For the first time, young people were invited to St George’s House at Windsor Castle to contribute to a consultation led by the Federation for Education Development.  

Liam Brookes, Delivery Manager for The Inspirational Learning Group led a bespoke session titled “My Perfect School” and collaborated with the young people to brainstorm the purpose of schools, in addition to designing their own curriculum and campuses.  Areas of discussion included improving student’s wellbeing and improving their knowledge of life skills, such as communication and presentation skills, in addition to finance knowledge with mortgages and lending. 

Liam Brookes said,  “Bringing students together in such a historic, and iconic, venue was a highlight of my career to date. The innovation shown by our young people when discussing education in the UK was remarkable to see. There were thorough and conscientious discussions regarding innovation of timetables, exams and the overall purpose of school, while carefully considering the practicalities of the new ideas. It is safe to say that the future of education is in safe hands with our next generation!” 

Students were also treated to a tour of St George’s Chapel and the opportunity to watch the Changing of the Guard before the event – a truly unforgettable experience for everyone involved.

Following the TNCC finals at The ICC in Birmingham in July, the winning teams from Walton Priory Middle School, Rutlish School, Altrincham Grammar School for Girls and Chesham Grammar School traveled to the resort to meet Thorpe Park’s management teams and to take part in a VIP day at the resort.

The 2022 National Careers Challenge champions celebrate their success at Thorpe Park

On 29th September, the winning teams of TNCC 2022 descended upon Thorpe Park Resort to celebrate their success in being crowned challenge champions!  

Following the TNCC finals at The ICC in Birmingham in July, the winning teams from  Walton Priory Middle School, Rutlish School, Altrincham Grammar School for Girls and Chesham Grammar School traveled to the resort to meet Thorpe Park’s management teams and to take part in a VIP day at the resort. 

After a jam-packed morning at the Education Centre, pupils were treated to complimentary fast track tickets for an afternoon at the resort and were able to take in the dizzy heights of the attractions.

Year 8 champions, Team Elementals from Rutlish School were also able to present their winning idea to the management team at Thorpe Park resort and received excellent feedback from Ruth Storey, Marketing Director, Neil Poulter, General Manager and Natalie Dilloway, Head of Marketing. 

Liam Brookes, Delivery Manager for TILG was in attendance on the day and said, “It was an amazing opportunity to welcome back last years champions and celebrate together their achievements. The fact that students were still so clearly energised by the experience was lovely to see.” 

In addition to the VIP day at Thorpe Park Resort, last year’s winning teams will also have the opportunity to pitch their winning ideas to last year’s TNCC sponsors, which include Air Products and NatWest later this year.

Do you think your pupils have what it takes to be crowned TNCC 2023 champions?  Contact Luke Feehan, Head of School Engagement at luke@tilg.co.uk.

Earlier this month, Kit Malthouse MP was appointed the new Secretary of State for Education. A relatively lesser known political figure than some of his predecessors, we look at who he is and what he may bring to this role.

Earlier this month, Kit Malthouse MP was appointed the new Secretary of State for Education. A relatively lesser known political figure than some of his predecessors, we look at who he is and what he may bring to this role.

Kit Malthouse’s education started in Liverpool, where he was born, attending the Sudley County Primary school and Liverpool College. From here, he went to Newcastle University to study politics and economics. From here, before entering politics, Kit Malthouse’s career started as a Chartered Accountant and later moved on into finance-related director roles

Since being elected as Conservative MP for North West Hampshire, Kit Malthouse has had several senior positions in government. These have included:

• – Minister of State in the Home Office and Ministry of Justice (2020 to 2022)
• – Minister of State (Minister of State for Crime, Policing and the Fire Service) (2019 to 2020)
• – Minister of State for Housing (2018 to 2019)
• – Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Family Support, Housing and Child Maintenance at the
• – Department of Work and Pensions (2018)
• – Deputy Mayor of London for Business and Enterprise (2012 to 2016)

Despite these and other roles not being in Education, Kit Malthouse has, in the past, put his support behind employability and education for young people.

