Company-school partnership

WHAT IS IT?

We design interactions between companies and schools so that students, teachers, mentors and companies can get the most out of it. For example, companies often want to build a relationship with a school quickly, have structured ways that their staff can mentor students and make life simple in the administration of doing so. Students and teachers are interested in site visits, interactive conversations with people working in industry and real life work experiences. Savvy Teens leads both STEM TY Challenge and Engineering Across the Border.

In the STEM TY Challenge, students from various schools in Cork and Kerry are paired with mentors from companies right across the region. Throughout the programme, teachers teach activities from "Engineering in the World" and mentors review the students' submissions. Further companies host site visits and make their staff available to be interviewed about their day-to-day work. The more students choose to do, the more rewards they get from the company and the STEM TY Challenge Showcase takes place at the end of the experience where everybody comes together at the STEM South West Expo to exhibit their outputs.

Engineering Across the Border brings together students in schools across the border region with manufacturing and engineering companies. Students are grouped into teams and matched with mentors before they work on seven different milestones to produce a video called "A Day in the Life of Working in STEM". Teachers bring them through the technical and soft skill development journey while students send their work to their mentors for feedback. Savvy Teens leads this initiative with MEGA. Engineering Across the Border is supported by InterTradeIreland.

In the past companies have told us they would like to organise a team day out where we organised a Dragon's Den experience in a school teaching "Money Matters" and their staff were the mentors and judges. Some companies like to send speakers into a school interested in hearing about the work they do. Others like to sponsor a class set of financial literacy or STEM books and others yet like to extend some existing programmes they have to a wider pool of schools.

We understand that each business or industry has unique needs and interests. That's why we offer the flexibility to design tailored company-school partnerships that align with your goals and objectives.

WHO DOES IT SUIT?

Are you a company or organisation eager to engage with schools and/or inspire the next generation? Perhaps you want to add more diversity and inclusion to your talent pipeline?

We specialise in connecting businesses like yours with students and schools nationwide, offering tailor-made programmes designed to introduce young people to the exciting opportunities within your field.

Contact us to start the conversation and we can help you gain clarity about what you want to achieve as well as help you do so.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?

Participating in a company-school partnership programme offers teenagers a unique opportunity to expand their skill set and broaden their understanding of various career paths in your industry. They love site visits, talking to people about their career journey and interactive learning experiences that give them a practical insight into "what do you actually do in your job?".

The bespoke nature of our programmes give your employees with a structured, fulfilling opportunity to share their knowledge and expertise with the younger generation. By acting as mentors to teenagers through giving feedback on their work and answering their questions, your staff can make a meaningful impact on the lives of these students.

Your business or industry really can showcase potential career opportunities to "tomorrow's talent".  There is immense social value in these initiatives and we can help you track impact and communicate outcomes to your stakeholders. We have all the ideas, relationships and technology you need to make this happen quickly and effectively.

Here is what we can do for you: