Celebrating the very best in early years careers engagement

Celebrating the very best in early years careers engagement

There's no escaping it, the 20/21 academic year has been extremely challenging for schools and colleges; the same can be said for business owners. Despite the regular lockdowns and restrictions, our network of Careers Leaders and Enterprise Advisers ensured that careers education continued at a high standard. With that in mind, the Enterprise M3 Careers & Enterprise team wanted to recognise the herculean efforts of some key people/ organisations that made this happen. The very first EM3 Employers Building Futures Awards happened on Wednesday 14th July 2021.

We recognised winners across the following 5 categories:

  • Provider of the year
  • Gatsby benchmark impact
  • Careers Leader support
  • Enterprise Co Ordinator recognition
  • Network champion of the year

We also took the chance to launch our 'Employers Building Futures' campaign, driving more business volunteers to engage with North Hampshire and Surrey based schools/ colleges. More on that to come later...

Taking each award in order, I have included a summary of each shortlist, along with the reasoning behind each winner and their resulting reaction below:

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Shortlist: Association of Learning Providers for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (ALPHI), Unifrog, Uniconnect – SUN and HEON and Surrey Science and Technology Regional Organisation (SATRO)

Winner: Uniconnect – SUN and HEON

SUN have led the way in so many areas. They're the only UK organisation to offer live chat functionality for businesses to communicate with young people through their TAP platform. They adapted their annual Festival of industries to take place virtually, offered moderation and logistical support for our CAS show, whilst also helping with recent governor training.

Claire O'Neill from SUN: "Thank you for this award. We work very well with Enterprise M3 LEP, HEON and ALPHI, and this is a symbol of how closely we collaborate in the region. If there's anything that's come out of COVID and working in this way, it's enhanced the collaborations that we've done. It's enabled our work on the online chat access chat platform, being the first in the country along with Tracey's help. I'm not taking any credit for the amazing Careers & Apprenticeship Show, which was fantastic work from Enterprise M3 LEP. All credit must go to EM3 LEP and the Careers & Enterprise Company, we were just happy to play a very small part in that. We really value the partnership, and very much look forward to working with Enterprise M3 next year."

HEON worked with us in a structured way to ensure that each LA region is covered with FE information. They have been particularly strong in their outreach during lockdown, at a difficult time for pupils considering FE.

Chris Dexter from HEON: "Collaboration is at the heart of what Uniconnect does, and that's very evident based on partnerships and the way we work together. Similar to what Claire said, over the last year or so, it's been really apparent how our relationship with CEC and EM3 has developed. Our stakeholder meetings and the connections that our Partner Officers and Enterprise Advisers have been able to make has really benefitted students at local schools. Thank you for this award."

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Shortlist: Ruta Baines – Esher Sixth Form College, Stephen Preece – Kings School, Clive & Kerry Daley – Andover/ Sparsholt College and Leigh Adams – Godalming College

Winner: Stephen Preece – Kings School?

Stephen helped Kings' transition their careers work when a new headteacher came in. He held a number of strategic planning sessions to ensure that the school kept their high standards across all 3 key benchmarks.

Stpehen Preece: "Everything we do as Enterprise Advisers is for the benefit of the students, and if we have an impact, it is gratifying that the ultimate beneficiaries are those young people.

The real deserving winner is Jo Turner who as Careers Lead, has over many years built and improved a comprehensive approach to careers, which has been embedded into the Kings way of doing things. We are supported by a forward-looking leadership team and by a career link Governor who is nothing less than outstandingly supportive. The work of an EA in such an environment is a joy. I would also like to thank the folks at the CEC, Enterprise M3, including Adam and Jan for their tenacious support.

As volunteers it is not always easy to ‘find ‘time for some of the things which matter but the value we can bring as EAs make it worthwhile to ‘make’ the time and with the resultant outcomes as we have seen at Kings, it is time well spent!"

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Shortlist: Maxine Hart – Cranbourne, Vanessa Taylor – Thamesmead School, Melanie Redding – The Romsey School and Sarah Mort – Fernhill School

Winner: Sarah Mort – Fernhill School

Sarah is part of the fabric of the school. Recently, three of Year 11 boys gained apprenticeships with SSE. For two years SSE graduates have supported Year 8 students taking part in the prestigious Teetech Awards. Sarah has attended full governing body meetings and regularly meets with my link governor to promote and establish career planning in school - Sue Murdoch, Careers Leader at Fernhill School

Sarah Mort: "This is wonderful, thank you to Sue at the school. She mentioned that she feels as though I'm part of the fabric of the school - I feel that too. Making sure that we're able to offer support and guidance is so important. I really do value the work that I do as an Enterprise Adviser and it's very fulfilling for me.

