Wellington Place and Ahead Partnership hold Enrichment Festival to inspire local students

Companies based at leading urban quarter Wellington Place have once again teamed up with Ahead Partnership to host their annual Enrichment Festival.

Sponsored and coordinated by MEPC, the asset manager and developer of Wellington Place, the festival welcomed Year 10 students from four different schools across Leeds to meet business volunteers from a range of organisations and levels.

Youngsters from Co-op Academy, Farnley Academy, Bishop Young and Mount St Mary’s took part in interactive skills and careers workshops and office tours in an event designed to encourage workplace confidence and develop communication skills.

Workshops were held by businesses based at Wellington Place, including Redmayne Bentley, Burendo, Equifax, WSP, Brewin Dolphin and Buro Happold, and were designed around the theme of life skills, giving students the opportunity to build their skills in areas from money management to teambuilding and creating a LinkedIn profile.

Alongside this, students were given office tours by businesses including Netpremacy, Mazars, NHS Digital, and Savills, helping them to get real-life insight into the wide range of career opportunities available to them at Wellington Place.

Following the Festival, 100% of students surveyed said that it had increased their understanding of how to get into different careers, and 97% said it helped them to think about their goals after they finished school.

Wellington Place and Ahead Partnership – a purpose-driven business that supports the private sector to design and deliver social value projects to overcome inequality, promote opportunity and positively impact wider society – regularly work together to host events to encourage social mobility and inspire the next generation, including their annual Women of the Future event. This is the fourth Ahead Partnership Enrichment Festival held at Wellington Place.

A year 10 student said: “The festival was really exciting and useful for young people to be part of. It helped develop my ideas about how workplaces run, my understanding of different jobs and what they really look like on a day-to-day basis, as well as the different opportunities for careers and qualifications in my local area.”

Dominique Murray, Head of Customer Experience at MEPC, said: “We love bringing the Wellington Place business community together and working alongside the Ahead Partnership to help inspire young people, boost their confidence, and improve their employability.

“We’re passionate about supporting the wider community and were delighted to give students first-hand insight into the range of amazing opportunities on offer to them and give then an insight into modern working environments such as Wellington Place.

“We want to extend our thanks to all who took part to help us inspire students to think positively and confidently about their futures.”

Megan Lipp, Head of Development at Ahead Partnership, added: “Seeing and experiencing inspiring business locations such as Wellington Place in real life enables students to gain a better understanding of how businesses actually work and the opportunities available right on their doorstep.

“By holding activities such as the Enrichment Festival onsite, we give young people the confidence to start thinking about future careers and the places and organisations in which they might like to work.

“We always receive positive feedback about our events with Wellington Place from students, teachers and volunteers, and this year has been no exception – we’re already looking forward to engaging with more young people at our next event together.”

Photographs by Bevan Cockerill