The ground-breaking Career Ready programme has marked a major milestone with a record number of students graduating since its inception in Scotland in 2011.
Around 500 students from 114 schools in 12 local authority areas across Scotland – including 22 schools in Edinburgh – celebrated completing the Career Ready course during a special ceremony at Perth Concert Hall on Thursday 28 March.
In Edinburgh, both local and national employers have supported Career Ready students, including Diageo, Re:markable, The City of Edinburgh Council, Apex Hotels, Brodies, BlackRock and BNY Melon. They do this through mentoring, providing a paid internship, running masterclasses and opening their doors for workplace visits. As a result of a four-week paid internship for each Career Ready student last year, £525,000 was injected into the Scottish economy.
In addition to celebrating the achievements of those graduating the programme in 2019, the ceremony gave special recognition to those who made significant progress as a result of the programme with a selection of special awards.
Ebrahin Hassan, of Wester Hailes Education Centre, was named ‘Edinburgh Student of the Year’. He said: “The instant we met, my mentor at Scottish Gas motivated me to keep working hard. She encouraged me to be the best I can be.
“The internship was the best opportunity, I was part of a customer support team responsible for the utility and the efficiency of the business. I have learned from experts how to analyse and sort data in Excel.
“After leaving school I hope to continue working part time and I am applying to college to study Mechanical Engineering. Career Ready has given me confidence and motivated me to improve myself through education to allow me the best career options when I enter full time work.”
His Mentor, Amanda Moir of Scottish Gas, added: “Ebrahin was very keen to learn all about our business. He became part of the team at British Gas and got really involved during his internship and learned loads.
“As his mentor, it is inspiring to see a young person who is keen to succeed and who is willing to work hard to achieve what he needs. His resilience and his drive to change his life is inspiring, it has been a really positive experience being his mentor.”
The Career Ready programme continues to grow, with 125 schools now involved in 13 different location authorities.
Anne Wexelstein, Director for Scotland, Career Ready congratulated graduates for their commitment and participation: “The graduation is a celebration of every student’s achievements over the past two years, and we wish them continued success as they get underway with their future careers.
“With 98% of Career Ready students going on to a positive destination, but one of the many great outcomes from Career Ready, we’re grateful to our network of employers in Edinburgh who make this possible. By continuing to support and invest in young people, who are on the programme because they need the opportunity to expand their networks and role models from the world of work, all of these organisations and their people play a crucial role in boosting social mobility across Scotland.”
There are 1,300 young people currently enrolled on the programme who are being supported by over 300 organisations and more than 2,700 volunteers.
Edinburgh schools involved in the 2017-19 Career Ready programme
- Balerno Community High School
- Boroughmuir High School
- Broughton High School
- Castlebrae Community High School
- Craigmount High School
- Craigroyston Community High School
- Currie High School
- Drummond Community High School
- Forrester High School
- Gracemount High School
- Holy Rood RC High School
- James Gillespie’s High School
- Leith Academy
- Liberton High School
- Portobello High School
- Queensferry Community High School
- St Augustine’s RC High School
- St Thomas of Aquin’s RC High School, Edinburgh
- The Royal High School
- Trinity Academy
- Tynecastle High School
- Wester Hailes Education Centre
Employers who have supported students in Edinburgh on the 2017-19 Career Ready programme
- SAAS
- Apex Hotels
- BlackRock
- BNY Mellon
- Brodies
- CGI
- Change Recruitment
- Citi
- Citizens Advice Scotland
- Cyrenians
- Diageo
- Franklin Templeton Investments
- Graham Construction
- Head Resourcing
- Leidos
- NHSNSS
- Pertemps
- Phoenix Group
- Re:markable
- Royal Bank of Scotland
- SAAS
- Scottish Gas
- Scottish Water
- Search Consultancy
- Sopra Steria
- Speakeasy
- Standard Life Aberdeen
- The Balmoral Hotel
- The Big Partnership
- The City of Edinburgh Council
- The Scottish Government
- The Scottish Parliament
- University of Edinburgh
- VisitScotland
Find out more:CareerReady.org.uk
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