As part of the government’s See Potential campaign, which sought to help disadvantaged groups into work, Kit Malthouse was interviewed and discussed his keen interest in companies doing more to help disadvantaged children find employment.

“Without a family support network, children in care face difficulties accessing further education and employment. It is up to us to help.” 

“There are nearly 800,000 vacancies across the UK, and employers can play a huge supporting role in helping people leaving care transitioning into the workplace.”

“We would offer all the help in the world to help our own children if we could and it is right that care leavers are given the same support.”

Whilst being welcomed into his new role, key figures in education have stressed the role’s importance and the magnitude of work that needs to be done.

“If we are to build an ‘Aspiration Nation,’ with high-paying jobs making best use of the country’s huge reserves of talent, we must open peoples’ eyes to the benefits of technical education. That means more encounters between employers and school pupils, and bringing technical subjects back into the curriculum.”

Baker Dearing Educational Trust Chief Executive, Simon Connell

The Inspirational Learning Group would also like to welcome Kit Malthouse into the role of Secretary of State for Education.  We hope that future initiatives include careers education, information and advice for young people in the UK.

TILG provide 40 young people with key employability skills in partnership with YES project 

Collaborating with the YES project and other local organisations, TILG have worked closely with 40 young people enabling them to develop key employability skills.  The project, funded by the UK Government through the Community Renewal Fund in partnership with Stoke-on-Trent City Council, focussing on providing 16 to 24 year olds with confidence and skills in preparation for education, training and employment.

Over the course of the project, TILG have collaborated with other local organisations including YMCA North Staffordshire, Stoke City Football Club Community Trust and Staffordshire University.

Throughout the project, young people have had the opportunity to explore their personality animals and future careers using virtual reality headsets.  The valuable careers information was provided to the young people through the launchyourcareer.com platform.  When asked to describe their experience of working with TILG on the YES project, the young people involved said:

“Brilliant – I wish I would have had this support at school”

“Wow! I didn’t realise that there are so many job opportunities out there, I love creating my own TikTok videos and there are actual jobs out there where you can get paid by doing similar things for companies!” 

Dan Mears, Business Development Manager at TILG said, “TILG has been delighted to deliver as part of the YES Partnership to help support young people into sustainable, rewarding and long-term employment. As part of the project TILG has engaged with over 40 young people, providing access to our online careers discovery platform and bespoke employability resources spanning: key skills, goal setting, communication, customer service, networking, career planning, CV preparation,  job applications and interview techniques.  It has been great working alongside and forging relationships with other local, like-minded organisations all working together to improve outcomes for the youth of Stoke-on-Trent and I look forward to continuing to pursue other opportunities for collaboration to further help our young people“.

Throughout July and August 2022, The Inspirational Learning Group have been busy ensuring young people across the Midlands had a summer to remember.

Underpinned by the development of key skills such as communication, problem-solving, leadership and creativity, young people have prevented alien invasions, designed their own restaurants, built model concepts for multi-million-pound roller coasters and so much more!

When asked, 97% of young people at The Rawlett High School said the activity was good or excellent, with 96% also agreeing they were able to make new friendships with other students. The positive news continued at Tamworth Enterprise College, where 97% of their students said they had fun throughout the experience! A further highlight surfaced at Walsall Academy, where 91% felt that they were now more aware of the skills employers look for in the workplace.       

Chris Saunders, who led our transition workshops, commented, “It was wonderful to see so many young people from so many different primary schools meet each other and develop new friendships across the week before they start high school”. Something which learners at our Make Happen funded residential clearly agreed, “I had lots of fun and wish that I could stay longer”.

The Inspirational Learning Group would like to express our thanks to our summer programme partners: Thorpe Park Resort, NatWest Dream Bigger, UCFB, Kick it Out, The Animal Man and our colleagues at Dev Clever, who were able to provide a variety of additional experiences to ensure a diverse programme of activities.

If you would like a bespoke programme as part of your extended curriculum and half-term breaks, you can contact us by clicking here.

