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6,000 DERBY STUDENTS BENEFIT FROM E4E’S PROGRAMME OF ACTIVITIES

6,000 DERBY STUDENTS BENEFIT FROM E4E’S PROGRAMME OF ACTIVITIES

Over the past 12 months, a Derby-based initiative, which links businesses with schools and students in order to raise aspirations and improve employability skills, has supported almost 6,000 young people, four times as many as in the previous period.

5,809 pupils across 14 Derby schools have taken part in Enterprise 4 Education’s (e4e) programme of activities, which range from CV writing workshops and mock interviews to one-to-one mentoring sessions, industry visits, and career talks.

e4e was originally founded by Derby City Council in November 2014, with a board of directors comprised of representatives from the city’s schools and business community, including major employers Rolls Royce, Bombardier, and Toyota, as well as local SMEs.

The business community has thrown its support behind the initiative and e4e has now recruited more than 450 business volunteers who help young people achieve by raising their self-belief, motivation, and aspirations while informing them about their career opportunities.

Activities such as mock interviews, CV workshops, mentoring, industry visits, careers workshops, and talks ensure a better understanding of career opportunities amongst young people, raise their aspirations, and improve their employability skills along the way.

Companies and individuals who have pledged their support come from a broad cross-section of the business community - from East Midlands Airport, the University of Derby and Derby College to HP, MITIE, Mercia Image, Tidyco and people who may have retired and want to give something back to the community.

The e4e team still needs to recruit more local businesses volunteers, however, to help it extend its range of activities and support services to more schools across the city.

Speaking of e4e’s success over the past 12 months, Councillor Sarah Russell, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills at Derby City Council, said:

“Knowing that so many young people in the city are benefitting from e4e’s work is absolutely fantastic and my thanks go out to the e4e project team and our team of volunteers for their hard work and dedication, which has made e4e such a success.

“E4e’s work is having a positive impact on the city’s young people and giving them a better understanding of what is required of them when they enter the world of work for the first time.

“It’s great to be part of an initiative like this, which is helping our young people go on to achieve something positive in their careers.”

Mike Copestake, senior partner at law firm Freeths and chairman of e4e, added:

“To be playing a key role in raising the aspirations of almost 6,000 young people is an amazing achievement - but the hard work doesn't stop there - we still need to recruit more business volunteers and mentors to support our expanded programme of activities and I would urge anyone who can give just half a day a year of their time to sign up as a volunteer.”

E4e’s vision is to build a passionate movement that mobilises the local workforce to support pupils and schools in order to help our young people prepare for the world of work.

This involves raising their self-belief, motivation levels and aspirations, informing them about the wide range of career opportunities available to them, and helping them achieve their best by unlocking their true potential.

Any business or individual interested in becoming a volunteer mentor should contact Arshad Iqbal on 01332 641622, or e4eteam@derby.gov.uk, or register their interest at www.enterprise4education.com.


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