Stationers Company Stages Successful Careers Event

Three hundred 14-18 year old boys and girls and their teachers, from over 20 schools in the south east of England, attended an industry Careers Event.

Three hundred 14-18 year old boys and girls and their teachers, from over 20 schools in the south east of England, attended an industry Careers Event organised by The Educational Charity of the Stationers and Newspaper Makers Company.

Sponsored by DS Smith plc, the event was also supported by London College of Communications, the Paper Trail, Heidelberg, the Confederation of Paper Industries, Ordnance Survey, Paper Agents Association, WPP and the British Office and Stationery Suppliers' association (BOSS).

It attracted a record number of exhibitors from the print, papermaking, publishing and stationery industries, who were on hand, with a wide range of interactive material, to support the event and provide an insight into the career opportunities available.

HP took a digital photo of each of the schools and inserted them into A1 posters representing the front page of Stationers' News.

The BPIF Printworks computer game attracted a lot of interest but only four students successfully printed and delivered the newspapers.

Polestar's recently launched Print Dynamics software was also displayed.

The visitors also had the opportunity to go on guided tours to learn about the history of Stationers' Hall.

The event also featured an exhibition of the work produced on ICT equipment, donated by the Educational Charity to sponsored schools.

These included examples of design, desktop publishing and digital printing.

Ian Sharpe at King Edward School in Witley, brought a group of students who are studying design.

"This event has given them an excellent overview of what is available in other parts of the design industry.

We would like to thank the Company because they gave us the grant towards a DTP and packaging and publishing suite and we have developed from there.

We have won the Stationers' Cup twice with our magazine," he said.

Langdon School in East Ham came for the first time.

Teacher, Simone Lopes, said: "It's a wonderful event and it was such a nice surprise to see how many schools support it.

My students are studying graphics as part of their GCSE course and now they can see what can be achieved first hand." Three girls from Claydon Hill School in East Anglia displayed the work they were able to produce on the equipment donated by the Stationers' Company.

That included their school magazine, posters and a wide range of material for the school and the local community.

Stoke Newington Media Arts College was also a recipient from a donation from the Stationers' Company for a multi-media suite and have gone from strength to strength in the last three years in all areas of media, including broadcast and film.

Mr Macashill, Stoke Newington's deputy head, said: "It's been fundamental to our success and, because it is away from the classrooms, it has had a lot more use by a wide range of students." Helen Sykes of the BPIF added: "We have been delighted with the turnout.

This event is now a very important date in the calendar." Patrick Shorten, chairman of the Educational Charity, said he was delighted with the event.

"The support was tremendous.

I am certain that all students who visited today will have left with a much better idea of what our sector is all about and the opportunities that are available," he commented.

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