Careers Inspiration For Every Child

In the last three months of 2019 we continued to inspire children across Cambridgeshire and ventured further into East Anglia, working with schools in Norwich and Ipswich.  In this report, we report on just a few of the highlights.  

In October we organised two major careers fairs:

• In Cambridge we came together at Impington Village College with 550 students and more than 30 employers for Opportunities Ahead, showcasing many different careers that young people could aspire to, ranging from electronic engineering to marketing

• In Norwich we held our first Greater Norwich Opportunities Fair for nearly 1,000 students and 68 exhibitors, with more activities planned in the city for 2020

Cambridge LaunchPad, managed by Form the Future, continued to deliver STEM-focused Project Days with leading science and technology companies.  The day at Horizon Discovery in November was a particular highlight. Year 10 students from three secondary schools were tasked with using DNA to solve a murder and learned about some of the career and education pathways into the life sciences.

Julian Fox, Teacher of Science from Bottisham Village College, said: “An excellent opportunity for students to learn some of the processes that scientists have to go through to analyse DNA. A really enjoyable, well run day with excellent volunteers.”

We ended 2019 with our Annual Conference.  More than 100 delegates representing all our partners came together to discuss the theme 'Inequality is bad for business and companies have a role to play in creating a fairer society', with particular emphasis on breaking down barriers to give opportunities to more young people.  We also shared our Impact Report for 2018-19.  We reached18,837 students that year, ran 291 events and worked with 649 volunteers.  

We are looking forward to all the exciting things we will be doing in 2020 to deliver careers inspiration for every child.