Getting Hands-On with Bristol Businesses at Knowle DGE

In March, Bristol WORKS supported the team at Knowle DGE to put on a careers carousel for students across the Learn@ Multi Academy Trust, which includes educational settings such as the Soundwell Academy, Sky Academy, Lansdown Park, Notton Hill and, Knowle DGE. The careers event was aimed at students in years 10 and 11 to help them consider the various pathways they could follow once they leave their provision by providing encounters with Bristol-based organisations.

Within this event, there was a careers fair whereby WORKS was able to meet students and parents to share information about what we do as a team and highlighting the Post 16 support available. Keeping us company were businesses like Edmundson Electrical, who have several locations in Bristol. They spoke to the young people about the skills needed to thrive and grow as an electrical wholesaler.

We believe in getting as hands on as possible, so WORKS coordinated a range of Bristol-based business to give the students a real taste of what they do through a series of specialist skills-based workshops.

Clayton Hotels, with a 4-star site in Bristol City Centre, revealed one of the travel industries best kept secrets – how to make a swan out of a towel! This piece of fabric folding magic enchanted students and teachers alike.

Multi-media advertising company Clear Channel, covered some of the fundamentals of marketing. Topics included areas such as market research, how to create an engaging message to promote a brand, all topped off with a sprinkling of innovative product design.

Heating, plumbing, and refrigeration experts and South Bristol SME, PHC Parts broke down misconceptions about what it was like working in their industry, by demonstrating the specialist knowledge you need to work effectively with engineers who are responsible for keeping homes warm, well-plumbed and running as they need to.

Step and Stone, Bristol’s artisanal bakery, specialising in flatbreads, walked the students through kitchen skills including the correct steps in getting ready to cook, measuring ingredients precisely to maintain quality standards and how to ensure our food looks as enticing as possible.

Yunex Traffic stopped the show with their huge traffic light system! Yunex are responsible for managing traffic and keeping towns and cities running smoothly. It’s a vital yet overlooked role that affects everyone. The team from Yunex showed students what they do and gave them a taster of how to programme traffic lights.  Yunex described the careers event as “an amazing opportunity that left us feeling inspired.”

We also focussed on sectors like finance with FD Works who came in to help students work out budgeting basics.  The team from FD works said they found “answering any questions and giving them insight into what we do – it usually surprises them!” to be a rewarding part of taking part in the event. The students also shared that they found it most helpful to hear about the different jobs, many of which they hadn’t considered before.

The careers carousel at Knowle DGE brought together a wide range of sectors to give the young people lots of ideas about what they can do in the future.