Schools embrace council support to plot careers strategy

"The Skills for Employment grants have been an invaluable source of funding that has helped Myton tremendously over the years."

Many secondary schools across the county have taken advantage of a Warwickshire County Council programme which helps them update their careers strategy to deal with these fast-changing times.

The Future Careers Fund 2020, run by the county council's schools and career coordinator Emma Neale, offered each school a £2,000 grant to help redraw their strategy for helping students make the right career choices.

Over two thirds of secondary schools in the county have taken up the grant. They are now putting together or already implementing programmes tailored to their specific needs with specialist input from Emma and other advisors.

The funding was made available for schools to put forward projects and will be delivered in partnership with WCC project officers supporting implementation and bringing additional support where needed.

Among schools to benefit from the Future Careers Fund 2020 will be Myton School, in Warwick. The £2,000 grant will become the latest in a number of Skills for Employment schemes to have enhanced the school's careers service in recent years.

Garry Coffey, Careers Leader at Myton School, said: “Careers leaders like myself are always looking to improve, develop and initiate careers-related activities for our students in Warwickshire and these grants help make that happen.

"The Skills for Employment grants have been an invaluable source of funding that has helped Myton tremendously over the years. Using them to support our careers programme, we have been able to purchase career-related software programmes, training courses for staff, dedicated careers-use computers and a bespoke motor-vehicle course.

"In truth, without these grants, none of these initiatives would have been possible. Thank you once again.”

The Future Careers Fund 2020 is just one strand of the broad range of support offered to schools through the council's Skills for Employment programme. That support is evolving all the time and a series of recent meetings with schools' careers leaders is playing an active role in helping to shape support to be offered in the future.

Fay Winterburn, Lead Commissioner, Employability and Skills at Warwickshire County Council, said: "The careers leaders meetings have proved invaluable to understanding some of the new challenges and gaps in support schools and colleges now face as a result of COVID.

"We are very grateful to all the careers leaders who took part. It was great to see such an appetite to engage with us and we will certainly do everything we can to support schools as they look to give young people the best possible careers guidance going forward.

"We are delighted that the Future Careers Fund 2020 has had such a strong take up. More initiatives from our Skills for Employment team are on their way."

* For more information the funding opportunities and careers support  to schools from Warwickshire County Council please visit here.