For a long time, Newark Business Club has had an interest in local education. Around 4 years ago we realised that we were producing school children who were ready for jobs that didn’t exist in Newark or we, as a business community, weren’t creating jobs that suited our school leavers. This means that the spiral Newark has been in for some time, of high employment rates but low average wages, will continue unabated. The employment opportunities for Newark’s children are not inspiring. Yes we need a reasonable percentage of vocational jobs, but do we not also need IT specialists, engineers, innovators and people capable of managing these types of businesses ?
Those children with higher qualifications (and remember that they could and should be the future of this town) will naturally leave to find somewhere with employment opportunities that can support their abilities and aspirations.
On the positive side, it possibly explains the high level of entrepreneurship we see in Newark that is on display at the regular meetings of Newark Business Club. However, a handful of inspired, and inspirational, people helps but does not make for a growing, improving town by itself. At the moment, somewhere in the region of 200 children travel on buses into Lincolnshire to obtain their education
Hand-in-hand with all of this is the problem of Newark’s current educational buildings at secondary school level. These have been well-publicised of late, with ministerial visits and a lot of coverage in the local press and there is no need for me to go into detail here. Its enough to point out that we have a Science School that has moved forward in recent years but is now stalled by the quality of its very fabric, where maintenance has been limited based on a promise of new buildings that does not now appear to be forthcoming. We also have an arts-based school which is improving since its re-structuring with an executive head-ship system. However, arts and science leaves a big gap.
At Newark Business Club we set up an education sub-committee with the intention of putting businesses and schools together for sponsorship, mentoring and other initiatives that we hope will help to create a workforce fit for our businesses and ensure that we retain some of those skills that currently leak out to Lincolnshire and elsewhere. Unfortunately, the worlds of education and business seem to have been so far removed for so long that filling the gaps has proved very hard work and there has possibly been a lack of understanding between the two communities. There have been a number of initiatives carried out between the parties and all with some success. However, each of these have been limited in their application and either haven’t produced a large effect, or have only affected a handful of children.
I have therefore been delighted to hear the plans of the ECC organisation in Newark which is well-advanced in its plans to create a Business based Free School. I went along to their presentations a week or so back and was hugely impressed by their plans, the quality of their steering committee and their background knowledge. I had a chat with a few of them and I’m pleased that I’ve been able to create a link between the Everyday Champions Academy and Newark Business Club.
I would urge the parents, grandparents and carers of any child in Newark who is under 11 years old to look at the presentation. You can see the one that I attended online by clicking here and then clicking on the red button at the bottom of the page and then scrolling down, or there are a new set of presentations being held at the Everyday Champions Centre on Brunel Drive and you can see details by clicking here, and clicking on the red button. Please look at the website and complete the brief survey. Newark’s education system can only benefit from such an enormous leap in the choice available to our children, and all that is required now is for demand for the school to be proven.
A team from ECC will be attending and presenting to the Newark Business Club meeting on Friday 18th March at 7am.
