Salford Business Education Partnership

The Salford Business Education Partnership (BEP) is a well established programme, bringing business and education together through volunteering.

Salford BEP offers a wide range of activities, which can support curriculum requirements, like the Gatsby Benchmarks. We also help to provide students with opportunities to learn about the world of work and skills needed to succeed in life after school.

Our one-day activities and mentoring programme aim to support students in years 7 to 11 and often engage with the entire year group. Activities are entirely run by the staff at Salford Foundation making for a smooth and supported experience. Schools can pick from the range of activities or if there is a specific area which needs covering in the curriculum, BEP would be happy to discuss the potential of a bespoke activity to support with that area.

Our activities wouldn’t be possible without our wonderful business volunteers. Most activities are supported by individual employees who offer up their work time to support the development of students through the activities on offer.

Since March 2020, we have been working hard to make sure our activities can be accessible online. Thanks to the hard work of the team and our partnering businesses, we are now able to offer live online alternatives under the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic.

World of Work

We invite a variety of businesses to talk to students about different jobs, industries, qualifications and run a group activity highlighting specific job roles. Students will ‘carousel’ around each representative to find out about job opportunities and career options. This activity is delivered to the entire year group and is available for YR8+.

For the virtual world of work, we invite businesses to talk to multiple classes at the same time, using a video calling platform of your choice. We then rotate those volunteers every 20-30 minutes so students are still able to hear from a variety of businesses during the activity.

Mock Interviews

Mock interviews give students the opportunity to experience a one-to-one interview with a business volunteer. The interviews last 20 minutes and students will also have an opportunity to receive feedback after the interview. This activity is offer to the entire year group and is available for YR10+.

Our virtual mock interviews are one-to-one interviews held via Salford Foundation’s Zoom licence account. This provides additional security and safeguarding to ensure students and volunteers remain safe online during their interviews. We work with you in organising the event to best suit your time scale and available resources.

Raising Aspirations Mentoring

The main aim of the mentoring programme is to enable yR8 and YR9 students to discover the skills and attitudes needed to successfully transition from education into the world of work. Through interactive activities and discussions with groups of 8 students, volunteer business mentors will share their stories and help equip students with the essential skills needed for work.

Our Raising Aspirations mentoring programme is made up of six in-school sessions
• Introduction
• Team Work
• Time Management
• Self Awareness and Resilience
• Communication
• Problem Solving

After the six sessions, there is time for students to put their new skills into practice before completing the programme with a celebration session which is held at the mentors’ place of work.

The programme is fully structured and resourced, which means volunteers do not have to spend time creating content for each session, but they have the opportunity to personalise the sessions with their own stories and experiences.

To enable volunteers to run the programme independently, Salford Foundation provides a two hour training session which covers the content of the programme as well as safeguarding and a full enhanced DBS check. Salford Foundation staff offer support throughout the duration of the programme.

Additional Information

Raising Aspirations Fund 2023

The Raising Aspirations Fund is back for another year with an exciting opportunity, funded by JD Sports & EMR Group, to help take your schools career programme to the next level by including additional careers activities.

The fund offers an opportunity for Greater Manchester high schools to apply for a package of three fully-funded careers activity delivered by Salford Foundation.

The three activities included in this funding will be;

YR10 or YR11 Mock Interviews (One full year group)
YR8 or YR9 World of Work (One full year group)
YR8 or YR9 Raising Aspirations Mentoring Programme (16 students – selected by the school)

Delivery Duration
1st June 2023 to 31st May 2024

Fund Schedule
Funding Announcement – 12pm Tuesday 18th April 2023
Closing Date for Applications – 5pm on Friday 19th May 2023
Decisions Announced (6 schools to receive the funded package) – Wednesday 24th to Friday 26th May 2023

Application Form
The application is now closed. We are not accepting further applications at this time.

LEAP - Primary Transition Activities

We have many years experience in supporting primary students moving to high school but since the pandemic hit in 2020, we have seen the need, now more than ever, to support primary schools and their students make the best move possible.

Our transition activities offer students the opportunity to learn about what the process will be like, how they can deal with the shift and hear all about what other students think.

For a list of all our activities related to transition, please take a look in the ‘Downloads‘ section below at the brochure of activities. Please also take a look at our LEAP project and see whether you could be a school we partner with in September 2022.

If you want to find out more about the activities and what we can do to support your students, please contact us using the details at the bottom of the page.

Prices

Below is the current prices for academic year 22/23*. These prices cover activity to be delivered from September 2022 – July 2023.

Salford BEP

Mock Interviews – £1000 per year group.

World of Work – £1000 per year group

Raising Aspirations Mentoring – £1250 per 2 groups (16 students)

Any of the above 2 activities – £1800

All three above activities – £2500

LEAP – Transition Activities

One activity – £250

Three activities – £700

Five activities – £1000

*Prices subject to change for new academic year.

What people are saying

"I enjoyed my experience on NCS because I was challenged by myself and others around me. I had a lot of inspiration to carry on and do better. I mixed with people from different backgrounds."

"Without Salford Foundation's support I'd be homeless. You've changed my life and I would never be able to continue my studies without your help."

"Coming here has changed my life around for the better. It has helped me stop offending by looking at why I did it in the first place and helping get things sorted out."

"I am now much more confident in my schoolwork and I listen more and my organisational skills are getting better each day."

"You would not believe the difference coming to Salford Foundation has made. I was sitting in my house, not speaking to anyone for days. My life has changed for the better. I have a life again."

"I can now start living my life again and not be afraid to open my front door. Thank you so much."

"Thank you so much for going above and beyond for my child. Your help and support has helped make such a difference in her life in such a small amount of time. I am truly grateful."