02 May 2017

Council partners with local academy to help prepare young people for the world of work

Pupils from Ellon Academy took part in an event last week (Friday, April 28) to launch an exciting project designed to help prepare young people for the world of work.

As part of the national Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) Strategy, the local authority is pioneering the project with the team at Ellon Academy, in a first for the area.

Developing the Young Workforce is the Scottish Government’s youth employment strategy, which aims to significantly reduce youth unemployment in Scotland by 2021. One of the main themes of DYW is that employers and schools should enter into long term partnerships which focus on preparing young people for employment.

The Council and the school have established the first of these connections, the council in its capacity as an employer and the school as the pupil focus, and are encouraging other businesses to follow suite. 

Through the partnership, the council intends to provide support to the academy in a number of ways.

These include:

• Continuing to attend careers events
• Assisting in curriculum delivery, by inviting employees to give specialist talks
• Supporting the academy with events, such as the annual ‘Business Challenge’
• Providing employability skills and certificated training to school pupils
• Arranging visits to Aberdeenshire Council work locations
• Offering a range of work placements and internships

Ellon Academy Deputy Head Teacher, Kim Hall, said: “The key aim of this is to support young people in Ellon Academy to gain the skills for learning, life and work they require for post school education and employment destinations.

“We are delighted to have Aberdeenshire Council as our committed, ‘Flagship’ business partner to work with us jointly to achieve this aim. Whilst we are all the same organisation, it shows that employers and schools can work together in genuinely constructive ways”

Aberdeenshire Council’s Head of Human Resources, Laura Simpson, said: “As a large employer, we are well positioned to help give young people inspiration, knowledge and skills as they transition through school and into employment.

“We offer a huge diversity of jobs and careers, and this partnership presents a great opportunity to promote Aberdeenshire Council to young people in the local area.

The Council’s Director of Business Services, Ritchie Johnson, said: “The council is working on attracting more young people to work for it, placing itself as an employer of choice in the north-east, and this is a significant milestone in that process.”

The Council has a dedicated jobs website and its own jobs and careers social media channels. Its increased online presence comes at a time when there has been a record number of applications for jobs at the Council.

You can follow them on Twitter @AbshireJobs on Facebook @AberdeenshireJobs search LinkedIn for “Aberdeenshire Council” or see available jobs online at: 
 MyJobScotland website.