Our mission at Amazing Accrington is to create a positive, enthusiastic feeling for the area and to be a force for positive change. One of the things we can help with is inspiring our young people, to show them the wealth of opportunities right here on their doorstep with some really outstanding and successful companies.
We run a programme taking local businesses into schools to explain more about what they do, and to show the different career paths they could take within the company. For example, the area’s largest employer Studio Retail, employ people in diverse areas such as computer programming, cyber security, creative design, photography and lots of other career paths people may not have thought were available locally. Local MP for Hyndburn and Haslingden, Sara Britcliffe, has joined us for our visits.
We took What More into St Mary’s in Clayton le Moors for an inspiring visit about plastic recycling. Sara and tech company Sundown Solutions visited St Christopher’s to talk about cyber careers and apprenticeships.
Other visits to inspire young people in their career paths included taking Emerson and Renwick to Hyndburn Academy, Sundown Solutions to Hollins, Rhyddings, and Oswaldtwistle School; Studio Retail to St Andrews Primary in Oswaldtwistle and Hollins, and What More to Mount Carmel amongst others.
We held an Education Summit to bring head teachers and careers leads from high schools together with businesses and education providers, with special guest Dr Sakthi.
We also held an exciting and inspiring Futures Event, inviting all year 11s in Hyndburn to meet businesses, education providers, the Army and the Police in the Town Hall. The event was very successful and useful for the schools, and we plan to repeat this in 2022.
If you’re a business who would like to join our Apprenticeship Ambassadors and visit schools or host visits to inspire young people, please take a look here: https://opportunities.amazingaccrington.co.uk/local-employers/
You can see more about our work on Opportunities here including a list of schools and training providers, plus information on Apprenticeships: https://opportunities.amazingaccrington.co.uk