Two pupils from the Sefton Park school have been celebrating after winning a national schools competition organised in association with The Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI).
 
Shauna Philips and Peri Meadows formed part of the winning team, Team Kaos, which took the top spot in the Headlight competition.  Headlight is a new initiative developed by the IMI in conjunction with specialist teachers through the National Schools Partnership that includes a series of creative curriculum-linked teacher and student resources aimed primarily at those studying business related courses, with the motor industry as the exciting backdrop.
 
The competition was based around the marketing of a new vehicle focussing on brand, product and promotion. The winning entry from St Hilda’s was chosen from competing schools across the UK involving over 100 students.  As part of their prize, Shauna and Peri along with their teachers travelled to Germany to tour the Audi Forum in Ingolstadt courtesy of Audi UK where they experienced a behind the scenes look at how a global automotive manufacturer produces its quality vehicles.  Also, the school benefitted with the donation by the Ford Motor Company of a new, 17 seater Transit minibus which the school is able to use throughout the next year.  Representatives from the school, including the winning students, received the minibus from local Ford dealership, Peoples Speke (photo) based in Speke Hall Road in Liverpool.
 
Commenting on the win, Joanne Kelly, Enterprise Development Officer at St Hilda’s said: “This was an exceptional opportunity for our students, whether they were winners or not.  In particular, we liked the fact that our mainly female students were made aware of career opportunities in the motor industry, a traditionally male domain.”
 
Lesley Woolley, Head of Professional Development at the IMI said:
“Our congratulations go to Peri and Shauna and to their teachers at St Hilda’s on winning the Headlight competition.  Headlight is a new initiative designed to show young people the varied career opportunities available within the motor industry and show that it's not just a career for the technically minded.  A successful future for the UK motor industry will depend on the recruitment and training of high calibre young people in a range of hi-tech disciplines, using state-of-the-art specialist equipment. But it’s not just a career for the technically minded and this marketing competition shows that the motor industry also offers plenty of opportunities for professional staff in sales, management, marketing, human resources, finance and administration, who have the skills to work with people.”
 
Through the programme and competition, pupils were able to develop their business and enterprise knowledge and gain routes into local employers within the sector that helped them witness theory in practice at first hand, and increased their awareness of the exciting career opportunities available to them within the motor industry.

Click on the link to see the video from Headlight.

http://www.careersbox.co.uk/video/imi/imi_headlight.wvx