CULTERS' MADE IN SHEFFIELD: THE ENGINEERING STRAND!

I was over in Sheffield again yesterday with colleagues from the four schools working on the engineering/advanced manufacturing strand of the Cutlers’ “Made in Sheffield’ Programme. These schools are Bradfield School, Firth Park Community College,  Stocksbridge High School and Yewlands Technology College.

We met at Yewlands Technology College to agree the next steps in developing the programme, its expansion to more schools and a shift from the programme starting in Year 10 to a longer and deeper approach starting from this September in Year 9. The approach we have developed places an emphasis on a generic skills framework and providing a rich and varied menu of opportunities powerfully connecting the students learning to the engineering and advanced manufacturing sector.

In 2012, the Cutlers’ Company schools identified a small group of young people from Year 10 who were the first Cutlers’ “Made in Sheffield” Ambassadors and who experienced a radically different work related programme with direct experience of the advanced engineering and manufacturing sectors. The programme has got off to a brilliant start but the aim is to change the culture of learning in all the schools in Sheffield and, though the current focus is on Ambassadors, we recognise that the scheme must impact on the entire school with all students having access to learning which develops the Cutlers’ “Made in Sheffield” Skills. Skills, which alongside their knowledge and understanding and the best possible GCSE results, are essential for helping young people make the best possible start in the world of work, enterprise and opportunity.