CHARITY
A Perfect
High Tide hails support from corporate partners as the charity celebrates its 10th anniversary
WORDS : SARAH WALKER
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charity that helps young people find their dream jobs at the same time as responding to skills shortages across a range of sectors is celebrating its 10th anniversary .
The High Tide Foundation , which was originally set up to promote jobs in the shipping industry at Teesport , has evolved considerably over the past decade , with a mission to deliver meaningful work experience and career programmes to schools .
Having been founded in conjunction with Casper Shipping and PD Ports , the independent charity now also provides industry career workshops and work experience programmes as well as advice in the legal profession , finance , engineering , creative and media and digital sectors .
Its impressive track record includes getting 500 businesses on board to deliver 27,000 hours of career education .
“ We ’ re very grateful to our corporate partners and our business members for enabling us to reach this 10-year milestone and everything we have achieved in the past decade ,” says Lauren Bywater , general manager at the High Tide Foundation .
“ In 10 years , we have worked with about 20,000 students across the Tees Valley and have spent 27,000 hours delivering 326 school programmes across the Tees Valley .”
Explaining the two services the charity offers , Lauren adds : “ We can take business people into schools to deliver career education and we can also bring students out of the classroom and into the workplace .
“ You can have half an hour of someone talking to students about their career or spending half a day going through CVs with the students or doing an activity with them in the classroom .
“ Alternatively , they could be taken on a tour of an engineering or manufacturing plant or visit a law firm over several days .”
A wide range of programmes is also available online at hightidefoundation . co . uk .
Despite its achievements over the past decade , the High Tide Foundation has big plans for the next 10 years .
Lauren says : “ Our goal is to work with every secondary school across the Tees Valley , providing a career opportunity for every child in those schools .
“ Our resources now cover a wide range of sectors , but over the next 10 years , we want to be covering all sectors .”
Lauren adds that if someone is from a unique sector that is not well represented or promoted , they can get in touch and a programme could be built especially for them .
The foundation is also currently focused on introducing careers programmes in healthcare and the NHS .
“ There is such a wide variety of jobs available in healthcare – but people just tend to think of doctors and nurses ,” Lauren says .
“ Our programmes delve a bit deeper and demonstrate that most sectors have a wide variety of jobs on offer .”
Lauren uses the example of her own brother , a software developer who creates coding for games and ended up securing a contract with the NHS for a year .
“ He built an app to help student nurses understand how bacteria and germs respond to medicines ,” she said . “ He would never have thought his skills could be used for training medical professionals .
“ Demonstrating how a wide range of skills can be transferred to a single sector is something we thrive on doing with youngsters .”
Lauren says this could not be achieved without the charity ’ s corporate partners , including Jacksons Law , Intelect UK , PD Ports and Active Financial Planners .
Describing the firm ’ s reason for getting behind the charity , Emily Skillcorn , a Jacksons Law solicitor , said : “ We see immense value in offering experience to young people in the area , to allow them to gain exposure to the legal sector and make informed decisions about their future careers .
“ The students we have taken on placement from High Tide , including on virtual work experience days , have been eager to learn and immerse themselves in the activities and tasks we offer .
“ The staff at Jacksons enjoy engaging with the students and offering advice on career development as and when needed .”
She added High Tide offers excellent communication and organisation , which allows the firm to arrange and deliver programmes with ease .
Lily Brothwood , marketing and communications manager at Intelect UK , describes High Tide as an “ amazing charity ” that delivers life-changing work experience opportunities to young people across Teesside .
“ As someone who was funnelled down the university route , and as a female working in a very male-dominated industry , I think we have a responsibility to showcase the variety of opportunities
54 | Tees Business