Inspiring the Next Generation

The EDT has been successful in its bid to work with Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP) and the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC) on an exciting initiative:

This will give businesses the opportunity to:

  • Improve links with local schools
  • Identify potential future employees
  • Help to address the skills shortage facing industry
  • Develop your staff
  • Achieve your CSR targets

Background
EDT is an educational charity that has a range of programmes designed to inspire more young people to pursue careers using the STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths.) The CEC’s government-backed initiative has been launched to scale up tried and tested mentoring programmes and we are delighted that our Go4SET scheme has been chosen for support in the CWLEP area. This means that we are planning even more activities in the coming months and years, creating more links between education and industry by using mentors from local employers to work with students. The mentoring fund was set up to address the issue of young people about to start studying for their GCSEs being at risk of disengagement from education, especially where this has an impact on LEPs’ local priorities. CWLEP has identified the shortage of young people studying STEM subjects as having a serious impact on the skills shortage in industry generally and in the advanced manufacturing and engineering sector in particular, which is key to the region’s future prosperity. Go4SET addresses this directly by giving young people the chance to work on a STEM project over a 12 week period supported by a mentor from a local company. Go4SET introduces young people to both the STEM careers available and also the key employability skills that you as employers are looking for in early years recruits

What is Go4SET?
Teams of six students from Year 8 or 9 (12 – 14 years old) work on an environmentally-themed project over a 12 week period, supported by a mentor from a local company. They meet for around one hour each week in their school. The scheme starts with a launch day and finishes with a Celebration and Assessment Day (CAD). For the CAD, Go4SET teams are required to produce a written report, a model/display board and also make a 5 minute presentation a panel of assessors. The key role of their mentor is to help them work towards these outputs, particularly by encouraging teamworking and helping them plan and organise their work over the period of the project.

What would my commitment be if I agree to take part?
If you agree to work with one of the schools near you, this is what you would be required to do:

  • A financial contribution of £995 + VAT per team to help meet the operational costs of the programme
  • You would provide one or more mentors to work with the team
  • Half day attendance by the mentor at the Scheme Briefing Day in March 2017
  • Liaison with the teacher for mentoring the students, weekly over the 12 week programme, usually for around an hour each meeting
  • Opportunity for the students to see your company workplace, which helps the students put the experience they gain on the project into an industry context
  • Attendance at the end of programme Celebration and Assessment Day where the groups present their projects and are assessed in June 2017

What do I do Next?
If you would like to take part or if you would like more information please contact us on: support@cwgrowthhub.co.uk or 0300 060 3747