St Helens school children are charging a greener future

St Helens Chamber has teamed up with E-Verve Energy to tackle air pollution by raising awareness about the benefits of electric vehicles through the Learning to Work programme, Electric Futures session.

The Chamber’s Learning to Work programme, enables school children to have an awareness of the employment opportunities available to them, both in St Helens and beyond its boundaries.

The programme has been developed in line with national guidance for careers education for primary school children and based on years of experience of working in primary schools and receiving feedback from schools and teaching staff.

The Electric Futures session is designed to explore key growth employment sectors, including an overview of fossil fuels and green energy and how we can make better choices for the future to look after our planet and our health.

Jennifer Greenan, director at E-Verve Energy said: “As a green company providing wide scale electric vehicle charging infrastructure, we wanted to use our passion and knowledge of the sector to create something positive and engaging for school children- especially having missed out on so much during the last 18 months.”

The Electric Futures sessions aim to help raise awareness of key issues our planet faces today with tomorrow’s generation and get the message out there that our health and the health of our planet are intrinsically linked.

Jennifer said: “Working in partnership with the chamber has been a great way of optimising the reach of our green energy learning resources and we’re collectively developing the programme further to raise aspirations and awareness and help nurture a greener future.

“By collaborating with the Learning to Work programme we have been able to provide an insight into learning and career choices in green energy and the many fantastic career options in what is set to be one of the fastest growing sectors.”

St Helens Chamber is committed to inspiring children and young people, equipping them with the skills and attributes required by employers and supporting them to start their careers.

Rachel Wellens, events and partnership manager, said: “The Learning to Work programme gives school children an awareness of the employment opportunities available to them. Providing access to careers education at a young age is essential to ensuring young people have a positive start in life.

“We work with schools to support them in preparing students for their future careers, awareness of local career opportunities and how to access them whilst encouraging young people to develop skills that employers need.”

St Julie Catholic Primary School have recently taken part in the Learning to Work programme. The Electric Futures session helped to raise awareness of the many benefits of transitioning to electric vehicles, not least in terms of how they can help fight air pollution.

Mrs Clayton, Year 6 teacher at St Julie Catholic Primary School said: “All of the sessions have been engaging and extremely beneficial for the children in Year 6. Each session has provided the children with practical ideas and advice to help them in the future – as well as being great fun!

“The Learning to Work programme is a great way of bridging the gap between education and employment. I wish that we had the opportunity to take part in a similar scheme when I was at primary school.”