If School of Thought was a marriage, we would be celebrating it as wood in 2024. With the source of wood coming from trees, there are some comparisons that we think can be drawn with Mother Nature and ourselves. After all, trees are a symbol of strength, wisdom and time too. And of course, they have roots and, at five years, we now feel established.
So as we enter our fifth year of School of Thought, we wanted to take a look at just how far we have come since our formation. The reasons why we started are well-publicised but since then, we have engaged with over 122,000 students and hundreds of teachers. There have been plenty of highs to celebrate along the way and many lows too but even these have helped us to learn and push on.
We are proud of the fact that we continued through COVID-19 and that we were a trailblazer in raising the profile of automotive, dispelling myths and improving perceptions. We connected education with automotive, something that hadn’t been done on a national level.
Looking forward to 2024, one of our biggest things is AWE24. A national careers week specifically for automotive, where we are asking any business connected with automotive to offer one week’s work experience for one young person, however, we don’t want to discount others who may benefit from learning about the diversity of our industry. This week runs from 15th to 19th April 2024, but you can do it anytime. So far, we have over 60 businesses signed up.
If everything goes well then you can “pledge a place” to the young person, and keep connected with them until they can leave education, whether this is an apprenticeship, an internship or a career. The important thing to do is maintain engagement and give hope and security to help minimise anxieties that the future holds. The mental health emergency continues for young people.
It’s all about making a difference for my School of Thought Co-founder Dave Reece and me.
Dave started out as an apprentice, someone who was given an opportunity has subsequently forged a career that has taken him all over the world. Proof to young people that there is an exciting career ahead in our industry.
As for me, my career has come full circle having started out supporting young people in apprenticeships and traineeships, delivering NVQs and training for employability and life skills. Years later entering the aftermarket as Group Compliance Manager at ADR and returning to this passion by setting up an apprenticeship programme delivered internally with City & Guilds approval with the help of an equally passionate team.
Last year saw the emergence of a traineeship programme written and guided by the support of the Department of Education. This program is now what forms the basis of our work experience programme, and something that can be used for upskilling existing employees or helping people understand all the different links in the chain with access to templates relating to learning plans, induction and health and safety information plus work profiles and tasks.
2024 also brings the launch of our Go4ward to Work programme which is the bridge for employers and those with disabilities who currently are excluded from getting a foot on the ladder. We want to focus on abilities and give people the skills and hope they need to flourish. The programme covers physical disabilities, neurodivergence and anything in between, and gives everyone the right information to help make them successful.
For us, it’s about doing the right thing, being a community and being a CIC (Community Interest Company) and it embraces all this. We wanted to consider the community part. Our 164 ambassadors work locally, their connections are local to them and it’s about supporting people in your community. In a world where we talk about the impact of our carbon footprint, this is an integral part.
We have forged so many great relationships with people and our partners constantly support us, which makes the difference for us to be able to carry on. We have been gifted a shiny new website which will be up and running by the end of the year which will help us to connect even more and join up some of the dots.
We have a growing list of amazing supporters including Vizion, LKQ, Advantage Parts, Mirka, ABP, Complete Diagnostics, Autoglass, and Premier Group. Ford UK, Keco UK and Autotech Group are among the companies supporting AWE24.
We want next year to be about hope and looking forward. Not being a charity, we have felt the pain from a lack of funding but have still been able to achieve a huge amount. As we approach our fifth anniversary, we will continue doing what we do because the industry asked us to in 2019 and we love it and it matters. For us, it’s about giving back for the opportunities we’ve had and it’s the right thing to do.
If you want to find out more about School of Thought and our activities, please contact dave@ready4work.uk or julie@ready4work.uk. Whether it’s to be part of AWE24 or to join the community of ambassadors and partners, we would love to hear from you.
“Our students are very lucky that you gave up your time to come to speak to them at our event and they learnt a lot. It’s great to be able to see some students seriously considering their future in the automotive industry who may not otherwise have done so.” – Vanessa Nash, Employer Engagement Administrator, Stempoint East
“The first thing pupils think of as a job in the automotive sector is mechanics and, for many, it turns them off the profession. School of Thought dispels that myth.” – Margo Farbrace, Business Engagement Adviser, Careers Wales
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