We need employer volunteers to give ‘real’ competency based mock interviews to Year 10 and 11 students to prepare them for their next steps.
These will be taking place 08:30 – 12:30 Friday 31st January at Locksley Short Stay School, for more information contact Denise Anderson – denise.anderson@sssfn.org.uk
Year 8 Aspirations Week needs you!
Running 27th January to 31st January Aspirations week is aimed at getting students thinking about their lessons in a different way, to encourage them see lessons as a key part in their future as well as providing support for students when choosing their GCSE options.
We are looking for a number of different employers to come into selected lessons during the week that fit with their industry and either talk about their job, run a lesson or give a demo. The sessions are yours so you can make them as engaging as you like.
For more information please contact Natalie Davies, Sewell Park Academy – n.davies@sewellpark.org
January 22nd, 9am – 1pm, Kings Centre, Norwich
Join over 500 Norwich students as they take part in a Norwich Work Skills Event to develop the skills they need for the workplace while learning how to make a good professional impression. Students will practice networking skills, shaking hands and learn how to articulate their strengths throughout the day. This event will prepare students to find their own work experience placements and feel confident about engaging with local businesses.
We are looking for volunteers to take part in a large speed networking session with students to provide advice, share their experiences and give some helpful pointers. If you’d like to be involved send us an email – hello@norfolkchamber.co.uk
Can you get involved on Monday 13th January in industry sector assemblies to support a form time poster project?
Volunteers needed from 9 LEP Growth sectors to deliver a short assembly on their sector to help students design a poster on the local labour market in Norfolk.
City Academy need you to talk to their students Year 8 students in an assembly to support an ongoing poster project. Please contact Madeleine Matthews – madeleine.matthews@newanglia.co.uk for more information
Norwich City Council have released their latest economic barometer. The report highlighted:
Locally
• Figures pointing to an encouraging rise in research and development in the region have emerged in statistics showing a 22 per cent rise in claims for R&D tax credits in the East of England • More than twice as many business owners in the East of England would choose to recruit an older worker than a younger candidate • Five University of East Anglia (UEA) scientists have been named in the top 1 per cent of the world’s most highly cited researchers • During the month of September, average house prices dropped by 0.64 per cent in Norwich, 0.41 per cent regionally and by 0.09 per cent in England compared to the previous month.
Nationally
• October data pointed to a sustained decline in UK construction output, with overall volumes of work falling for the sixth consecutive month • UK Report on Jobs data recruitment consultancies across the UK continued to register subdued hiring trends • Visa’s UK Consumer Spending Index, compiled by HIS Markit, indicated that expenditure fell on an annual basis for the thirteenth month in a row
For full details of the latest economic barometer click here.
Wednesday 25th March All Day Event
100 Year 12 students from schools across Norwich will be selected to take part in a Dragons Den event to solve a real business problem. Teams will take part in various challenges to create and present their solution.
We are looking for business volunteers to attend for the day to mentor a team, observe the students, provide individual feedback, and judge their final presentations.
Get involved – hello@norfolkchamber.co.uk
Pilling Park Community Centre’s Just The Job Roadshow takes place Saturday 18th January 1pm – 6pm and is designed for children and their families to think about career ideas.
They are looking for business people from various roles to talk about their job to the children and families.
In particular they’re looking for people in roles in;
If this sounds like you please contact chris@ace-project.org.uk for more info.
Pilling Park Community Centre are running family sessions on Saturday 18th January to encourage STEM careers. Children will be building and programming Lego Mindstorms vehicles with their families to encourage them to consider Science Technology Engineering and Mathmatics careers.
They are looking for STEM professionals to talk about pathways and the diversity of careers. If you’d like to be involved please contact Neil Noble – neil.noble@smallpeicetrust.org.uk
City of Norwich School are looking for businesses to get involved in their Careers Day on Wednesday 4th March.
During their whole school Careers Day CNS have various employability and careers workshops going on and they need employers to get involved to talk to students and offer real world experience.
If you’d like to be involved please contact s.lester@cns-school.org
Our Norwich Christmas Breakfast has annually been a highlight of the Norfolk Chambers events calendar; finishing the year with a morning of fun and festive networking. On the morning of 5 December, Norfolk Chambers members arrived during sunrise to be greeted by Holiday Inn Norwich North’s fantastic Christmas trees and a room filled with twinkling lights. Getting into the spirit of things, attendees pulled out their best Christmas attire with everything from flashing jumpers, Santa earrings and even a full elf onesie! Morning cuppas were served and networking went into full flow. This year we chose to support Break Charity at the breakfast event. Break support children, young people, and families in four key areas: young people in care and moving on, children and young people with disabilities, families in need of support, and children at risk. We were pleased to be joined by Michael Rooney, Relationship Development Manager for Break as our host for the morning. Michael kicked off the morning by talking about all the amazing things Break do, and how businesses can get involved in such simple ways. For example, simply dropping off items you clear out over Christmas to one of their charity shops helps to make a positive difference. The first networking activity was then introduced which was Christmas anagrams. Each table had to work together to unscramble the anagrams and find the festive words. Breakfast was served shortly after to allow attendees to continue their conversations. Following breakfast it was time to bring back our classic safari move. Each attendee had to pull a card out of an envelope and move to a new table. This was an opportunity to mix up our attendees and get them to make new connections. To break the ice we then had our final networking activity which was a Christmas quiz. We asked attendees on their tables to name the 12 days of Christmas and Santa’s eight reindeer. One table almost had it but ended up getting days 11 and 12 mixed up – which meant another table ended up being crowned the winners. To round the morning off, Michael was tasked with choosing the best Christmas outfit at the breakfast. Despite the tough competition and multiple light up jumpers, our overall winner was David Tuthill of Coleman Opticians in his elf onesie. It was a great morning and a wonderful way to finish off a year of great networking with Norfolk Chambers.
