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NPL Academy 30 June - 4 July 2008
Richmond Education Business Partnership recently worked with the National Physical Laboratory to set up an academy for local students.
Below is a report on the academy from NPL's Human Resource department:
On the 30th June 28 students aged between 14 and 17 descended on the National Physical Laboratory for a week to take part in the first ever NPL Academy.
We receive numerous requests for work experience every year and we wanted to put a more robust programme in place to really add value for students
Thank you to all the NPL employees who were involved in hosting the students for work experience, without your help the week would not have been possible. Students were involved in a variety of activities including lab tours, experiments and exhibitions. They all had such a brilliant time and most did not want the week to end!
Other highlights included a very lively first day of introductions, a water rocket challenge on the Wednesday and presentations from the students to an audience that consisted of NPL staff, their parents, their teachers and the Mayor on the last day.
The week was such a success that the Richmond Education Business Partnership presented NPL with an award for providing invaluable support in helping young people prepare for adult life.
Amber Lauchlan
Human Resources - NPL
New Team Member
We would like to formally welcome Regis Mujinga who joined the Richmond Education Business Partnership in May. Regis has joined the REBP as an Apprentice Administrator and will be completing his NVQ in Business Administration whilst here. Regis will be the main point of contact on the REBP phone and will be assisting the work experience team in placing the borough students. He will also be involved in the running of work related learning activities and events. Regis is already proving to be a very valuable member of the REBP team.
Partnership in Languages - Hampton Community College, HSBC and REBP
On 6 February 94 year 9 students from Hampton Community College (HCC) took part in a workshop run by staff from HSBC bank. Following links made by REBP, the workshops were aimed to provide students with a better understanding of the importance of languages and awareness of cultural differences in the world of work.
Sessions included an interactive business simulation game and chinese language lesson. Students even learnt to sing Happy Birthday in Mandarin! Excellent feedback was recieved from both students and staff from HSBC and HCC.
86% of students that took part either agreed or strongly agreed that they are considering taking up a language
at GCSE.
Comments from the Head of Languages at HCC included
"staff definitely feel that this event has given students an opportunity to value language learning and understand the importance of recognising and respecting cultural differences."
Following the project the Regional Language Network for London have awarded HCC, HSBC and REBP Business Language Champion Status.
A Celebratory event was held at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on 17 March.
A big thank you goes to HSBC for their involvement in this event and Rosanna Hoseason, Head of Languages at HCC for all her hard work.
Young Apprenticeship Employer Awards
Lensbury Club in Teddington were recently awarded with the title of 'Best Employer Placement' for the first term of the Young Apprenticeship in Sports Management, Leadership and Coaching work placements.
There are currently 14 students throughout the borough taking part in the programme, which involves them spending a day a week at Richmond upon Thames College and another day at a relevant work place. As well are working towards the Young Apprenticeship, it is also hoped that the students will complete a level 1 NVQ in Sport, Recreation and Allied Occupations though collecting evidence whilst on their placements.
Richmond Education Business Partnership presented the award to Jamie Webster and the Lockside team who have been working with the student. .
A big thank
you also goes to Paula Tullet for organising the placement at Lensbury and the the other employers who are supporting this successful initiative.
Follwing the success of this years programme, Richmond upon Thames College have secured funding to run the qualification for a new batch of students starting in September 08.
If you would like to find out more or get involved in the Young Apprenticeship programme please contact Clare Huntingford at Richmond EBP on 020 8487 5392 or email c.huntingford@richmond.gov.uk
Hounslow and Richmond Learning Voucher
Scheme - in partnership with Way to Work
On 20th February 2008, Way to Work celebrated the success of the Learning Voucher Scheme Project.
The scheme was a 12 week project, designed to assist Hounslow and Richmond borough young people, not in education, employment, or training into employment, training or further education.
Richmond Education Business Partnership interviewed all the young people on the project and provided them with a 1 week work placement according to their individual needs and interests. The project provided the young people with Skills for Life workshops, advice on interview techniques and completing application forms, a CV writing workshop and finally a job search programme.
