Food and grocery experts IGD are getting kids involved with Britain’s food supply by growing its youth outreach campaign.
Launched today, the new Educator Hub is a free online resource for teachers and careers advisors providing information about the food and grocery industry through a variety of case studies, films and classroom activities.
IGD announced the news alongside figures that show they have now provided employability skills training to 25,000 students in secondary school, following the launch of their Feeding Britain’s Future initiative.
Aimed at Year 12 science and maths students, Feeding Britain’s Future’s new STEM workshops will also help to raise awareness of the wide variety of STEM roles in food and grocery. The workshops feature volunteers from the industry that have a STEM background and are now applying their training in industry roles like engineers, food scientists and technologists.
Joanne Denney-Finch, IGD chief executive, said: “IGD’s Feeding Britain’s Future programme is continually innovating and with our new Educator Hub and expanding STEM initiatives we are embarking on an exciting chapter and one that is widely supported across the food and grocery industry, and closely aligned to the government’s new careers strategy.
“Reaching the landmark figure of training 25,000 students since 2015 is a huge achievement for Feeding Britain’s Future and especially so as we continue to make a real impact on those taking part – nine out of 10 students feel better prepared for the world of work following a workshop.
“Since 2015, over 5,500 industry professionals from over 200 companies have volunteered at Feeding Britain’s Future workshops, providing students with exciting and inspiring insight into the food and grocery industry. This support is vital to the success of Feeding Britain’s Future and I wish to thank everyone for their continued support.”
As well as running 350 employability workshops in schools, Feeding Britain’s Future also includes the school partnerships programme, which drives longer-term engagement between food and grocery companies and their local secondary school.
The programme develops long-lasting, tailored relationships between a company’s head office, manufacturing site or store and a local school, helping companies to build strong links with the community and raise their profile as a local employer.
