCS enterprise agenda produces mature and capable young people.

In addition, when they enter the world of work or university, with all its diversity and challenges, young people are better prepared – thanks to the unique NCS social mix and its focus on stepping out of comfort zones. Wonderfully, the programme also nurtures British values such as tolerance, respect and inclusion; and offers positive outlets and role models for young people.

In our region, NCS is delivered by a partnership of youth charities; V•Inspired and National Youth Agency, working with 13 grassroots organisations right across the region. Since the partnership took on the contract in 2015, nearly 6,000 of our young people have taken part in the scheme.

A dozen North East schools have been lauded for their exemplary support for NCS through the exciting Star Schools Awards whilst over 20 others have scooped Champion School status. Good luck to the many schools already working toward these accolades in 2017.

This year, there are more NCS places than ever before: offering significant investment in developing learners across the region. Schools particularly benefit from the programme’s support with learner progression into work or studies, and they recognise the direct contribution NCS makes to Ofsted judgements.

It’s great to be working together with schools, stakeholders and other partners to help as many North East teenagers as possible access the life-changing experience that is NCS.

Thousands of North East teenagers have already booked their Summer NCS experience. Support young people you work with by engaging and finding out more at NCSNORTHEAST.CO.UK