Camden STEAM teams up with world-leading companies to deliver work experience placements for over 100 students
From 11 to 15 July, Camden STEAM teamed up with world-leading companies including Google, Central Saint Martins and Camden Council to deliver work experience placements for 151 students in the borough.
Organised by Camden’s Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths (STEAM) team, Year 12 students from schools in Camden were invited to apply for work experience placements run by organisations including Google, Arup, Models 1, Farrans and Central Saint Martins to help gain the skills needed to help them in a future career.
At Camden Council, young people worked together on a project about improving the borough’s night-time economy and participated in workshops to learn about local issues in Camden including housing and homelessness.
Central Saint Martins offered students a chance to learn about a range of careers within the digital-creative sector, such as digital design, digital fashion design and creative direction.
A real-world challenge related to Google’s new campus in King's Cross, incorporating workshops on leadership, teamwork, presentation skills and how to write a strong CV, was offered by Google UK to nearly 100 students.
The placements were prioritised to those who are underrepresented in the STEAM field, including girls and those from a Black, Asian and Other Ethnic background as well as students who have not had work experience before.
As a Council we want to provide the very best opportunities for our students to help equip them in later life. Camden STEAM’s work experience programme is a brilliant way of connecting young people to the many world-leading companies we have in the borough, as well as providing them with the chance to learn skills which will support them in future careers.
This was a highly successful week, which benefited so many students in Camden, and I hope more and more businesses will come forward to offer work experience opportunities to support even more students in the borough.
The benefits of the Work Experience Programme to Google are immense: not just in the feedback from our mentors who get a lot out of the experience working with young people, but in the tangible ways that these students are helping to shape our plans for the local area. The programme’s real-life projects were designed by our Marketing and Real Estate teams to learn from our neighbours and use their unique insights to inform our approach to the ground floor of our new building in King's Cross.
A participant on the Google placement said: “I gained a lot from this work experience opportunity; I feel more confident in presenting and speaking in front of an audience. I've learnt how to write a strong CV, I feel as though my leadership, teamwork and communication skills have improved even more and the speakers who talked about their journeys in the world of work were very inspiring.”
A participant on the Camden Council placement said: “I've gained vital communication, presentation and, in particular, teamwork skills. I've improved my ability to be a functioning and important member of a group. Furthermore, I've learnt a lot of valuable information about the role of Camden Council - the inclusive economy, homeless/rough sleeper sector and the job hub to name a few. I now appreciate how hard the Council work and how important they are to a functioning community.”
These work experience placements were part of the Camden STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) initiative to give local young people the best skills and opportunities so they can learn from and then perhaps work in the borough’s thriving creative, digital and scientific economy.
STEAM encourages a greater fusion in creative, digital, and scientific education and aims to tackle underrepresentation, providing all Camden young people with access to the opportunities available locally.
Camden STEAM is calling on more businesses and organisations in the borough to sign Camden’s STEAM Pledge and offer work experience placements for young people in the borough. A new STEAM strategy, which will launch in the autumn, sets out an ambition to scale the Camden STEAM work experience programme so every Year 12 student in the borough’s schools can access a high-quality placement.
To contact the Camden STEAM team, email: [email protected]
For more information on the Council’s STEAM team, visit www.camden.gov.uk/camden-steam