Seven leading Hertfordshire businesses including Airbus, MBDA, Morrison Utilities, NHS East and North Herts Trust, Roche, Tesco and Willmott Dixon, and educational charity STEMPOINT East, have formed a Cornerstone Employer Group to help schools increase the effectiveness of their careers programmes as part of the Hertfordshire Careers Hub.

Now with the expansion of the hub, Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) is seeking additional businesses to join the group to support schools in Watford, Three Rivers and Hertsmere.

A Cornerstone Employer Group (CEG) is an essential element of a Careers Hub. It brings together local employers that have existing school engagement programmes to provide focused support to their hub schools/colleges in line with the Gatsby Benchmarks – the framework used across England to assess the effectiveness of schools’ careers programmes.

The Hertfordshire CEG is led by Hertfordshire LEP’s Careers Hub Lead and The Careers & Enterprise Company’s Employer Engagement Team. The group plays a crucial role in working with hub schools to identify gaps in their careers provision, and opportunities to deliver impactful support while also meeting their own business development needs.

How the CEG can help

In October 2019, the CEG identified several schools in need of support with Gatsby Benchmark 4 (linking careers to curriculum) and arranged for teaching staff to spend time with industry professionals to better understand and relay to students how core subjects such as English, Maths and Science relate to real life careers and jobs.

Andy Baker, HR Manager for Early Careers at MBDA, said: “Working with teaching staff at John Henry Newman School has provided some great development opportunities for two of our team members at MBDA. We initially spend time with the teachers and show them how the curriculum they teach relates directly to our operations. We then help them incorporate this into curriculum development so that students can see the link between what they’re learning and the skills and knowledge we require in the Defence industry. Linking Careers to Curriculum in this way is vital to bringing to life for students what might otherwise be fairly abstract topics.”

Angela Manley, Careers Leader at Onslow St Audrey’s School, which is paired with Roche, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for our students to meet a world leading pharmaceutical company involved in life saving drug development. We looked at ways Roche could work with our English teachers to help them gain a better understanding of how aspects of their curriculum match the skills needed in pharmaceuticals. However, having started this process, we realised that we should take the opportunity to do the same across Maths and Science as well. This will be an ongoing project this year and we think our staff will really enjoy gaining industry insight and in turn, will ensure our students are even more aware of how their learning relates to many different careers.”

Despite the significant challenges presented by COVID-19 over the last academic year, Hertfordshire hub schools’ progress against Gatsby Benchmark 4 has been impressive.

Gareth Dace, Hertfordshire LEP Careers Hub Lead, said: “We have seen more progress against Benchmark 4 than any of the other benchmarks. At the start of the academic year just over 20% of our hub schools had fully achieved the benchmark but now that figure is nearly two thirds. Our cornerstone employers picked up on this very early on and have started very encouraging collaborations with targeted schools which I’m sure will continue next year.”

Tesco supports Stevenage-based Barnwell School and Thomas Alleyne School, and Welwyn Garden City-based special school, Lakeside, for young people with moderate learning difficulties In October 2019, Thomas Alleyne students had the opportunity to visit Tesco’s facilities and take part in a Product Development World of Work Day, which introduced them to the variety of roles the company has to offer. Planned visits for Barnwell and Lakeside students have been deferred due to COVID-19.

Tesco’s Young People Programme Manager, Samantha Sullivan said: “Through our partnerships with Barnwell, Thomas Alleyne and the Careers Hub, we hope to inspire students to learn more about the vast range of careers available at Tesco and the skills and qualities that will help them succeed. We will be hosting virtual employer encounters this academic year to support with the delivery of employability skills. This will also provide valuable development opportunities for our staff, who will gain experience and develop their skills while presenting and explaining their roles.”

The Cornerstone Employers Group also support the Hertfordshire Careers Hub in a wider way. Representatives from each business attended a speed networking event with Careers Leaders from the 26 hub schools in November 2019 (pictured below). The event provided an opportunity for teachers and industry professionals to learn more about each other’s needs and challenges.

Having attended this session, Andy Baker from MBDA said: “From talking with several schools, it dawned on me that sometimes as employers we can be too prescriptive over what we have to offer schools and when we offer it. This session allowed me to learn much more about how schools actually operate and how we might be better at offering them what they need. For example, our workplace open days that usually take place in March would be better positioned in the Autumn Term for the Year 10/11 audience we want to engage with.”

Helen Spencer, Director of STEMPOINT East (formerly known as SETPOINT Hertfordshire), sits on both the Cornerstone Employer Group and the Hertfordshire Careers Hub Steering Group. STEMPOINT acts as a conduit between education and the STEM employer network.

Helen said: “Employers and our members in particular have an intrinsic motivation to support their local communities, namely secondary schools and colleges, and their existence relies upon a talented and motivated future workforce. I’ve been inspired by the proactive approach of the Cornerstone Employers and delighted to see the impact they have begun to make. The hub continues to provide great benefits for businesses in terms of gaining a greater awareness of schools’ operations and needs, but also in developing their own staff. Further sustainable collaboration can only be a mutually beneficial arrangement and I recommend that other employers look to get involved.”

In 2020/21, Hertfordshire Careers Hub will extend into Watford, Three Rivers and Hertsmere. Hertfordshire LEP is seeking additional businesses to join our Cornerstone Employers Group, specifically to support schools in these three districts. If your company has an existing schools engagement programme and would benefit from working collaboratively with Hertfordshire LEP and the CEG, please contact Careers Hub Lead Gareth Dace (gareth.dace@hertfordshirelep.co.uk).

Visit The Careers & Enterprise Company’s website to learn more about the Cornerstone Employer Group.