Careers scheme celebrates supporting its 50,000th pupil

Published: 22 December 2023

A careers initiative created to help inspire young people in Derby is celebrating supporting its 50,000^th pupil.

E4E is a Derby City Council scheme, set up in 2014. It provides CV writing workshops, mock interviews, mentoring and ‘Dragons Den’ style Enterprise Challenge Day, where pupils from city secondary schools pitch a project to business leaders who volunteer for the session.

The project, which has 600-plus volunteers from various businesses including Rolls-Royce, Lubrizol, Bowmer + Kirkland and Toyota, reached an impressive milestone when it helped its 50,000^th pupil – Kacie Behan from Da Vinci Academy – participate in a mock interview.

Councillor John Whitby, Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care, Learning and Skills:

Our aim is not only to raise aspirations of young people in Derby, but help boost their self-confidence and knowledge of the careers and opportunities available Post-16.

E4E aims to bridge the gap between school and employers by giving pupils the opportunity to meet business leaders in a familiar setting.

David Grimmett is Head of Careers at Da Vinci Academy. He said:

Careers is a part of our vision as a school and what we do beyond that.

I’m delighted for Arshad and the E4E team on reaching such an impressive milestone. Their sessions are always insightful and having employers in our school lifts the students; it inspires them.

15-year-old pupil Kacie said that she initially felt nervous ahead of the mock interviews but that her E4E interviewer, Victoria Husk, put her at ease.

We had talked about mock interviews in lesson before and I felt nervous before, but I feel so much more confident now and it was a good experience.

You can find out more about the work of E4E, as well as how to get involved, on the Council’s website.

Children, Education, Young people