UK careers chief declares record-breaking school event an ‘inspiration’

Former Education Secretary Baroness Nicky Morgan declared a record-breaking school careers fair ‘truly inspirational’.

Baroness Morgan, who is Chair of the Careers Enterprise Company (CEC), joined more than 2000 students from across the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership (ATLP) at the huge event on Tuesday, February 28.

Held at the Arthur Terry School, in Sutton Coldfield, the event saw students from 10 schools engage with around 100 exhibiting organisations and 230 visiting professionals in what was billed as ‘the largest ever school-organised careers fair’.

Baroness Morgan, who as chair of the CEC helps oversee the delivery of Careers Education across England, toured the fair to meet exhibitors before sitting down with Arthur Terry students to hear about how the school has helped them reach out to employers and develop their own careers strategy.

She said:

“This careers fair was truly inspirational. The school obviously absolutely prioritises Careers Education, helping students take their next best step in life, which is what the Careers Enterprise Company is all about.

“There is clearly great support from the leadership team at Arthur Terry, and the school has worked hard to build a remarkable network that it can call upon to support in its careers programme.

“And I was also hugely impressed by the students, and the amazing variety of things that they are doing to explore the world of work and employment. And that’s the point, because work in the 21^st Century offers varied and exciting opportunities for young people, and this school captures that.”

She added that the Arthur Terry record-breaking careers fair provided an example that other schools could aspire to.

“Our research at the Careers Enterprise Company shows that schools who do use or follow the recommended benchmarks provide better Careers Education for their students, and I think more and more schools want to take this approach,” she said.

Employers including the BBC, NHS, Bentley Motors, BMW, PwC, HSBC, Yahoo, Browne Jacobson, Network Rail, GCHQ and Arcadis joined local and regional SME’s, universities, colleges, apprenticeship, T Level and UTC (University Technical College) providers, at the fair.

The Ten participating ATLP schools were Arthur Terry, Coton Green Primary School, Hill West Primary School, Mere Green Primary School, William MacGregor Primary School, St Chad’s CE Primary, Coleshill School, Nether Stowe School, West Coventry Academy and John Wilmott School.

The CEC is the national body for careers education in England, supporting schools and colleges to deliver modern, 21st century careers education by promoting best practice and setting benchmarks.

Baroness Morgan’s visit was arranged by Birmingham Careers Hub, which is funded by the CEC and delivers careers support to more than 100 schools across the Second City.

Arthur Terry headteacher Samantha Kibble said: “The Careers Fair was a great success, and I would like to express my gratitude to Baroness Morgan for coming along to see the fruits of six months’ hard work by Alex Zarifeh, our Director of Careers, who organised what we believe was arguably the biggest school-organised event of this kind ever.

“It was also a pleasure to welcome students and staff from schools across the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership, both secondary and primary, to speak to the exhibitors and professionals who offered their expertise.”

Just three months ago, Ofsted praised Arthur Terry’s programme, saying: “All pupils receive exceptional advice about possible career paths and next steps in education. Pupils receive high-quality and impartial advice about their next steps. Students receive extremely effective careers advice and a result, all students go on to appropriate destinations.”

ATLP CEO Richard Gill CBE said: “By connecting hundreds of professional contributors with thousands of students from across our schools, this Careers Fair has set a new precedent in what we can achieve in our Careers Education programme.

“Importantly, while it was huge event it was still friendly, informal and engaging, and gave the students the opportunity to speak to all kinds of potential employers to understand more about the world of work.

“I’m very grateful to Baroness Morgan for giving up some of her valuable time to see the fair in action, and to meet some of our pupils and learn about their own often inspirational careers stories.

“We are very proud of our successful Careers Education programme, and the fair was a brilliant way to share it with so many more people.”

WATCH: The Arthur Terry School Careers Fair 2023 video is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6F-OibwzGc