Bradford Manufacturing Week to grow even bigger next year
ORGANISERS BEHIND the Bradford Manufacturing Week have vowed to run the event next year and to make it a longer initiative.
At an evaluation meeting with the event’s steering group last week, it was confirmed that 100 per cent of the schools that took part in manufacturing site tours rated the experience as high or very high quality.
Of the schools who completed the evaluation survey which was undertaken by Bradford Manufacturing Week’s education and careers partner, Aspire-igen, 100 per cent felt their students benefitted from taking part in the week’s activities and a further 100 per cent said the week had helped them achieve at least one ‘Gatsby’ benchmark – the framework of eight guidelines used by the Government to define the best careers provision in schools and colleges.
Half of the district’s 50 secondary
schools took part alongside 40 manufacturers in more than 143 events and 3,000 work experiences including work experience days, tours, employer talks and life skills events for students aged 14 to 19.
Nick Garthwaite, brainchild behind the initiative and President of Bradford Chamber of Commerce, said that the success of Bradford Manufacturing Week 2018 highlights the need to improve school pupils’ experience of manufacturing and future proof the industry by inspiring the next generation of employees to consider a career in manufacturing.
He added: “We are looking closely at creating ‘Bradford’s Manufacturing Weeks’ in the future where we dedicate at least a fortnight in October to organising school and manufacturing experiences.
“More time means more experiences and more value to even more young people in Bradford.
“We owe it to the next generation to extend our initiative and involve even more employers in the district – we firmly believe we can at least double the number of schools and businesses involved in 2019.”