UTCN Norwich prepping pupils for private-school competition

Original Article: https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/23322492.utcn-norwich-prepping-pupils-private-school-competition/

A college which trains students for apprenticeships has launched a new initiative to help them compete with a growing number of privately-educated youngsters now also chasing the posts.

University Technical College Norfolk has been hunting for ways of making its students more prepared for interviews.

The move has come as experts say that rising costs are steering growing numbers of children from more privileged backgrounds away from higher education and into apprenticeships.

This has made them increasingly competitive - particularly at companies like Lotus, Dyson and Rolls-Royce.

"In recent years we have noticed prestigious programmes with companies like Rolls-Royce are becoming very competitive.

"We are seeing more private school students competing for these apprenticeships.

"We want our students to be competitive at these interviews so we want them to be confident and polished."

In an effort to improve these skills, the school drafted in television presenter Paul Connolly, who has appeared on ITV Tonight and The World's Toughest Prisons on Netflix, to share some top tips.

Mr Connolly ran workshops with pupils aged between 14 and 18 on how to improve their body language and communication.

He said: "Huge kudos to the school for thinking outside of the box.

"I was really excited at how engaged the students were in the programme.

"I really wish when I was a student, my own school had these types of sessions available.

"I was really excited at how engaged the students were in the programme. They want these top jobs, top apprenticeships and were really receptive to what we were discussing."