The Newmarket Charitable Foundation partnered with the Newmarket Academy to deliver a successful Careers Expo at Newmarket Academy on the 19th October.
The charity coordinated 24 organisations across the town to attend the school for a full day to talk to 850 students from Years 7-11 about career opportunities. Josh Schunmann, Director of Newmarket Charitable Foundation, said: “We asked attending organisations not to talk just about specific jobs, but to help students to understand the array of available careers with their sector. We wanted to open their eyes to what is out there, raising aspirations – and making it clear that all of this is right on their doorstep!”
The students from each year group passed through the fair for an hour at a time, learning about the differing careers in sectors including horse racing, ground maintenance/sports amenities, automotive, events management, distribution, leisure, law, accountancy, police, logistics, manufacturing, agriculture, hospitality, fire and rescue, military, drug development, entrepreneurship, insurance and animal healthcare/veterinarian. Stand holders encouraged engagement by offering a variety of giveaways and holding competitions. The Bedford Lodge Hotel and Spa went a step further, making mocktails and providing cookery demonstrations.
Martin Witter, Head at the Academy, said: “I want to thank the Newmarket Charitable Foundation for working with the school and the community to give all our young people an amazing and valuable experience. Thank you to all twenty-four local businesses and organisations for giving up their time to be at the special event.”
Josh added: “The feedback from the students and businesses has been fabulous; planned as a one-off event, we are already discussing ways of making it even better next year.”
Businesses included: Abbeycroft Leisure, Armed Forces, Bedford Lodge Hotel and Spa, Black Type Accountancy, Discover Newmarket, DS Smith, Edmondson Hall, Fire Fighters, Godolphin, G’s Fresh, The Jockey Club, Manchetts, MENTA, Military Preparation College, The National Stud, Newmarket Journal, The Police, The British Racing School, Resolian, (was DDS), Rossdales, Turners (Soham), Unisurge, West Suffolk College and Yutree Insurance