Thakeham managers sent back to school

World of Work

Five Thakeham managers have spent a week back at school, helping children with career guidance.

Thakeham managers took over teaching at the Royal Alexandra and Albert School (RAAS) in Reigate, Surrey. The classes explored the world of work with Year 10.

Sharing knowledge

During the week, Thakeham staff revealed more about their own areas of expertise including CVs and interviews, design and engineering, advertising and marketing, leadership and entrepreneurship.

Since January 2019, schools are now required by the government to work towards the Gatsby Benchmarks and meet them in full by the end of 2020. There are eight separate careers criteria and only 1.5 per cent of schools and colleges meet all of them.

Lessons for all

Liane Richardson, HR Director for Thakeham, revealed it wasn’t only the students who were enriched by the experience.

What an incredible week! The response from the students was amazing! Everyone was engaged and made us feel very welcome.

As a home developer, we already contribute to the community through our support for grassroots sport, regional events and environmental initiatives. But this was the first time we had worked with a school to develop an area of their curriculum.

It was a wonderful teambuilding exercise for the staff who contributed too. It took us out of our comfort zone. We improved our presentation skills; ability to think on our feet; plus the confidence to motivate and develop others.

Top marks

Scott Randolph, Careers Lead at the School, said:

Good career guidance is important to help inspire students to consider all the options that are available to them. There is a good chance that people will spend over half of their lives working and we are grateful to Thakeham for the time and energy they gave us. With Thakeham’s help, we are in the small percentage of schools in the country which meet all of the criteria for careers education and have scored 100% in the Gatsby Benchmarks.

This was a wonderful example of a local business caring enough to contribute genuine value to the lives of students. Their commercial stories and insights brought a fresh perspective to our careers teaching. And we were delighted when the team from Thakeham even joined the students at the end of year colour run along with the entire school.