The College welcomed 55 exhibitors to our third annual and biggest ever Training, Employment and Apprenticeships (TEA Fair).

Over 1,450 of our students visited the event to find out more about their future options. 

Exhibitors included representatives from a wide range of organisations including AON, Aviator, Barclays, Capgemini, Enterprise Rent-a-car, Fashion Retail Academy, Frimley Park Hospital, Fujitsu, Gillette, PWC, RAF and Visa, as well as representatives from other Colleges, to name a few.

Feedback was extremely positive from students and 87% of the exhibitors rated their engagement with the students, who visited their stands, as good or excellent.

Christine Eustace, Director of Community Engagement said “As educators, our role is to help our students to make well informed decisions about their progression routes, either into higher education, apprenticeship or work based training programmes, all of which have their merits.  The TEA Fair is one of the ‘jewels in the crown’ of our comprehensive programme of independent careers advice and guidance. What a fantastic opportunity for forward thinking training providers and employers to liaise directly with so many of our amazing students.”

Hannah-mai Peri, Student Recruitment, KPMG LLP commented “The TEA Fair was an excellent opportunity for organisations like KPMG to interact with students who are really interested in applying for school leaver apprenticeships, such as KPMG360.”

Sammie Lunn, CG Recruitment, sister company of Cherry Childcare, both of whom were represented at the Fair said “A fabulous facilitated arena for students to engage with potential employers and providers of further education. A productive and time worthy event!”

Joanne Bamforth, Regional Manager, Cultural Care Au Pair, who exhibited, said “A fantastic and very well organised event! It was great to speak with so many students about our au pair programme in America and tell them more about the different options when finishing college. The students had a lot of questions and were a delight to speak with!"

Rebecca Rhodes, Assistant Principal, Teaching, Learning and Assessment commented “There was something there for everyone.  Speaking with several of the exhibitors they were impressed by the amount of stands, with many saying they have never been to such a large event which was hosted by a College.  The students left the exhibition with the most impressive information, advice and guidance that they could ever have hoped for.

It was superb seeing so many enthusiastic colleagues bringing their students over and making time during lessons to educate their learners beyond the specification and beyond College!”  

Anja Harwood, Subject Leader, Cambridge Technicals Level 3 Business, added “The range of exhibitors, meant that the students could collect information about a wide range of options.  There were application forms and email contacts handed out, so that they could follow up areas of specific interest to them.”

AS student Clare Hayes, who attended the Fair, found it "an exceedingly useful event. There were a huge variety of employers there and a vast amount of resources to help me in making an informed decision, about what options are open to me and what I can do with my future”.

Feedback from other students who attended the event included:

“I learnt the difference between apprenticeships and university”

“The exhibitors I spoke to gave me lots of information and in depth answers to my questions”.

“Everyone I spoke to was very friendly and approachable”

 “Speaking to people at the Fair gave me confidence in my choices for what I want to do after College, which was a huge help for me”.

The event was kindly sponsored by the Community Matters Partnership Project Youth Aspirations Fund.

Our next Careers event is Moving On Day 5 July 2016.