BITC Education Symposium

Our Head of Client Engagement & Communication, Sophie Seddon discloses her top tips for businesses and schools to work together successfully.

“I was invited to speak at the Education Symposium hosted by Goldman Sachs on Wednesday 26th September.  This was organised by Business in The Community to encourage and advise other schools and businesses to partner as the benefits are outstanding.”

The History of Novus’ Partnership with BITC

5 years ago, we were approached by BITC and The Business Class to partner with a school in Stoke–on-Trent who were going into special measures.  With no hesitation we agreed to work with them to help them through a very difficult time.  We saw an opportunity to get closer to the community we work in, but more importantly we identified an opportunity to work with potential future employees.

After 5 years of working with Thistley Hough we have carried out over 100 projects including CV workshops, mentoring, a scholarship programme, donated bespoke school books, built allotments, created a school bank and set up a bank account for every child, and the list goes on.

Top Tips for Sustainable Relationships between Schools and Businesses

After a very successful partnership these are my top tips for schools and businesses to create a sustainable relationship that really works:

• Set clear, simple objectives that are easy for everyone to understand including the pupils, parents, teachers and employees.
• Empower employees to design and own projects and give them the authority to see them through.
• Be open and honest.  If something isn’t working speak up and move on.
• Innovate.  Create innovative projects that are interesting for everyone to be involved in.
• Don’t make excuses!  We are all very busy people and have our day jobs but take accountability and get the job done!
• Have fun!  It has been a fantastic 5 years for us all and we have had so much fun along the way, so enjoy it!