DWP Skills Adviser Praful Nargund visits Blue Coat School

Blue Coat School was delighted to welcome Praful Nargund, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions’ Skills Adviser, for a special afternoon focused on skills, work experience and creating opportunities for young people.

Praful works at the centre of the Department for Work and Pensions’ skills agenda, reporting directly to the Secretary of State. His role includes supporting national priorities around adult skills and youth employment, working with Ministers, officials and employers on the Government’s commitment to support 50,000 additional apprenticeships and advising on the impact of artificial intelligence on work and employment.

The visit gave Blue Coat students an opportunity to engage directly with someone involved in this work at a national level.

As part of the afternoon, students took part in a campaign activity exploring how businesses around the nearby Seven Stars Industrial Estate could work more closely with Blue Coat to provide opportunities including work experience, workplace visits, mentoring, careers talks and skills based projects.

Students considered the importance of meaningful work experience and developed their own ideas for encouraging local employers to open their doors to young people, before presenting their campaign pitches.

The afternoon also saw our Sixth Form Politics students sit down with Praful for a special episode of the TrustTalk Podcast. Their conversation explored apprenticeships and technical qualifications, access to meaningful work experience, the skills young people will need in the future and how schools, government and employers can work together to create greater opportunities.

The visit provided a fantastic opportunity for our students to share their perspectives, ask questions and contribute to conversations around the future of skills and employment.

We would like to thank Praful for giving his time to visit Blue Coat and for such an engaging afternoon with our students.

NEWS: DWP Skills Adviser Praful Nargund visits Blue Coat School