Some of the students have started working for SSE this year, who I have been working with since they were in year 9. They've had careers talks from us and grown...they've come into SSE and they feel part of the family. Sue and the school have come such a long way in developing their careers programme, it's fantastic. thank you for all of the support, from Megan, Tracey, yourselves; as without your support we couldn't do this."

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Shortlist: Paul Cliff – Activate Learning Group, Dan May – Broadwater School, Oliver Buchan – The Hurst and Melanie Redding – The Romsey School?

Winner: Dan May – Broadwater School

Dan has been the EA for Broadwater School since 2016 and works closely with the SLT of the school. The careers provision for the students has improved hugely, with the annual interview day event (instigated by Dan) being a huge success. He’s continuing to help us with new plans for apprenticeship awareness and gender diversity in STEM - Mo Forgan, Enterprise Co Ordinator for Enterprise M3 LEP.

Dan May: "Thank you Adam and thank you Mo, that's very embarrassing. I feel very undeserved, but I have really enjoyed working with Broadwater and this is a really special testament to Mo. She's the reason I'm still doing this, she's been working with me since day one and is a real influencer on the meetings that we have with the school.

Also to Adam and Tracey; the other work we're doing now around gender diversity in STEM and apprenticeship awareness is great. All I have to do is put something on Linkedin, and one of you is on it and wants to help us and support it. Thank you very much, it's very kind."

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Shortlist: Maxine Hart – Cranbourne, Jamila Yu – Gordons School, Judith Moule – Aldworth School and Hannah Keartland – Hoe Valley School

Winner: Maxine Hart – Cranbourne

Maxine has attended all bar one EA networking session this year. She referred another EA into the network, who is also working in Basingstoke. Maxine recorded a series of vlogs on careers, whilst also getting involved with BCOT VWEX. She's extremely active on Linkedin and interacts with our content on a regular basis.

Maxine Hart: "I'm So proud to have been nominated and chosen as the Network Champion of the year award by?Enterprise M3 and?The Careers & Enterprise Company.?If you employ people, it's so important to engage with education.

We need to demonstrate which careers are available, which skill sets we're looking for and which qualifications we expect. Engaging at year 10/11 (sooner if you prefer), means that students can really make informed decisions about their futures. Educators can adapt their lesson planning to reflect real life and employers ensure a pipeline of local talent to ensure their businesses thrive - everyone wins!"

Congratulations to all of our nominees and eventual winners - all of which richly deserved this recognition!

Following the excitement of the awards presentation, we moved on to launch our brand new initiative to drive impactful careers activities for young people in North Hampshire and Surrey...

Employers Building Futures campaign

Since September 2018, Enterprise M3 LEP have supported the Enterprise Adviser network in North Hampshire and Surrey. During that time, Tracey Tatam has guided our team of Enterprise Co Ordinators to strengthen the connections that schools/ colleges have with local businesses. That work was accelerated in September 2020, when I was appointed in a Business Development role. Throughout this year, Tracey and I have forged strong relationships and heard of the many recruitment/ skills challenges facing local businesses.

To challenge those issues head on, we have devised an initiative called 'Employers Building Futures'. It aims to address corporate social responsibility, diversity, inclusion and skills gaps that are high on many organisations' agenda's.

We recognise that not all businesses are the same and with that in mind we have identified six core options to streamline business engagement with the local education community:

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As you can see, the core options available are divided into strategic and operational elements; this caters for the needs of all stakeholders. Schools/ colleges will have support in both planning and delivery of careers activities, without taking too much valuable operational time away from businesses.

These six routes are simply a guide, and we are always open to exploring other options which suit all stakeholders involved. We welcome discussions with businesses to develop meaningful solutions.

To find out more about the campaign, please visit our website:

We are also set to host a series of virtual information sessions via Zoom on the following dates:

Tuesday 3rd August at 8AM

Monday 9th August at 12PM

Wednesday 18th August at 5PM

During those sessions, we will cover the basics of getting involved and answer any questions. Register you place to attend here .

Thanks for taking the time to read this article, and I hope to collaborate with you in order to impact the futures of young people in North Hampshire and Surrey moving forwards.

It just makes sense to get involved ??

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