Of the 10 young participants:
- 3 have secured employment
- 2 have commenced further training
- 1 will be entering full-time further education in September
BAA (Heathrow) Apprentices set an engineering challenge
for
Richmond’s Secondary Schools
Organised and run by Richmond Education Business Partnership in conjunction with BAA (Heathrow), pupils from 6 of the borough’ s secondary schools took part in the BAA (Heathrow) Engineering Challenge 2008 held at York House, Twickenham on Thursday 14 February.
Engineering apprentices from BAA Heathrow led by Apprentice Manager Paul Spence set the challenge and 
judged the entries. The main aims of this competition is to create an interest in technology and engineering among girls and boys in the 11-16 age group and to help them develop an understanding of the design and construction process. The challenge also provided young people with the opportunity to extend their school’s work related learning programmes and to enhance and develop key skills such as; communication, team working and problem solving.
Teams from Waldegrave School triumphed in both the Key Stage 3 and 4 categories. Christ’s School were runners-up in Key Stage 3 while Orleans Park School claimed second spot in the Key Stage 4 competition.
Student Feedback
On Thursday the 14th of February, eight girls from Waldegrave went to York House in Twickenham to take part in the BAA Challenge. The event was held in order to educate young people in the Richmond borough on jobs in engineering, particularly at Heathrow, as it was their engineering team that organised the challenge. Upon arrival, we learnt that our challenge would be to build a bridge that could span 50cm and hold the weight of a battery. We had specification to build to, limited materials and only one hour to complete the task. Both our year 9 and year 10 teams worked their socks off, and we were the winners of both the KS3 and the KS4 categories. We were presented with our awards by the mayor, as was Miss McGovern who accompanied us and won a bottle of wine. Everyone who was involved would like to say a big thank you to the REBP for organising the event, and making it so enjoyable; we all had a great time!
The Engineering Challenge photo gallery contains pictures of all the schools that participated. If any teachers would like pictues of their students emailed to the school please contact c.huntingford@richmond.gov.uk
Enterprise Week 2007 12-18 November
The fourth annual Enterprise Week took place from 12 - 18 November 2007. The week was a huge success with 5,270 events all across the UK inspiring people to turn their ideas into reality.
Events in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames included the Make your Mark Challenge, mini enterprise challenges run within schools, visits to employers premises, fundraising, subject specific enterprise masterclasses plus many more.
Visit the Enterprise Week website for ideas and to find out more about next year's Enterprise Week
British Airways Community Learning Centre - Teacher's event
Four teachers for London Borough of Richmond upon Thames along with teachers from other local boroughs spent the 12 July 2007 learning about the 
opportunities on offer for their students at the British Airways Community Learning Centre. Speakers from the Environment section, Unicef, ICT and Customer Service gave an overview of the projects they currently offer and a discussion on what may be available in the future. The Customer Service session included time in the aeroplane simulator that students use for role plays.
The teachers were then given a guided tour of the British Airways Waterside site; this is the tour that students also make when they attend projects at the centre.
The day was finished of with a feedback session on what schools require from British Airways.
Richmond Education Business Partnership (REBP)
Celebration of work related learning 2007
The REBP annual celebration took place on Wednesday 27 June 2007 at The Salon, York House, Twickenham.
The event brought together local employers, school staff and pupils and representatives of community groups to celebrate the partnerships that have been forged and the achievements of those involved in work related learning in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.
His Worship the Mayor of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Cllr Marc Cranfield-Adams and Director of Education and Children’s Services Anji Phillips presented awards and certificates to pupils who had achieved outstanding results in their work related learning programme and to local employers who had helped young people prepare for adult life. The annual REBP award for “Employer of the Year 2007” went to Church Road Garage, Barnes for their outstanding contribution to the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames 'Work Related Learning Programme.'
As Guests arrived they were greeted by the wonderful singing voice of Becky Tarry of Hampton Community College. During the afternoon pupils from Strathmore School Petersham gave a demonstration of their enterprise programme by offering guests a free hand massage and pupils from Waldegrave School for Girls, winners of this year’s Regional Final of the Lionheart Challenge sent two of the team along to tell guests how that was achieved. Finally a pupil from Orleans Park School who completed his work experience this year gave an interesting and amusing account of his time with Richmond Theatre.
Work related learning is now a statutory element of a young person’s learning and is fast becoming embedded in the curriculum. Events like this serve to elevate the importance of local employers in the programme and recognise the achievements of local pupils.
