Merseyrail Win “Work Inspiration Award”
30th June 2010
At an awards ceremony at Blackburn FC's Ewood Park, Merseyrail won the "Work Inspiration Award" at the Business In The Community North West Regional Awards 2010 for its Business Class partnership with Archbishop Beck Catholic Sports College in Walton Vale.
The Business Class partnership between Merseyrail and Archbishop Beck College was founded in 2009. It has created tailored projects to inspire and motivate young people through work based scenarios and mentoring and focuses on building a strong working relationship and developing projects to support challenging students and provide inspiring work experience.
Level 3 BTEC students have been given the opportunity to act as "Merseyrail consultants" spending one morning a week on site at Merseyrail's offices. Merseyrail employees of all levels provide training on current rail industry practice and issues and support students to tackle hands-on assignments and scenarios.
Bart Schmeink, Merseyrail's Managing Director, has committed time to mentoring a group of students with behavioural and performance difficulties.
The impact of the Business Class partnership so far has been:
- Over 600 students have benefitted directly from the partnership
- Teachers have reported a more mature, independent approach to learning which has directly transferred back to the school environment
- Mentored students have demonstrated improved academic performance and have raised aspirations
- Staff at Merseyrail and Archbishop Beck College have reported the partnership has improved their own personal development
"I am delighted that our work has been recognised by winning this "Work Inspiration" award and I hope that we will continue to make a difference in the life of Archbishop Beck's students"