Help us give a warm welcome to the newest members of Norfolk Chambers of Commerce for the month of November. We had a whooping 25 members join this month.
Visit their business to explore what they have to offer. Click on a business name below to view the full listing in our Member Directory.
All things Antenatal The first national pregnancy & birth directory with a social conscience.
A-Plan insurance Taking the hassle out of insurance
Ark Ark is a design studio, co-founded by award-winning creatives, Simon McWhinnie, Lee Nash and Neil Wright.
Enjoying Norfolk Enjoying Norfolk and our discount card, takes our mission one step further. We want pewople to discover, support and enjoy Norfolk’s best businesses. By offering Discounts we hope you’ll be minded to discover new places and explore new things to do in Norfolk..
Core Petro
Drive Alive With over 30 years of experience in Fleet Risk Management, Drive Alive delivers exceptional customer service
Eastkin Creative Social videos, eye catching ideation and social strategy with an eye & love for film and design.
Ebony-Storm Halliday Digital marketer. Editorial assistant. Freelance ninja.
Ekocycle Your partner in embracing all aspects of plastics, with the most diverse being recycled.
EM&F East Anglia We have been selling businesses for 50 years which means when it comes to business for sale – we know how to get results.
Endless Story We specialise in elegant backdrops and totally unique props with a hint of french chateauesque style!
Espresso HR The HR tool for your business. Free yourself from HR admin and get back to working on your business
External Services Ltd We provide a broad range of services and specialise in providing virtual in-house support to our clients.
Fullertons Booksearch You may be looking for one book or many books. We are the professionals who will search and hopefully find that elusive item.
Layrd Design Commercial interior design. Layrd Design specialise in Workspace & Leisure Design.
Little Green Button The Little Green button is the original on-screen panic button suitable in all workplace environments which can be discreetly activated to request immediate assistance from colleagues.
Mind Harbour Mind Harbour provide wellbeing courses for businesses and community groups across East Anglia.
Norfolk Feather Company For over 90 years Norfolk Feather Company has been supplying and making traditional Feather and Feather and Down products.
Orca Will Writers ORCA is an independent Will Writing company specialising in all your estate planning needs.
Peru Consulting Peru is a growing and dynamic independent consultancy formed in 2012 to help customers solve complex business problems and maximise value from their investment in technology. Rhino Building We are a Builders Merchants and DIY depot based in Norfolk.
Steadfast Training We are a training provider that delivers first class skills, employability and training solutions to create better futures for individuals, families, businesses and communities.
TJP Wills & Estate We are part of a large group of like minded professional advisers working with APS Legal & Associates Ltd.
Visualise Visualise is a creative design studio based in Norwich, Norfolk and covering London and the surrounding areas. Designing and developing bespoke websites, graphic design and social media animation.
Year 5 pupils from Mile Cross Primary School entered the Dragons’ Den this week, in the finale of a project aimed at inspiring young business minds and raising aspirations.
Teams pitched their business ideas to the real-life dragons from Norwich’s business community, with the overall winners receiving a virtual investment into their idea. The project began two weeks ago at City College Norwich’s StartUp Lounge, where a workshop delivered by Norwich School’s Business Enterprise department challenged pupils to come up with a business idea to impress the dragons. Pupils were mentored by the current Norwich School Lower Sixth, and were tasked with creating business plans, marketing strategies and financial projections for their business.
Ideas ranged from a litter-picking drone to remove plastic from the ocean, a home security system which can also put out fires and a pop-up book for all ages. The winning idea, an automatic fishing pole, impressed the judges with its clear purpose and marketing strategy and professional pitch on the day.
Norwich School was grateful once again for the support of the Business Dragons, Nova Fairbank, Head of Policy at Norfolk Chambers of Commerce, Stefan Gurney, Executive Director of Norwich Business Improvement District, and Charlotte Beach, Executive Support – Event and Activities Supervisor at City College Norwich.
Commenting on the finale, Nova Fairbank, Norfolk Chambers of Commerce said:
“The students pitching at today’s Dragon’s Den have done an amazing job. Their presentations were well thought out and they had clearly done lots of work and research before presenting enthusiastic and interesting pitches. The Dragons had a truly difficult decision to select the winning bid. The talent and energy in the room was brilliant and I think we may have seen several future entrepreneurs! Well done to all the teams.”
The school’s relationship with Mile Cross Primary was built through a link with the Norwich Opportunity Area (NOA), which aims to raise aspiration amongst the city’s identified wards. The Dragons’ Den aims to support the the NOA priority to ensure primary-aged children have early access to careers and enterprise activities through their schools.