The Covid pandemic has put a stop to many in-person events, including careers fairs preparing students for the next step.

However, a pilot virtual work experience scheme hosted at Bridport's Sir John Colfox Academy has been a success.

Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) held the event as a pre-cursor to a much larger programme which will involve more than 2,000 students across Dorset taking part in Virtual Insight Days on June 15 and 29.

The Virtual Work Experience scheme is hosted by Dorset Careers Hub, which is led by Dorset LEP in partnership with BCP Council and Dorset Council, and brings employees, schools and colleges together.

Rebecca Davies, head of enterprise, skills and industry at Dorset LEP, said: "Despite the challenges and limitation of Covid-19, we are ensuring that Dorset students receive valuable work experience opportunities this year.

"We are pleased that the pilot Virtual Work Experience Insight Day was such a success and look forward to supporting a further 2,000 students in June."

The scheme, in partnership with Speakers for Schools, has been designed to provide young people with virtual access to work experience and 140 students from the Sir John Colfox Academy took part. They worked with five different employers throughout the day, including Magna Housing, Workers' Educational Association, Shrinkwrap Machinery Co, the Royal Air Force and The Samee Project.

Graham Farrow, head of Year 11 and careers leader at the Sir John Colfox Academy, said: "I dropped into several of the placements throughout the day and was impressed with the level of engagement and the range of tasks the students were set.

"Feedback from students and parents so far has been great."

Students were able to join different departments with the employers to learn about typical tasks and find out more.

Sarah Cartlidge, colleague development specialist at Magna Housing, said: "We haven't been able to attend careers fairs or provide work experience placements for the last year. The virtual event was a great way to still be able to help local schools and their students gather information about their career options and gain some experience.

"Thirty students joined colleagues from our HR, IT, digital architecture and communication and marketing teams in online classroom sessions providing a wealth of different activities and tasks for the students to get involved with.

"It was a great event to be part of and helped us gain insight and knowledge about the future generation of colleagues whilst still supporting young people within our communities."

It's hoped more employers and schools will get onboard and take part in the scheme.

Jason Elsom, chief executive officer at Speakers for Schools, said: "We are delighted to see Dorset Local Enterprise and leading employers in Dorset working with Speakers for Schools and joining our mission to end educational inequality.

"We hope more employers join our virtual work experience programme and more schools sign up to broaden the horizons of young people across the UK."

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