THE Cheshire and Warrington Digital Skills Partnership and Cheshire and Warrington Pledge have teamed up with computer giant IBM to deliver digital skills training for young people attending the National Citizen Service (NCS) summer school programme from July to August 2021.
The NCS is a youth programme like no other, with the goal to empower, unite, and build the confidence of young people to help them get one step closer to their dream career.
This initiative is designed for young people to work with fantastic employers such as IBM, who work with the world’s leading companies to reimagine and reinvent their business through technology. The digital skills training sessions that are part of the NCS summer school are designed to empower youth with the necessary skills to transition from being consumers of technology into being creators, makers, and doers empowered by technology.
During the two-week programme young people will be working with the NCS and IBM to improve their life, digital and employability skills. In the final week, the students will be working as a team to boost entrepreneurial spirit where youth will present business ideas to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals, they will then pitch their ideas to a board of businesses and deliver their project and/or solution to solve the local challenge identified by the team.
Clare Hayward, MBE, DL, Chair of the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership (pictured) said: “It has been our mission at the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership to provide opportunities for young people within the region to learn and test their digital skills to enable them to get into a career in the growing sector of digital. It is fantastic to be collaborating with NCS and IBM to increase these opportunities for young people in the region.”
Sarah Williams, Digital Skills Partnership Coordinator said: “We are extremely pleased to be working with the NCS, IBM and the Cheshire and Warrington Pledge to deliver digital skills as part of the NCS summer school. Having IBM on board is a fantastic way of illustrating the Digital Skills Partnership’s goals to improve digital skills for anyone living within the region.”
Melissa Sassi, Chief Penguin, IBM Z – Student & Entrepreneur Experience said: “Our Student & Entrepreneur Experience team within IBM Z is incredibly excited to collaborate with the NCS and the Cheshire and Warrington Pledge and Digital Skills Partnership to empower local youth with entrepreneurial spirit and digital skills to help prepare them for the future of work. Through this program, youth will gain access to curriculum, content, and experts to enable students in years eleven and twelve to truly recognise their full potential.
Year 11 and 12 students interested in finding out about how to join the NCS programme, please visit https://wearencs.com/ or ring the NCS Phone Team on 0161 332 8454
To find out more about the Cheshire and Warrington Digital Skills Partnership and Cheshire and Warrington Pledge or employers wanting to support the NCS delivery programme, please email [email protected] or [email protected]
To find out more about IBM Z’s Student & Entrepreneur Experience digital skills and readiness materials and events, please join the IBM Z Global Student Hub at http://ibm.biz/studenthub. Queries for the team can be posed in the discussion board within the Student Hub.
