Healthcare scientists inspire students in Blackpool

On Wednesday 29 March, IBMS member Helen Sanna and Ellen Whiteside took part in the Changing Horizons event, held at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.

Changing Horizons

 The event involved around 700 young people, a significant number of local employers, educational establishments, the voluntary sector and Civil Service departments. It aimed to:

• Inspire young people, that no matter where they start in life with the right attitude and approach, they can achieve.
• Show career opportunities in the Civil Service and other major employers in the locality.
• Identify the skills of young people and demonstrate how they link to employability.
• Provide opportunities for attaining skills in the world of work and voluntary sector.

The primary focus of the event was to raise aspirations of young people and their families in line with the Prime Minister’s ambition “to make Britain a country that works for everyone not just the privileged few”. 

Inspiring future biomedical scientists

The event created a fun and enthusiastic atmosphere, showcasing a variety of diverse Civil Service departments and local employers, which collaborated to inspire students to engage with a career.  This fast-paced, interactive and highly engaging event allowed pupils to identify their skills, learn about the skills they need for life and to raise aspirations for future employment.

The day:

• Showcased work & career opportunities in the area – from major employers to the diverse range of jobs
• Used a ‘carousel’ type approach as the main method for involving pupils in different skills activities with ‘market stalls’ as a resource for further learning for both pupils & teachers
• Gave insight into the various route and pathways such as apprenticeships, college and highlight the benefits of work experience and community volunteering
• Linked to the school curriculum and created something for pupils to take away
• The day included technology and language aimed at  pupils
• Provided opportunities for pupils to meet positive role models they can ‘look up to’ – local celebrities/local business owners/CS Staff etc.

Helen described the day,

“We were asked to host an engaging and interactive activity, looking to showcase the skills required for life and work around the roles that are available in your organisation/sector, the skills we use and any qualifications required. 

The aim was to allow young people to ‘have a go’ at these skills and discuss the opportunities they have to aspire to undertake that type of work in the future.

Obviously with the sort of work we do it is difficult to provide a suitable activity so we got the students to prepare blood smears with fake blood! Some children were engaged and enjoyed the activity and others were uninterested.

Our goal for taking part was to increase the profile of Pathology and try to educate people to exactly what it is we do. We are also an area which struggles to recruit Biomedical Scientists and we were hoping to encourage kids to think about the profession as a career and at the same time increase our chances of recruiting local students into roles in our organisation.”

This news story was written by IBMS member Helen Sanna.

Do you want to promote biomedical science? Get involved now and take part in fun and education events throughout the year.

If you are already signed up for an event and need help finding a speaker or promoting it, contact pe@ibms.org and we would be happy to help.