Sponsors & Supporters

What is Spark Northumberland?

Spark Northumberland is a curriculum-led careers platform bringing local employers into primary classrooms across the county. Through short, child-friendly videos filmed on site, teachers can bring the world of work into lessons mapped to what children are already studying.

Developed by Connect Northumberland and Spark Futures, it links classroom learning to real workplaces through videos filmed with Northumberland employers. Spark is part of a range of engagement opportunities available to schools in Northumberland with the employer community, co-created with education and using the latest research.

Why it matters

Career ideas form before the age of 11.

Most children in Northumberland have little visibility of the employers and opportunities that exist on their doorstep. Without that visibility, young people leave the county and do not come back.

The talent pipeline that our businesses depend on gets thinner every year. Showing relatable people doing real jobs builds aspiration, confidence and awareness in young people at exactly the age when those ideas are forming.

Spark changes that. Your business, your people and your jobs, visible to every primary school child in the county.

This is Northumberland’s employer community taking action.

The next generation deserves better. We have a collective responsibility to show the future workforce the opportunities we have in the county and help strengthen Northumberland’s long term talent pipeline.

Who is involved?

These are the organisations bringing Spark Northumberland to you. If you would like to benefit from the platform as an educational establishment please get in touch with the team.