Announcing ‘Careers Curriculum’: Revolutionise Your School’s Careers Strategy

As the new academic year starts, TILG is proud to launch Careers Curriculum. Covering all aspects of effective careers education, Careers Curriculum ensures consistency of delivery and approach across schools – revolutionising your school’s careers strategy! 

Fully mapped against the Gatsby Benchmarks, CDI Framework, and Skills Builder, Careers Curriculum covers all aspects of effective careers education, with an emphasis on the development of transferable soft skills for the workplace. Each step has been developed to provide students with the information and guidance that they will need at key transition points – including information on their post-16 options. The full curriculum of 30+ video-led lessons can be delivered in form time, timetabled careers lessons, or combined to create a Careers themed drop-down day for every year group in your school.

A unique series of Sector workshops have also been created, focusing on industry sectors currently facing a skills gap across the UK. Featuring LMI information on how the sector is set to grow over the coming decade, these workshops also inform students of the various progression routes into each industry and provide an opportunity for students to try a practical activity linked directly to each sector. Schools can pick and mix the sectors to deliver based on their region and local employers or can use these lessons to promote careers across the wider curriculum. Every lesson has been created to be delivered by ANY teacher in ANY classroom without the need for extensive preparation or any specialist equipment or resources. The lessons are fully planned in a comprehensive delivery guide, fully resourced with engaging, downloadable PDF resources, and are video-led to ensure that students have access to the same information, regardless of who is delivering the lesson. 

Rebecca Clarke, Head of Education and Programmes says, “I am exceptionally proud of the Careers Curriculum, which has involved working with so many different companies and employees all across the UK! I was a Careers Lead in schools for almost 20 years, this was the resource that I desperately needed – and here it is! Prior to the official launch, over 50 schools have already purchased the Careers Curriculum, testament to the growing demand of consistent careers education in our schools.”

Want to know more about how your school can get involved this academic year, contact Nicole Billings, Schools Onboarding Advisor at nicole@tilg.co.uk.

Over the last 10 years, The Inspirational Learning Group (TILG) has engaged with over 500,000 young people across the UK and their flagship challenge, The National Careers Challenge (TNCC), has been delivered to 500 schools.

The annual grand finals event sees winning teams from each school compete to be crowned TNCC national finalists.    This year’s challenges were sponsored by Air Products, Thorpe Park, and NatWest, with NOCN as the official skills partner for the challenge.

Following virtual finals in 2020 and 2021, TILG was determined to make the 10^th finals bigger and better than ever before with the last face to face finals held in 2019 at the iconic Wembley Stadium.

On  7^thJuly, 1,000 students descended upon The ICC armed with life size prototypes, musical instruments, and fancy dress to ensure that their ideas would stand out from the crowd and would ultimately achieve TNCC champions status!  Each team faced a panel of esteemed business professionals who shortlisted two teams per year group, who presented their pitches again, this time in front of all attendees and a panel made up of representatives from each of the sponsors and Nick Jenkins!

Co-founder of TNCC Ben Dyer said, “We were delighted to be at The ICC to celebrate the achievements of the students that have taken part in the TNCC challenge this year.  We would like to thank our 21-22 challenge sponsors; Air Products, Thorpe Park and NatWest, who have supported TNCC and students during this academic year.  This year’s final absolutely lived up to the promise of an event not to be missed and we were blown away by the standard of the students’ pitches – they get better each year!”.

Lynn Willacy, Community & STEM Ambassador, UK and Ireland at Air Products said “Air Products is very proud to help ‘Inspire the next generation’ by sponsoring The National Careers Challenge again this year. All the finalists who submitted their ideas for the Air Products STEM challenge, which focusses on sustainability, were of such a high standard that our judges found it very hard to choose the overall winner. The range of different and innovative ideas submitted by the students definitely shows that they will be our scientists and engineers of the future.  Well done to Walton Priory Middle School who were crowned the overall winners!”

