Ms Mannion is a speaker at national apprenticeship conference

Ms Mannion, Careers Leader, was honoured to speak about degree apprenticeships at the Westminster Higher Education Forum keynote seminar.  The event focused on the application process, the cooperation between universities and employers and quality and standards.

Ms Mannion was asked to talk about the issues within schools with regard to degree apprenticeships and how the UK can potentially tackle inequalities and help to drive social mobility. The other speakers were from universities and employer organisations with Richmond School and Sixth form being the only school taking part.

Ms Mannion said: “The conference was chaired by Kim Johnson MP and I felt very privileged to be invited to the event. I really wanted to represent Richmond School and Sixth Form College and give feedback that I have had from students and parents.

“Clearly, degree apprenticeships are very positive and the way forward, however I also talked about the fact that they are not always easy to find.  I discussed some of the barriers to students accessing degree apprenticeships, especially for students living in rural areas such as North Yorkshire.  I explained that I would be happy to help develop solutions to support students. I learned a lot from attending the conference and hearing about UK-wide issues.”

Following the event, Ms Mannion has been contacted by a representative from UCAS who was on the conference who has asked her to work with them to look at  how students transition to degree apprenticeships and how to bridge the gap between Sixth Form and degree apprenticeships.

We are immensely proud of Ms Mannion whose knowledge and expertise is greatly valued by our students. It is fantastic that her expertise has been recognised by national organisations, such as UCAS and the issues she raised have been discussed at the Education Select Committee.