News

Raise Your Game Launches with Local MP

Matt Vickers, MP for Stockton South, attended the centre last month to launch the our biggest ever educational programme in partnership with the Middlesbrough Football Club (MFC) Foundation.

The 12-week ‘Raise Your Game’ initiative will see us join forces with MFC Foundation to host eight interactive sessions with Year 9 students from The Grangefield Academy focused on developing their business knowledge.

It will provide them with real-life work experience in retail and sport to inspire them as they consider their further education or career choices for the future.

The launch session saw Matt Vickers, who also attended The Grangefield Academy, host a careers talk for the students, sharing advice and insights from his own work experience journey and answering questions from the pupils.

They also visited Showcase Cinema and Hollywood Bowl to learn first-hand from the management teams about how the cinema and bowling alley are run, and took part in a discussion focused on how to increase sustainability in the retail industry.

Throughout the rest of the programme, the students will take part in an innovation challenge in groups which will see them tasked with developing and presenting new sustainable initiatives for the centre.

The groups will then hone their presentation skills, sharing their ideas with a judging panel of Teesside Park and MFC Foundation representatives.

Catherine Furlong, our centre director, said: “We’re proud to partner with the MFC Foundation once again to run the Raise Your Game initiative. It’s a fantastic opportunity for young people from our local community to gain real life business experience to take with them into the next stage of their lives, whether that’s further education or employment.

“I never fail to be inspired by how much the students grow in confidence throughout the 12-week period, and I am really looking forward to seeing the results of the innovation challenge.”

Amy Campbell, Secondary Education Coordinator at MFC Foundation, said: “We are looking forward to working with Teesside Park and The Grangefield Academy to run the Raise Your Game programme.

“It is a great opportunity for the students to have the chance to showcase ideas which would make a positive, sustainable difference to the centre. Not only will this allow them to gain valuable experience of how Teesside Park runs behind-the-scenes on a daily basis, it will also equip them with skills that can be transferred to a school environment.”

Last updated Friday 25 August, 2023