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Sixth Form Bolton Students go on Safari at Bolton Council

It’s National Careers Week and our students have had a fantastic opportunity to go behind the scenes at Bolton Council to explore the myriad of career opportunities available there as part of a workplace safari.

The majority of the students who took part in the event are part of the Sport & Leadership Pathway in The Sixth Form’s Professional Growth Programme which allows our students to explore their career goals and ambitions via sector-specific pathways.

Jill Whitham, Head of Careers, was really positive about the opportunities that the event could offer saying:

The Sixth Form Careers Programme is designed to broaden our students' career horizons by providing them with a wide range of career development opportunities. The B6 careers team worked in conjunction with Bolton Council to provide a workplace safari which would dispel some of the myths around working in the local authority. The Sixth Form Bolton and Bolton Council are excited to build on this working relationship and to develop further opportunities for students, so that we will hopefully see more students becoming a member of the Bolton Council workforce in the future.

The day began with a chance for the students to hear from Neeta Graham, Head of HR Casework & Operations who introduced the council and what they do. Lory Hunter, Head of Environmental Delivery, then spoke to the students about what her role entails and her career journey. Sue Johnson, Chief Executive of Bolton Council, then visited the students and spoke about how truly rewarding working for the council can be and how it gives you the chance to make a difference to people’s lives.

Nicola Littlewood, Head of Marketing, Communications and Commercial Development, gave a fascinating presentation on her role at the council and shared an interesting insight into some of the events that take place in Bolton including the Iron Man and Food and Drink Festival and how they help to put the town on the map.

The students were then taken on a behind the scenes tour of the town hall where they had the opportunity to see the mayor’s chains, the council chambers and the mayor’s parlour.

Following talks from Louise McCarthy, the Quality Assurance Lead; a networking lunch with some of the young Bolton Council employees and a presentation from Duncan Keary, Communications & Engagement Manager, the group were then tasked with working in teams to come up with fresh ideas to market Bolton Council to a younger potential workforce. The students were keen to share the progressive benefits that the council offers and to express the passion that all of the speakers had shown for their organisation.

The day was a resounding success with Karen Fairhurst, HR Resourcing Lead saying:

Welcoming students to the Town Hall is a really important part of our strategy to attract young people to work for the Council.  With over 500 different job roles there is sure to be something for everyone but we find that younger people don’t necessarily know about all the development opportunities and staff benefits that we have.   During the Safari, the students were able to hear from some of our senior managers about what it’s really like to work here, take a Town Hall tour and take part in activities which helped us to understand how we can better promote working for the Council.   They even got to see some elephants! 

The students found it to be a really rewarding experience with first-year A Level Geography, Politics and Sociology with Honours Programme with EPQ student, Daniel Lewis saying:

I attended to gain an insight into the council as I hope to work with councils in the future so it provided a clear picture of how councils run. The day itself was very nicely run and managed. I enjoyed the activities and discussions we had, as well as the ability to hear from very inciteful speakers. Overall, a good and interesting day.

A huge thank you to everyone from Bolton Council for inviting us and hosting this fantastic event.