Employer Engagement & Key Partnerships

Help us to help you

We know that employers in the UK have concerns about skills gaps and the work-readiness of some young people.
Northampton Academy is a member of the SEMLEP Careers and Enterprise Network, part of the national Careers and Enterprise Company programme.

Through employer engagement at all ages, we ensure that young people conclude their education with the skills, competencies, knowledge, appropriate qualifications and attitudes desired by employers for both their own career development and economic sustainability and growth

We Need Your Help

We are interested in hearing from employers from businesses and other organisations passionate about engaging with our students to develop their understanding of the world of work, their skills and competencies, thus shape the future workforce and bringing the ‘world of work’ to life for the next generation.

The following high impact activities are used to work in partnership with businesses to help our students prepare for the world of work:

• Employer Talks
• Business site visits
•  Mentoring
• Enterprise activities
• Work experience and job shadowing
• Mock interviews and CV preparation

Key Partnerships:

• Aspire Higher/Uni Connect (Formerly the National Collaborative Outreach Programme NCOP)
  A representative of NCOP is based within the academy once a week and provides us with opportunities to access careers events and activities. This funding allows less privileged students to access further and higher education engagements, encouraging them to see university as a viable option.
• SEMLEP (South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership)
  Our involvement with SEMLEP allows us to share good practice with other education facilities and partner with local businesses within the local area, as well as providing access to a wide variety of career related opportunities.
• Unifrog 
  Unifrog is a new Careers initiative within the academy. The platform will be available to all students from years 7-13 and will provide them with a one-stop shop to access trusted advice and guidance, focussing on increasing awareness of a variety of pathways, developing understanding of the skills and competencies of different career routes, and allowing students to complete a progressive plan of their future steps.
• University of Northampton
  We work closely with the University of Northampton to provide students with the opportunity to experience all that university offers as part of the school outreach and Widening Participation programmes.
• Barclaycard 
  Our partnership with Barclaycard provides an opportunity for work experience placements, student talks, an invitation to attend educational events aimed at encouraging students to consider a career in areas such as IT and Cyber Security and mentors who support our students through our Year 10 Work Related Learning Programme.
• Smurfitt Kappa 
  Smurfitt Kappa have supported Northampton Academy and our students for a number of years. Supporting Sixth Form students with work placements and providing a presence at all our annual careers events, they provide a continuous source of advice and guidance for those exploring careers in industry. They have worked closely with student enterprise teams, creating presentation resources.
• Travis Perkins 
  Travis Perkins act as an Enterprise Ambassador for Northampton Academy, ensuring a wealth of career related opportunities for our students to take advantage of. LEAP Travis Perkins support students through a variety of enterprise initiatives aimed at ensuring students are aware of the opportunities available from local employers.