A “ground-breaking” initiative to raise young peoples’ aspirations launched

By Eve Perkins

Inspiring the Forest is a project aimed at raising career aspirations amongst young people, parents and teachers across the Forest of Dean.

It aims to create an awareness of the type of jobs available in the Forest and the skills required for those jobs.

The event supporting Inspiring the Forest will take place on Thursday November 24 at Gloucestershire College’s Forest of Dean campus in Cinderford.

Year 9 pupils from the area will be attending the daylong event, with family members able to attend later in the day. There are expected to be over 850 pupils from six different schools.

The schools taking part are: Five Acres High School, Dene Magna School, Newent Community School, Forest High School, Wyedean School and Sixth Form Centre and Dean Academy.

Local businesses, like Suntory, are supporting the event alongside Hartpury University and Hartpury College to give advice in different employment sectors.

Amy Knight from Suntory said the event “allows us to connect with our next generation of employees and inspire them around the opportunities available within a food and drink manufacturing business”

Other sectors include:

• Hospitality and tourism
• Engineering and manufacturing
• Professional Services
• Health and wellbeing
• Communication and media

Sandra Tyrrell, Assistant Principle at Gloucestershire College said “This is a fantastic opportunity for students from all the Forest schools to join an event which showcases the career opportunities on their doorstep. An apprentice can embark on training which ultimately could lead them to achieving professional qualifications at degree level”

The Forest of Dean has over 4000 registered businesses, with an average of 796 new local job postings every month. With opportunities for all abilities, from starting as an apprentice you can embark on training which could lead to achieving professional qualifications.

Director of Business Development at Hartpury, Stuart Emmerson, said “Hartpury is another example that you don’t have to leave the country to find fulfilling, rewarding careers”, stating “we are now the largest employer in the Forest of Dean and have a range of careers from academic pathways to professional services.”

The project has been well funded. Councillor Bernie O’Neill said “I am pleased to be able to confirm financial support for the Forest Economic Partnership’s Inspiring the Forest project. This exciting new series of events will bring businesses, organisations and schools together to lift aspirations and raise awareness about future career options within key employment sectors in the Forest of Dean.”

As part of their sponsorship Hartpury College and University are sponsoring a TikTok challenge, where Forest Economic Partnership’s Director David Trevelyan is asking students to stitch his video with what their dream job would be in the future for a chance to win a prize.