Earlier this month, Ørsted hosted 18 teachers from schools in the local area as a Teacher Encounter Day. The day was organised through Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to help widen the teachers understanding of the industry, job roles and access pathways into the renewable sector.
The day was organised by Senior Stakeholder Advisor, Lauren Little and Community Engagement Officer, Harriet Farmery, who took the teachers on a whistlestop tour of Ørsted’s operations in Grimsby.
The teachers met with various colleagues including Marine & Helicopter Co-ordinator, Poppy Hilton, who gave an inspiring explanation of what it is like to work in an operational room and the day-to-day tasks of the global Marine and Helicopter Coordination Centre team, highlighting the different career opportunities we have.
Helena Gollings, Business Development Consultant for Apprenticeships for the Grimsby Institute, joined our Operation Apprentice Manager, Rob Howes, to talk through the apprenticeship application process and how teachers could support their students through this.
Operations Manager, Paul Hazell, works on the largest wind farm in the world, Hornsea 2, and he took the time to give the teachers a tour around the Service Operative Vessel, the Wind of Hope. This gave the teachers a chance to see an insight into what it is like to work on the vessel for two weeks at a time, with facilities including state of the art gyms, individual cabins, and onboard chefs! The teachers were blown away and immediately started to think of students they know that would love an opportunity like this.
Hannah Woodgate from RWE joined also joined the day to support from a Humber Cluster point of view and widen the understanding of how important Grimsby is to the energy transition.
Harriet Farmery, Community Engagement Officer, at Ørsted said: “Teachers have such a large influence on their students, and this was shown in the apprentice data we gathered this year. One of our goals for the day was to give the teachers confidence to be able to go back and relay careers information about Ørsted to students and their parents. We feel confident that these 18 teachers can impart their knowledge and support onto hundreds more students and colleagues.”
Alex Nightingale, Operational Hub Lead & Enterprise Coordinator, Greater Lincolnshire LEP said: “Thanks to Ørsted for taking part in the Greater Lincolnshire and Rutland Teacher Encounters programme. Our programme has been a huge success for the Careers Hub and we have seen how it has benefitted both teachers and businesses across our area. The feedback on the Ørsted visit has been superb, the teachers left feeling inspired and empowered to talk to their learners about the opportunities in the offshore wind sector. Hopefully the teachers will be able to use what they learned next academic year. Helping to bring the curriculum to life and bridging the gap between education and employment.”
Feedback from the teachers echoed the surprise of how many roles and career opportunities are available on their school’s doorstep, and an excitement to inspire their students to think about the renewable industry as a career path.
Here’s to the renewable future.
