September 19, 2024

EDUCATION & SKILLS UPDATE 2024

On Monday 8th July 2024, Cutler’s Hall saw the celebrations to end one of the best years our Better Learners Better Workers (BLBW) has seen since its launch in 2011. The ‘Oscars’ of the programme were held over two events during the day; starting in the afternoon with 190 years 5 and 6 children from 3 schools, followed by a celebration in the evening for 110 secondary year 9 ambassadors from 10 schools plus a cohort of SEND students from Sheaf Training Centre. Teachers, families, carers and guardians were joined by local dignitaries and representatives from across the region.

The year 9 ambassadors followed programmes in construction, engineering/manufacturing or a combination of both over a ten-month period.   Based upon the Skills Builder framework, the BLBW programme follows the 8 Cutlers’ skills; those of listening, speaking, problem solving, creativity, staying positive, aiming high, leadership and teamwork, thus making it highly compliant with the needs of the Gatsby benchmarks and preparing the participants for the ‘world of work’.  The scheme has embedded within it a strong purpose to challenge stereotypes and improve social mobility for young people in the region, complemented by objectives to raise aspirations, improve the gender balance, diversity and inclusion of the participating students.

Activities involve visits to the Cutlers’ Hall, site visits, a team building day hosted by Wentworth Woodhouse, in conjunction with the Royal Yorkshire Regiment, and an NHS project focusing upon health and wellbeing.  Ambassadors also benefit from modules on recruitment and preparation for an interview plus one focusing upon financial topics including budgeting, payslips, NI and tax.

With the conclusion of this year’s programme, over 1900 young people have now benefited from the secondary BLBW programme since its launch in 2011 plus a further 280 from the 2 years the primary programme has been running.  Again, the positive impact of the programmes on young lives cannot be overstated with many young people discovering new talents and raising their ambitions and achievements.  I draw your attention to the impact analysis from this year’s programme, compiled along with Sheffield City Council; this documents the fantastic progress made by the ambassadors over the 10 months they participated on the programmes.  A copy of this can be found on the Company of Cutler’s website. The report also thanks the 39 employers, including 12 each from the manufacturing and construction sectors, who helped to deliver this year’s programmes.

This year has also seen the highly successful conclusion of the first full year of our primary school programme following the pilot held in 2022/23.  These young ambassadors followed their own tailor made programme, over 6 individual modules aimed at challenging stereotypes and raising ambition.

We look forward to next year with over 100 ambassadors from 9 schools already signed up for the BLBW programme and we are actively looking at building on the success of the primary programme with 4 schools already committed to this exciting new programme.  We are, as ever, grateful for the continuing support from Sheffield City Council and the Cutler’s Company; however, the cost of delivering this programme is escalating which requires us to seek sponsorship from Freemen and Friend’s companies, as well as from the construction sector.  The latter not only provides much needed financial support but it also provides the supporting companies with an unique opportunity to fulfill their ESG and CSR responsibilities in a very visible and tangible way, at modest cost and at the same time giving them an insight into the future talent pool very close to their businesses.   My thanks to those companies who are already supporting this programme.

This busy year also included revisiting the Company’s Education and Skills Strategy.  The new strategy, approved by the Company in April, builds upon the previous one from 2021, the immediate post Covid era.  We shall be continuing with the very successful primary and secondary BLBW programmes but now are excited to include a new apprenticeship collaboration with Sheffield College which launches in October, details of which can be found on the Company’s website and here.

I cannot finish such an article without again recognising the tireless enthusiasm of Sarah Ward, without whose efforts none of this would happen.  As a Company we owe her a debt of gratitude.

If you would like to have more information on any aspect of our Education and Skill activities, or better still, get involved, then please contact either myself, Sarah or the Master at the Hall or visit the Company’s website and click on “Education and Skills’.

 

Nicholas Cragg

Chairman, Education & Skills Committee

August 2024