Julie Baker, Head of Enterprise at NatWest said, “NatWest Group is proud to sponsor the National Careers Challenge which brings real-world business skills into schools and gives young people across the country a chance to see where their ideas could take them and what they could achieve. It’s an inspirational initiative that will help make Britain the best country in Europe to start and grow a business. It has been an extremely difficult couple of years for young people across the UK, but through this year’s social enterprise challenge and access to our entrepreneurial skills programme Dream Bigger the finalists demonstrated how society can work, learn and collaborate for the better. I was inspired by the entrepreneurial spirit and innovative ideas that this year’s participants displayed in response to the challenge, and I would like to congratulate them all”

Natalie Dilloway, Head of Marketing at Thorpe Park said, “It’s been an absolute privilege to sponsor the Year 8 National Careers Challenge.  I was blown away by the finalists and the amount of hard work and imagination that clearly went in to the entries.  I left the event in awe and inspired by all the young minds; the energy, ideas and passion in the room was incredible. Thank you to all the pupils who took the time to enter, the teachers and everyone at The Inspirational Learning Group”.

A huge congratulations to our winning teams;

TNCC Year 7 challenge sponsored by Air Products – Heat Up from Walton Priory Middle School

TNCC Year 8 challenge sponsored by Thorpe Park –Elementals from Rutlish School

TNCC Year 9 challenge sponsored by NatWest –Safe Spots from Altrincham Grammar School for Girls

TNCC Year 10 challenge sponsored by TILG – Around The World in 80 Games from Chesham Grammar School

TILG is one of the shortlisted business leaders from across the nation to have been selected out of over 5,300 entrants – the most the awards has ever had!

The Great British Entrepreneur Awards, in partnership with Starling Bank, acknowledges and champions the hard work and uplifting stories of business owners across the UK, with an emphasis on their journey and resilience over financial achievements. This year’s awards also feature a brand new award, “The John Caudwell – Blaze Your Own Trail” award, highlighting the outstanding examples of businesses offering and supporting on the job training initiatives.

TILG is dedicated to connecting young people with the opportunities available to them and enabling young people, from all backgrounds, to transition into the workforce. When the government launched the “Kickstart” scheme in 2020, TILG immediately recognised the parallels between the work that we were already doing with schools and the opportunities that the Kickstart scheme could provide for young people across the UK.  TILG is proud to have worked with over 130 employers to provide high-quality placements to 564 young people across the country.

From accounts assistants to chefs, editors to teaching assistants, TILG acted as a gateway for a diverse range of employers, all of whom offered well-rounded placements for young people who were keen to launch their careers.  TILG also developed a suite of training resources available to young people through our online platform. The training focused on developing the key soft skills that young people need to succeed in the world of work; as well as providing them with the resources to build their own personal brand and to look towards their future opportunities. Every young person was also provided with the opportunity to take part in a bespoke mentoring scheme in association with Pricewaterhouse Coopers.

TILG Co-Director Michael Dyer said: “When we heard about the Kickstart scheme, we knew that it was something that we wanted to be involved in. We care passionately about giving young people the opportunities that they deserve, and we felt that the scheme aligned perfectly to our individual and company values. We believed that the Kickstart placements should act as a springboard for young people, assisting them to develop key skills in a supportive environment. It’s been a real pleasure to be involved in the scheme!  As part of our company culture, we encourage our team to follow their interests and passion, with some of our best challenges coming from our team themselves. We love to provide our employees with the opportunity to follow their dreams and passion, whether that is in their current role, or the opportunity to move into a different role that suits their skills and passion. We are thrilled to have been shortlisted for this award in amongst some fantastic organisations”.

The winners will be announced at a Grand Final, held at the Grosvenor Hotel in London on 21st November.

In addition to the Kickstart scheme and other local projects, TILG is also committed to providing young people with the access to real employer encounters.  The Launch Your Career platform is currently live to over 60,000 young people and ensures that they have a a unique, meaningful career discovery journey!

Launch Your Career offers Career discovery that’s never been seen before and to find out how to get your business involved visit https://bit.ly/LYCenquiry

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Since starting in 2013, The National Careers Challenge has grown to be the largest careers, enterprise and employability challenge in the UK, working with hundreds of thousands of young people across the last decade! Students, aged 11-15, have competed in teams across their year group and the finalists from every school have joined us at our TNCC Finals each year for a chance to battle it out and be crowned the national winner.

