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Employer Engagement

To discuss what type of engagement would suit your business best please contact the education team on 01292 678666.

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                                                                           ENGAGING WITH EDUCATION 

Ayrshire Chamber have been contracted by North and South Ayrshire Councils for 18 years now to deliver the School Engagement programme. As an employer, you can help inspire and develop our future workforce. This can be achieved by schools and businesses working together to expose young people to the opportunities and pathways available.

 

Every business can get involved in many ways:

  • Careers Event
  • Workplace visit
  • Employability Skills
  • Business Challenge
  • Curricular Input

 

Our in-house Education Team support primary and secondary schools in engaging with local employers and facilitating these activities. You can view a list of activities taking place from September - November 2024 below:

 

  • Queen Margaret Academy S4-S6 Careers Event – Tues 17th September 10.30am – 1.30pm
  • South Ayrshire Head Teacher Curriculum Conference at Ayr United Hospitality Venue – Wed 18th September 1pm – 2pm
  • Ardrossan Academy Business Breakfast – Thurs 19th September 9.30am - 11am
  • Kilwinning Academy S4-S6 Careers Event – Thurs 26th 9.30am – 12.30pm
  • Greenwood Academy S3-S6 Apprenticeship Event – Tues 8th October 9.25am – 1.30pm
  • Carrick Academy Teacher Speed Networking – Mon 21st October 9am – 11am
  • Ardrossan Academy P6/7, S4-S6 Careers Event – Tues 29th October 1pm – 4.30pm
  • Queen Margaret Academy S4 Mock Interviews – Fri 1st November 10.30am – 2.40pm
  • Prestwick Academy S5 Mock Interviews – Thurs 7th November 9.45am – 12.30pm
  • Marr College S5 Mock Interviews – Thurs 11th November 9.30am – 12.30pm
  • Carrick Academy S4 & S6 Mock Interviews – Tues 26th November 9.30am – 1.20pm
  • Irvine Royal Academy S2 & S5/6 Careers Event- Fri 29th November 11am – 12.35pm
  • Garnock Academy S4-S6 Careers Event – date and timings tbc but please register interest if you'd like to support

 

If you would prefer to go down the route of bringing pupils to your business for a tour, delivering a classroom talk, or an employability skills session (CV/interview skills), we are also happy to support. Please see a list of these requests below.

 

Ayr Academy

The school are looking for guests within Health Care to speak with their class about pathways into sector. This can be done anytime September onwards for either S4/S5/S6 and the class will have around 20 pupils.

Garnock Academy:

The school are conducting a survey to identify the key skills that should be emphasised in their curriculum to ensure their students are well-prepared for the workforce. Your responses will help shape our educational programs and better align them with the needs of the local business community. The survey can be accessed HERE.

In addition to the survey, the school are also inviting you to create a short video message for their students. This video should highlight the importance of the skills you have identified in the survey and explain how these skills can lead to a successful career in your field. These videos will be played to our pupils, providing them with a direct connection between their education and real-world applications.

Girvan Academy

The school are looking for Health Care professionals to speak to a Biology class about pathways into sector. This class currently has 21 pupils in it although this figure may slightly change in August as sometimes pupil timetables are adjusted. This is also S4/S5/S6 and can be anytime September onwards. The school’s preferred days are Monday morning 9am-10:35am, Thursday 11:40pm-12:30pm or Friday morning 9:45am-11:40am.

Irvine Royal Academy:

  • Entrepreneur speakers for Business subject to share how you set up your business. Anytime September onwards.
  • Irvine Royal Academy – Science speakers. Units include either chemistry, physics, biology, lab skills but a more specific list can be given on request. Anytime September onwards.
  • Irvine Royal Academy- Geography links. This can either be pupils/staff visiting to your workplace, a classroom talk or workshop to highlight the different roles within geography. Anytime September onwards.

 Kilwinning Academy:

  • Science department - the school are delivering a new Skills for Work: Health Sector course for S5/6 pupils. Looking for employers such as nurses, those in health and social care, pharmacists, opticians, physiotherapists to deliver classroom talks or if pupils could visit your premises to help showcase different roles/career paths within the sector. September onwards on Mon 3-3.50pm, Wed 9-10.40, Thu 11-12.35 or Fri 9.50-10.40. Topics this course will cover are working in the health sector, employability skills in the health sector, medical devices and pharmaceuticals, improving health and wellbeing and physiology of the cardiovascular system.
  • Technical - looking for any relevant links where you could talk to pupils about the need for young people to pursue a career in this industry and show them different careers available.
  • Physical Education (PE) - perform a workshop/interaction with pupils during their PE class or deliver a classroom talk where you can stress the different routes/pathways young people can take in the fitness world. 

Largs Academy:

  • Travel and tourism – school have 31 pupils taking this class this school year which requires employer engagements as part of course completion
  • Home Economics (HE) -the school are looking for talks from businesses within the food industry but not hospitality
  • Business and Computing – any form of engagement that is relevant to these subjects that could help build into the curriculum or highlight the jobs/opportunities within the sector to bring it to life.

Queen Margaret Academy

  • Art - The school are looking for an input from an artist specialising in human portraits from anytime within September - November
     

 

There are many benefits to supporting Ayrshire schools and getting involved in one of the above activities. 

  • Develop your skills pipeline
  • Raise profile in community
  • Give something back                                                           
  • Staff development tool
  • Put young people at the heart of your workforce
  • Inspire the younger generation into your sector 
  • Promote your opportunities and routes/pathways into the sector                                              

                                                                            

For further information on each of these opportunities, download our Employer Engagement Guide.

To get involved or discuss what type of engagement would suit your business best, please contact the team at engage@ayrshire-chamber.org or on 01292 678666.