Windmills

The Windmills team is celebrating securing its largest NWDA funded project – ‘Workwise : Inspiring Potential and Productivity in the North West’.

Over the next two years this innovative project will enable passionate and enthusiastic individuals and organisations from across the North West in the education sector and associated areas such as: Local Authorities, Aim Higher, Education Business Partnerships, Schools, Careers Connexions and Children’s Services, to work in collaboration with the Windmills team to become a Windmills ‘Champion’ (someone who has been trained to deliver Windmills Programmes, using Windmills resources). The project will equip ‘Champions’ with the skills, confidence, resources and processes they need to go on and deliver Windmills programmes to 1000 young people in the region. The programmes they will deliver have been specifically designed to inspire young people to realise their potential and maximise their contribution to the region.

Over 1000 young people will work through the highly successful ‘STAR’ resource which has been developed by Windmills, in partnership with the AGR (Association of Graduate Recruiters).This exciting, thought provoking tool is packed with innovative and creative activities aimed at 14-19 year olds, to help them to make more informed choices about their career and their future.

Helen Wakefield, Head of Learning and Development at Windmills, described the project as “An exciting opportunity for both individuals and organisations. As an individual ‘Champion’ you will reap the reward of making an impact on a young person’s life. As an organisation STAR could be the perfect opportunity for you to meet or expand your CSR strategy, make a real impact in the community and greatly enhance the reputation of your company - for all involved a win:win scenario could be achieved”.

The NWDA Skills and Education Directorate were particularly impressed with the work Windmills has already completed with youngsters through STAR. The Workwise project will enable STAR to be disseminated on a greater scale. Local employers across the North West will also benefit from more focused and confident school leavers looking to enter the workforce.

STAR, like all the resources in the Windmills portfolio is extremely flexible and can be used in numerous ways. STAR already has a fantastic sister project in Scotland called ‘i-Hero’, which is a series of themed workshops to help young people imagine their lives in 2020. Iain Eisner from Careers Scotland is confident the project will be a success as “it was developed with a huge amount of input from young people themselves, and the initial feedback we have received has been excellent”.

If you or your organisation would be interested in working with Windmills on the Workwise project please contact Sharon Nicholson on 0151 794 8359 or s.nicholson@liv.ac.uk