Shropshire business school up for award

A Shropshire headteacher has today said its business school is proving a resounding success in getting students ready for work as it celebrates being shortlisted for an architecture award.

The facility at Wrekin College in Wellington has been recognised for its exceptional architectural merit in the 2019 RIBA West Midlands Awards finals.

It comes as Tim Firth, headmaster at the school, revealed the number of students taking business studies and economics had increased and some of its pupils are also celebrating an award for a new business idea.

The Retro Shack team, behind a new High Street shop, has picked up an award in the Entrepreneurship category of The High Sheriff of Shropshire’s Outstanding Young Citizenship Award 2019.

Officially opened by highly successful British entrepreneur and Shropshire-born Nick Wheeler, who founded upmarket shirt maker Charles Tyrwhitt, the business school launched at the Wellington campus in early 2017.

It was created with the aim of resembling the corporate world, rather than a classroom, in an effort to create opportunities for pupils to experience a taste of real life.

Mr Firth said: “We are incredibly proud of our business school’s early success and over the moon to be shortlisted for this award.

“At Wrekin we are determined not to pass on the problem of an unprepared workforce to employers. In our view, too many schools view the exam results of their pupils as the contribution they make towards future proofing them; it is as if they say ‘well, we’ve got you through the door, so the rest is not our responsibility.

“We want our pupils to open doors and go through them ready for work. Our business school prepares them for that and has spearheaded our drive towards the greater employability of our pupils.

“Pupils today will pick up their pensions when they are 88 so they’d better know what work is, know what suits them and be prepared to be in and manage the teams of employees that await them. In some schools, there’s cursory careers advice, at Wrekin, the business school is a careers function fully developed.”

The shortlisted facility boasts a lecture theatre, boardroom, offices for hot-desking and break-out spaces for meetings and brainstorming.

Not only can students at Wrekin make use of these areas, they are also benefiting from being exposed to real-life industry with a number of events held at the school.

Whether it’s a CV clinic, an interviewing course or an industry leading guest speaker, all students are invited to attend.

The school has welcomed over 40 guest speakers in the past two years which have included high-flying business owners and leading experts in law, medicine, construction, hospitality, engineering and finance.

The building, which is one of series of new projects by the school, is among 15 finalists from across the West Midlands region including Beech Gardens in Ludlow, and the new home of HSBC in Birmingham.

Run by industry body the Royal Institute of British Architects, the shortlisted buildings will be assessed by a regional jury with the winners announced at a ceremony in May.