Ks3 National Winners –
2013 – Sirius Academy (Hull)
2014 – The Priory School (Shrewsbury)
2015 – Beauchamps High School (Essex)
2016 – Guernsey Grammar School (Guernsey)
2017 – Brighouse High School (Yorkshire)
2018 – Northampton Academy (Northamptonshire)
2019 – Newport Girl’s High School (Shropshire)
2020 – Walton Priory Middle School (Staffordshire)
2021 – Channing School (London)
2022 [Year 7 Challenge] – Walton Priory Middle School (Staffordshire)
2022 [Year 8 Challenge] – Rutlish School (London)

2023 [Year 7 Challenge] – Walton Priory Middle School (Staffordshire)

2023 [Year 8 Challenge] – St Mary’s Catholic College (Liverpool)

2024 [Year 7 Challenge] – Walton Priory Middle School (Staffordshire)

2024 [Year 8 Challenge] – Christ Church Academy (Staffordshire)

Ks4 National Winners–
2013 – Strood Academy (Kent)
2014 – Chesham Grammar School (Buckinghamshire)
2015 – Greig City Academy (London)
2016 – Northampton Academy (Northamptonshire)
2017 – Westborough High School (Yorkshire)
2018 – The deFerrers Academy (Burton upon Trent)
2019 – Chesham Grammar School (Buckinghamshire)
2020 – The Bourne Academy (Bournemouth)
2021 – Whitley Bay High School (Tyne and Wear)
2022 [Year 9 Challenge] –  Altrincham Grammar School (Cheshire)
2022 [Year 10 Challenge] – Chesham Grammar School (Buckinghamshire)

2023 [Year 9 Challenge] – Altrincham Grammar School (Cheshire)
2023 [Year 10 Challenge] – de Ferrers Academy (Staffordshire)

2024 [Year 9 Challenge] – Acklam Grange School (Middlesborough)

2024 [Year 10 Challenge] – West Kirby Grammar School (Wirral)

Most Enterprising School –
2013 – JCB Academy (Staffordshire)
2014 – Horizon Community College (Barnsley)
2015 – Myton School (Warwick)
2016 – Westborough High School (Yorkshire)
2017 – Norbury Manor Business and Enterprise School (Surrey)
2018 – Sir William Stanier School (Crewe)
2019 – Burton Borough School (Shropshire)
2020 – Kingsmead School (Staffordshire)
2021 – Beckfoot Upper Heaton School (Yorkshire)
2022 – Holy Trinity School (Worcestershire)

2023 – Acklam Grange (Middlesbrough)

2024 – Holy Family Catholic Multi-Academy Trust 

Most Enterprising Teacher –
2013 – Chris Wust (Kings CofE School, Wolverhampton)
2014 – Ryan Blackiston (Rydens Enterprise School, Surrey~)
2015 – Karen Betty (Northampton Academy)
2016 – Antonia Thoday (Chesham Grammar School, Buckinghamshire)
2017 – Suzannah Carter (Brighouse High School, Yorkshire)
2018 – Lukman Patel (Westborough High School, Yorkshire)
2019 – Chris Barth (Holy Trinity School, Worcestershire)
2020 – Stella Neal (John Hampden Grammar School, Oxfordshire)
2021 – Victoria Kerr (St Thomas More Catholic Academy, Staffordshire)
2022 – Wendy Winter (Winchmore School, London)

2023 – Robin Babbage (Hamstead Hall School, Birmingham)

2024 – Tanya Wiles from Oasis Academy Immingham

Most Enterprising student –
(New format from academic year 2021/22)
2022 [Year 7] – Zara Jefferires (Channing School, London)
2022 [Year 8] – Isabelle Giles (Burton Borough School, Shropshire)
2022 [Year 9] – Daniel Bradley (De Ferrers Academy, Burton upon Trent)
2022 [Year 10] – Sam Hadley (De Ferrers Academy, Burton upon Trent)

