West Suffolk College, in partnership with West Suffolk Council, delivers careers fair for primary schools

27 May 2022

Around 300 primary school children from Haverhill took part in a careers fair this week.

The ‘Skills Escalator Day’ saw a variety of industries host bite sized interactive sessions that gave an insight into a range of different job opportunities over two days.

Youngsters aged between four and eight got a window in to the world of everything from becoming a barrister to banking via news reporting and nursing.
The occasion took place at the West Suffolk College outreach centre on Park Road in Haverhill and was organised in partnership with West Suffolk Council. It was supported by a range of organisations including Addenbrookes Hospital, BBC Radio Suffolk, HSBC, Suffolk Constabulary, Unity Schools Partnership, Vertas, and West Suffolk Council who provided staff from a variety of departments to provide insight into the world of work. 

Organiser of the event was Victoria Fiebelkorn from West Suffolk College. She said: “We set this up as we believe that children need to recognise that any job out there is a job that they can aspire to do. To the best of my knowledge I think that this is the only event based around careers for this age group in the country.”
The skills escalator will be moving on to Ipswich in July, Bury St Edmunds in October and other dates at West Suffolk College outreach centres in Thetford will be announced soon.

Cllr Susan Glossop, Cabinet Member for Growth for West Suffolk Council attended. She said: “It is very pleasing to see West Suffolk Council, West Suffolk College and local businesses collaborate to deliver these Skills Escalator Days to young people in the area. Working together enables us to support both students and educators to enrich the minds of all young people. By engaging and nurturing children from a young age we are striving towards closing the attainment gap and preparing our future workforce.”

Vertas helped sponsor this occasion by handing out free hi-vis jackets to every attendee in the hope that they would walk to school in the future giving the event a sustainable angle. Natasha Hill is an organisational development business partner for Vertas, she said: “We are proud to support this event.”                  
Kate Greenwood works for Addenbrokes Hospital, Cambridge University Hospital and the NHS. The work opportunities manager, said; “I think it’s important to get children interested in caring for people. We hope to be involved in future events.”

David Smithet works for West Suffolk Council in the shared legal department. He said: “I did a gentle introduction about rules in a fun way. Hopefully I helped them think that it’s quite an exciting thing to help people.”
 

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