Student sessions to discover the next Spielberg in Lancaster

Pupils at five schools and colleges across the area have been taking part in a series of Digital Advantage sessions, aiming to inspire them to study for jobs in creative and digital industries.

In total more than 300 pupils from 11 Lancashire schools and colleges, including Our Lady’s Catholic College and Lancaster and Morecambe College, have taken part in the sessions, which taught basic skills around branding, photography, videography, podcasting and website design. The sessions were run by education charity Digital Advantage and funded by Future U and Lancashire County Council.

The sessions are designed to inspire students to explore higher education or jobs in the growing creative sector.

The sessions also allowed each school to reach the coveted Gatsby Benchmarks of offering high quality careers advice and support that gives real world experience of growing sectors and allows students to meet and talk with local employers.

Future U is part of the national Uni Connect Programme, funded by the Office for Students, and continues to support school pupils across Lancashire to encourage more young people to consider higher education and future careers.

Theo Blackburn, Programme Manager at Future U, said: “More and more young people are exploring creative jobs as career options when they leave school or college and the digital sector offers plenty of opportunities for any student who is interested in it.

“These sessions have allowed pupils to understand the basics of creative jobs such as marketing, filming or web design, which hopefully will inspire them to pursue that opportunity into a university course or apprenticeship so that they can start their dream job when they leave school.”

Lisa Moizer, Strategic Coordinator at the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership, said: “The digital sector is a key area of growth for Lancashire and it is well evidenced that there is a high demand for digital skills which is not being met. So, it is vital that we support programmes like Digital Advantage which teach young people valuable digital skills in a real world setting, to inspire them to pursue a career in the industry.”

Rav Gehlon, Development Manager at Digital Advantage added: ““The growth of the digital economy continues at pace and our reliance on it has only increased during the pandemic, so we were delighted to continue our long running partnership with Future U and Lancashire LEP last year. We love revealing the hidden talents of young people and helping them on their journey as budding photographers, filmmakers, digital marketers, presenters and programmers, amongst many others.”

For more information, visit www.lancashirefutureu.org.uk