This week, something is happening across our town that deserves to be celebrated. Students from Newmarket Academy are visiting local businesses every day as part of the Newmarket Charitable Foundation and Newmarket Academy Careers Festival – and the response from our business community has been, once again, remarkable.
Each visit gives young people the chance to see a real workplace in action. To meet the people who work there. To understand not just what a business does, but how it does it, the roles that keep it running, the skills it values and the career pathways it can offer, both within that organisation and across its wider sector.
It is, in the truest sense, education beyond the classroom.
Why this matters
For many students, the Careers Festival offers their first real glimpse of working life in Newmarket. The town has a rich and diverse economy – from world-renowned horse racing and training yards to logistics, manufacturing, science, hospitality, healthcare, education and the emergency services. There is genuine breadth here, and genuine opportunity.
But opportunity only becomes real when young people can see it, touch it and hear about it from the people who live it every day. That is precisely what the Careers Festival makes possible.
None of this would happen without the businesses who say yes. Who make time. Who share their knowledge and their passion for what they do.
The businesses who make it happen
Every business that takes part is giving up time, opening their doors and asking their teams to step forward and talk honestly about their work and their career journeys.
This year’s Careers Festival has seen students visit a wide range of local organisations, each offering a different window into working life in Newmarket. From Godolphin and The Jockey Club Rooms to Heath Court Hotel, Colourbox Montessori School, the British Racing School, Unisurge, Turners of Soham, Suffolk Constabulary and CAPS Cases. The breadth of participation reflects the depth of support that exists for young people in this community and we thank each and every business involved.
Inspiring our future
At Newmarket Charitable Foundation, supporting the long-term prospects of young people in our town sits at the heart of our key pillars. The Careers Festival is one of the most direct ways we can connect the next generation with the community around them and with the opportunities that our local community holds.
We are proud to work alongside Newmarket Academy and so many local businesses to make this happen each year. And we look forward to continuing to build on it.
If your organisation would be interested in taking part in a future Careers Festival, we would love to hear from you. Please get in touch with the team at Newmarket Charitable Foundation.