New secondary school learning resource launched by community partnership

Secondary schools and colleges across Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire are being urged to take advantage of a new learning resource launched by the area’s Careers Hub and its top football club.

Stoke City Community Trust are one of the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC) Cornerstone Employers for the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Careers Hub. Cornerstone Employers are experienced in engaging with education and give strategic support to clusters of secondary schools and colleges to empower careers provision in an area. There are also other lesson plan work groups under way with the NHS and other health partners.

The Careers and Enterprise Company is a Government initiative to facilitate careers education, inspiring and preparing young people for the world of work. It is delivered locally by local enterprise partnerships.

With a complex, fast-changing labour market, the need for high quality workplace experiences and links to employers has never been greater – and Cornerstone Employers are ambassadors for making this become a reality.

In partnership with the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire CEC Careers Hub Team, Stoke City Community Trust and teachers from Haywood Academy and Excel Academy have developed two new teaching resources which have been designed to help teaching staff bring some of the skills required from the workplace into the classroom.

The key stage 3 English and maths curriculum resources are available to be downloaded from the football club’s website and the careers hub team is urging as many schools as possible to make use of these new resources.

The resources have already been shared with all 81 schools in the Careers Hub and received some amazing feedback from teachers. Stoke City is continuing to work with teaching staff to create lesson plans for other key stages and subjects.

They can be accessed at: www.stokecityfc.com/community/home-learning

The resources have been recognised by the National CEC team as part of best practice and will be going out as part of the national share from the Cornerstone Employer Network. As a Cornerstone Employer Stoke City Football Club and the trust have been working hard to support Gatsby Benchmark 4 in bringing the curriculum to life for students.

Head of Community at Stoke City FC Adrian Hurst said:

As an employer it can be quite fearful trying to think about how you can make the workplace more accessible and relevant to the curriculum, but by working alongside subject specific teachers, we have been able to develop a series of Stoke City related lesson plans that brings to life the reality of how some of the key maths skills are used in the workplace.”

English teacher, Jenny Taylor from Haywood Academy said:

Working with employers has helped me to think of creative ways to make my subject area more engaging and relevant to our students. At times, students can struggle to see the relevance of topics or skills covered in English, so by relating them to real life jobs and experiences we are making our curriculum more accessible.

“Stoke City Football Club is helping to ensure that our lessons are as meaningful as possible. Anything that puts students at the centre of our lesson planning is a great thing.”

Maths teacher William Johnson-Vaughan from Excel Academy said:

Our students often question the relevance and importance of some of the aspects of the Maths curriculum, however once they are able to see an organisation like Stoke City Football Club using it on a day to day basis, it helps them understand.”

Adrian Hurst added:

I’d also like to thank Carrie Abbott, Senior Enterprise Coordinator from the CEC for her support and guidance in helping to make these resources a reality. We have already started to develop further teaching resources, which we will release in due course.”

Paul Williams Careers Hub manager:

We are really grateful for the work Stoke City have been doing to lead the way for the County for the development of Careers in the Curriculum. We are looking to use this as a platform to drive forward further employer engagement to support schools and students in preparing them for the future world of work.”

LEP chairman Alun Rogers said:

Our Careers and Enterprise Company is doing tremendous work linking with top employers in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire. “We’d like to thank Stoke City for working with us in launching this education resource initiative which will benefit our schools and young people through challenging times.”

If any other businesses are interested in support supporting the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Enterprise Adviser Network, which is made up of 10 Cornerstone Employers and 70 Enterprise Advisers, they should contact Careers Hub Manager Paul.Williams@stoke.gov.uk