Business Class

We believe that one of the most effective ways for our business to support young people facing social disadvantage is to form long-term partnerships with the schools those young people attend.

Business Class is a government-endorsed programme, which provides a systematic framework for business to do just this and we have teamed up with Haywood Academy to support its students under the Business Class framework.

By getting involved in Business Class, we can:

• Influence the development of the future workforce and strengthen our local talent pipeline.
• Improve our recruitment strategy and enhance our reputation as a responsible employer of choice.
• Create exciting new staff development opportunities, aiding retention, increasing motivation and attracting new recruits.
• Make connections with other local companies and gather customer and local labour market intelligence through joining a cluster group.
• Achieve national recognition through the BITC network, increasing our brand profile
• Roll out a consistent, high quality education outreach programme across our business.

In conjunction with Haywood Academy a detailed needs-assessment process, which defines the priorities for our business across four key areas, has been developed, covering:

• Leadership and Governance
• The Curriculum
• Enterprise and Employability
• Wider Issues

Business Class is distinguished from other school/business partnerships by its unique cluster mechanism. School and business partners in our locality are grouped together into a cluster, enabling us to meet on a termly basis to share best practice, identify common challenges and accelerate improvement. We work alongside Novus Property Solutions, Home Retail Group, Lucideon, Thistley Hough High School, Staffordshire Sports College, Keel University, Excel Academy and the Co-operative Academy of Stoke-on-Trent.