Business Class launches in Milton Keynes

Thursday 2nd February 2012 saw the official launch of Business in the Community's flagship education programme Business Class in Milton Keynes. 40 delegates attended the event kindly hosted by Home Retail Group.

We need to develop the talents and skills of our young people and that is why we are today launching Business Class here in Milton Keynes

Business Class, Business in the Community’s flagship education programme, aims to build long term partnerships between business and secondary schools, through a structured framework designed to deliver activity tailored to the schools’ needs. Head teachers drive the agenda, working together with Corporate partners in groups to accelerate improvements within their schools, with the objective of transforming the lives of young people through their education.

In Milton Keynes, Home Retail Group, the parent company of leading retailer Argos, Homebase and Habitat is championing Business Class. The organisation is matched with the Radcliffe School alongside other partnerships between Audi UK and the Milton Keynes Academy and Volkswagen Financial Services with Stantonbury Campus.

Illustrating the challenges these partnerships are aiming to tackle, David Guise Group HR Director of Home Retail Group said: “Milton Keynes is one of the fastest growing cities in the UK with a strong business infrastructure, yet in November 2011 23.6% of unemployed people in Milton Keynes were 18-24 year olds.

“We need to develop the talents and skills of our young people and that is why we are today launching Business Class here in Milton Keynes. We have already successfully engaged in a number of activities with the Radcliffe School and are seeing first hand how our involvement can add relevance to academic work. I would urge businesses and schools not yet involved in Business Class to sign up as soon as possible.”

Independent evaluation by Cass Business School shows that Business Class is making a real impact on pupil achievement and employability across the UK, as well as enabling a range of other strategic changes to school leadership and management. The evaluation of North West Clusters found 38% improvement in academic achievement for students and employability increased by 40%.

Speaking at the launch, John O’Donnell, head teacher of the Radcliffe School revealed: “Our partnership has already inspired my students and staff throughout the school. It is a relationship of true collaboration. It has created a buzz right across our community.  The fact that we will work closer together for the next three years will be positive for both our school and our business partner.”

Patrick O’Meara from Business in the Community said: “We are delighted to launch the scheme here in Milton Keynes and believe in the model at a time of considerable change and challenge for young people. We were delighted that Business Class was cited as one of a range of ‘excellent’ locally-led models in the CBI report 'Action for Jobs: How to get the UK working' published in November 2011.”