MORE than half of Bradford district’s secondary schools have already signed up to this year's Bradford Manufacturing Weeks

The event, which was held for the first time last year, will run between October 7 and 18 - and 29 of 45 secondary schools have already signed up to work with manufacturers in the district.

Nick Garthwaite, Bradford Chamber president and managing director of chemical firm Christeyns, is now urging more manufacturers to sign up to ensure there are enough experiences for students.

He said “We’ve had a phenomenal response from schools and it is so encouraging to have the appetite to get pupils into local manufacturing environments.

"But for this initiative to work, we need to at least match the schools involved with willing manufacturers so we’re urging employers to register their interest so we at Bradford Chamber can get in touch and make these connections and experiences happen.”

Led by Bradford Chamber and delivered in partnership with Bradford-based school and career specialists Aspire-igen with primary sponsorship from Barclays, Bradford Manufacturing Weeks 2019 aims to create 6,000 work experiences for young people by doubling involvement from the 44 manufacturers who took part last year and reaching three quarters of the district’s 49 secondary schools.

Jo Sykes, assistant headteacher from Parkside School in Cullingworth said last year’s event inspired many of the school’s students ,from as young as Year 7, and led to an ongoing partnership for their school with Keighley-based GESIPA, manufacturers of blind rivets and associated products.

She said: “Not only does Bradford Manufacturing Weeks open student’s eyes into the world of manufacturing but it also opens the teachers’ eyes too.

"It helps us to relate to the world of business and manufacturing in the classroom and make our curriculum content more relevant and connected to the outside world.”

"Bradford Manufacturing Weeks is an exceptional initiative and we need as many local manufacturers as possible to get involved and get in front of our students.”

This year's event will run for an extra week.

"The buy in for 2019 from schools is already exceeding all of our expectations so we must rally together as a manufacturing community and make sure our doors are wide open this October," said Mr Garthwaite.

To be a part of this year's event, register at bradfordmanufacturingweek.co.uk/manufacturers/get-involved. For more information, visit www.bradfordmanufacturingweek.co.uk or contact the team at Bradford Chamber on 01274 206660 or email bmw@wnychamber.co.uk.