Another successful ‘Be Ambitious’ Week at Ashton Sixth Form College

Following a successful launch in 2023, our flagship ‘Be Ambitious’ Week at Ashton Sixth Form College returned for another year. The Be Ambitious programme has been developed to give students employability experiences and opportunities to develop their soft skills, which will aid them in the world of work. The week is part of an exceptional offer of extended activities offered to students outside of the classroom to help them to stand out when moving on to their next step.

The week, which was sponsored by Stamford Products Ltd, Project Opal Ltd and Carpenter Ltd, consisted of three strands with students opting to take part in one – either an employer-led project; completing a work placement or participating in a range of employability and career focussed workshops. Over 800 students participated in the week and benefited from the opportunities and experiences that were organised for them.

The employer-led projects were launched at the start of the week by Centre Principal, Lisa Richards alongside keynote speaker and successful college alumni, Richard Bradley, Senior IT Director at Kellanova. Richard discussed his own career journey since college and the significance of capitalising on the wide range of opportunities and experiences that the college offers.

The college secured partnerships with high profile companies including BBC News, Balfour Beatty and National Rail, who set the students real-time briefs and projects for the students to work on throughout the week ready to present back to the companies. The students were mentored by organisations who gave them their professional advice and expertise to help them to succeed on their projects. There was an increase in students this year participating in the employer-led projects meaning more students had access to those meaningful work experiences with major employers.

In addition to the employer-led projects, a huge 470 students secured themselves a work placement. Completing a work placement allowed the students to gain first-hand experience in a professional setting, whilst building on their transferable skills. The college secured work placements for students at lots of high profile organisations, including, Manchester United FC, Tameside Magistrates Court, Tameside Council and many more.

As part of the busy week, the college also offered a number of employability and career focussed workshops. Students attended exciting and interesting talks from organisations such as Project Charisma, who explored confidence in the work-place and public speaking with students, and Diamond Wellbeing Hypnotherapy who shared coping mechanisms and wellbeing tips with students.

The standard of work produced by students throughout the week has been highly praised by employers. Andrew McLaren, from Tameside Council commented: "What a great college, teachers and of course the fantastic students. I was genuinely agog at the knowledge and hard work from all students. I'm really proud that ASFC is in my ward - it's a real jewel!" 

Shannon Coulding from Reuben's Retreat was extremely impressed with our students: "The students were all really engaged in the project and invested their time into researching about the charity and the work we do. Some of the students were nervous to present but they all came incredibly prepared and overcame any fears they had about presenting."

It is clear students enjoyed the week and found it very useful with developing their employability skills. One student mentioned that Be Ambitious week allowed them to "gain the skills of time management and independence, making me more confident in presenting my work." Another students noted they have "developed communication skills, admin skills, a good work ethics and punctuality skills."

Rachel Smirke, Director of Curriculum and Progression said: “I was nervous going into our second year of Be Ambitious Week as I didn't think we could top last year. However, it has been even bigger and better than last year with even more students engaged in activity. The gold standard is always to have students with an employer in the workplace for a full week and nearly 50% of students managed this. On top of that, the majority of remaining students were engaged with employers via a live project brief. I am so proud of all the students and the feedback we have received from the employers who worked with students. It has been a week of superb achievements, confidence and skill building as well as forming new contacts in the working world.  We will continue to build on this for next year.”

A huge well done to all students for fully immersing themselves in the opportunities and experiences they've come across throughout Be Ambitious Week! Also thank you to all employers for working with our students. We look forward to another successful Be Ambitious Week in 2025!