2023 [Year 7] – Caitlin Willetts (Parker E-ACT Academy, Northamptonshire)
2023 [Year 8] – Raya Al Rifai (Manchester High School for Girls)
2023 [Year 9] –  Ann- Maria Thomas  (St John Plessington, Liverpool)
2023 [Year 10] – Joshua Appelbee  (De Ferrers Academy, Burton upon Trent)

2024 [Year 7] – Amelia Kitts (Healing Academy, Grimsby)

2024 [Year 8] – Joseph Edington-Bank (Prestfelde Prepatory School, Shrewsbury)

2024 [Year 10] – Zac Turner (Bishop Vesey’s Grammar, Birmingham)

Most Enterprising Boy Key Stage 4 –
Award retired in academic year 2021/22
2013 – Tufayl Hannan (Monkesaton, Durham)
2014 – Alex Fletcher (Walsall Academy)
2015 – Mo Daghem (Blessed William Howard, Stafford)
2016 – Theo Sergiou (Winchmore School, London) & Ramish Muhammad (Northampton Academy)
2017 – Dexter Maywaka (Northampton Academy)
2018 – Josh Gosney (Sir Thomas Boteler, Warrington)
2019 – Lewis Gooding (Woodlands School, Essex)
2020 – Freddie Barnes (Thornhill Academy, Tyne and Wear)
2021 – Ethan Wenham (Medina College, Newport)

Most Enterprising Girl Key Stage 4 –
Award retired in academic year 2021/22
2013 – Frances Bishop (King Edward V1, Stafford)
2014 – Olivia Symes (Balcarras School, Gloucestershire)
2015 – Emily Potterton (Malcolm Arnold School, Northampton)
2016 – Bushra Moqbel (Manchester Islamic High School for Girls)
2017 – Evany Carr (Plume Academy, Essex)
2018 – Molly Wells (St Catherines Catholic Girls school, Kent)
2019 – Abigail Painter (Sir William Stanier, Cheshire)
2020 – Isma Rahiem (King Edward VI Handsworth Wood Girls Academy, Birmingham)
2021 – Nshira Adeji (Davenport High School for Girls, Plymouth)

Most Enterprising Boy Key Stage 3 –
Award retired in academic year 2021/22
2013 – Neo Wells (Pingle School, Derby)
2014 – Reece Duignam (Top Valley Academy, Nottingham)
2015 – Rudra Patel (Northampton Academy)
2016 – Andrei Donisanu (Northampton Academy)
2017 – Callum Wapstra (Adam’s Grammar, Shropshire)
2018 – Rowan Bowsher (Burton Borough School, Shropshire)
2019 – Mikey Blair (Priory Academy, Bedfordshire)
2020 – Alfie Matthews (Burton Borough School, Shropshire)
2021 – Shannyn Hyde (Wymondham High Academy, Norfolk)Most Enterprising Girl Key Stage 3 –
Award retired in academic year 2021/22
2013 – Jaz Harvey (Rydens Enterprise School, Surrey)
2014 – Chelsea-Leigh Porter (Strood Academy, Kent)
2015 – Sophie Fletcher (Walsall Academy)
2016 – Klaudia Witkowska (Academy@Worden, Lancashire)
2017 – Sarah Wild (Altrincham Grammar School, Cheshire)
2018 – Isha Hussain (Saltley Academy, Birmingham)
2019 – Poppy Roper (Campsmount Academy, Doncaster)
2020 – Olwen Yates (Walton Priory Middle School, Staffordshire)
2021 – Faith Smith (Burton Borough School, Shropshire)

Congratulations to all of our award winners over the past decade!

Over the past fifteen months we have all experienced the devastating impact of COVID-19 across the UK, and indeed the World.

Every part of society has been impacted requiring us all to adjust to lockdown, furlough, redundancy, working from home and being together in small social groups like never before. Positively, families have formed new bonds and recognised that adversity can bring opportunity and new ways of working.

One group that has been impacted more than any other is young people. Lord Iain McNicol, Chair of their Business Advisory and Intelligence Group, commissioned this research on ‘Careers After Covid’ supported by DevClever to help promote understanding of the critical need for careers guidance and personalised career-led learning.

You can read the full report here.