To celebrate the eleventh year of The National Careers Challenge in partnership with NatWest Thrive, TILG officially launched 4 brand new challenges for the 2024 academic year at the House of Lords.
The National Careers Challenge in partnership with NatWest Thrive (TNCC) is the UK’s largest enterprise and employability competition for secondary schools and has helped to inspire over 600,000 students since its inception. Working in mixed ability groups, students are set tasks inspired by the workplace, working on a variety of cross-curricular tasks to develop and hone key employability skills to enable them to thrive in the working world.
Delivered into a multitude of settings including mainstream, SEND, grammar and independent schools, along with Alternative Provision and Pupil Referral Units, the challenge is non-discriminatory and Ben and Michael are staunch advocates of equality of opportunity, regardless of social standing or academic attainment. Every school taking part is invited to send their winning teams to the Grand Final, where learners pitch their ideas in front of industry experts. The Grand Finals are a celebration of skills, enterprise and employability, hosted by celebrities including Jason Manford, Perri Kiely and Jordan Banjo of Diversity (Britain’s Got Talent-winning dance troupe) and children’s TV legends ‘Dick and Dom’.
TILG founders Ben and Michael Dyer were delighted to announce this years 4 challenge sponsors and a representative from each of the companies:
Year 7 Challenge sponsor – Air Products PLC – ‘Hydrogen Challenge
Year 8 Challenge sponsor – JCB – ‘Machine of the Future
Year 9 Challenge sponsor – NatWest Thrive – ‘Start Local, Think Global
Year 10 Challenge sponsor – AtkinsRéalis – ‘School of the Future
Ben and Michael were also joined by Baroness Morgan of Cotes (Secretary of State for Education 2014-16), Carl Ward (CEO of City Learning Trust and Chair of The Foundation for Education Development, in addition to Chair of The Inspirational Learning Group) and Sally Land (Careers Lead at The de Ferrers Academy – challenge participants since 2013), who all spoke about the importance of enterprise and entrepreneurialism in a well-rounded curriculum and the impact of The National Careers Challenge.
The event was rounded off with the announcement of the 2024 TNCC Grand Finals which will be held at Doncaster Racecourse on Tuesday 9th July.
Ben Dyer said, “TILG prides itself on collaborating with innovative companies to develop exciting challenges for young people, helping to bridge the gap between the classroom and the world of work. Our sponsors this year are of the highest quality and we look forward to continuing to work with long-standing sponsors of the challenge, Air Products and NatWest in addition to welcoming JCB and AtkinsRéalis to the challenge – here’s to a fantastic academic year and inspiring even more young people across the country”.
