Northumberland secondary school announces new partnership with national house builder Bellway

To mark National Apprenticeship Week, Duke’s Secondary School in South East Northumberland has announced a new partnership with UK house building specialist, Bellway.

The partnership will see a range of opportunities become available to pupils throughout the school, including employer masterclasses, careers guidance, and field visits.

As well as supporting Duke’s Secondary School to deliver the National Career Ready programme, it also forms part of a regional pilot project for Bellway to help introduce young people to the variety of career opportunities available in the construction sector, including apprenticeships.

If successful in the North East, Bellway, who currently employs 3,000 nationally, intends to roll out its school outreach programme across all 22 of its house building divisions nationwide.

To celebrate the official launch of the project, a cohort of Year 12 students from Duke’s Secondary School’s Sixth Form provision took part in a Career Ready Masterclass on “preparation for work experience”, held across both Bellway’s North East headquarters in Woolsington and a new build site in Ponteland.

Danielle Towers, head of sixth form and careers lead at Duke’s Secondary School (part of NCEA Trust), commented: “We are honoured to be working alongside Bellway at the cutting edge of its new school outreach programme.

“At Duke’s and indeed, across all of the schools within the wider NCEA Trust, we are committed to providing pupils with high-quality careers education covering a wide variety of industry sectors to help them make informed decisions about their futures.

“What our pupils have been most surprised by since we first established contact with Bellway is the scope of the career opportunities available, beyond traditional trades and construction. For many of them, it has been a real eye-opener into a sector which they might not otherwise have considered.”

Laura Bell, Group HR & OD manager at Bellway, added: “We are absolutely delighted to have the opportunity to partner with Duke’s Secondary School.

“As we strive to help meet the need for more high-quality homes, it is vital that we continue to attract more people to the industry from a diverse range of backgrounds and that we offer them the support and training they need to succeed.”

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