Sir Ben Ainslie inspires Portsmouth school pupils to dream big
Sir Ben Ainslie speaks to pupils from Teach First partner school Ark Charter Academy
Sir Ben Ainslie has delivered a careers lesson to Year 10 pupils from Ark Charter Academy, Portsmouth, who were taking part in a Go Sail session, and spoke about his path from school to where he is now and the journey it took to get there.
Sir Ben, Team Principal and Skipper of Land Rover BAR, the British America’s Cup sailing team and Patron of the 1851 Trust, inspired pupils by sharing his story, highlighting the choices he made and the importance of technology in their future, regardless of the career paths they choose. Sir Ben also took the students on a practical sailing lesson.
The day was organised by education charities the 1851 Trust, the official charity of Land Rover BAR, and Teach First, which currently works with nine schools in the Portsmouth area.
Research has shown that young people who have regular interactions with employers are less likely to be NEET (not in education, employment or training) when they leave school. Teach First’s Big Class Challenge campaign is addressing this by encouraging a number of high profile volunteers to go into schools to share the experiences, advice and challenges that they have faced and encourage young people to follow their dreams.
The 1851 Trust’s innovative Go Sail programme combines a curriculum-linked STEM workshop about the science of sailing with a practical sailing lesson. Using the inspiration of Land Rover BAR, the 1851 Trust aims to inspire young people through the real-life application of science and technology.
Sir Ben Ainslie said “It’s been fantastic to spend time with the students today and see them put their classroom learning into practice. There’s such a diverse range of career opportunities for young people and Teach First’s Big Class Challenge is a great way to inspire and motivate students to aim high and achieve their dreams, regardless of their background. I’m really proud of the impact the 1851 Trust is having both locally and nationally”
Sascha, Year 10 pupil at Ark Charter Academy says “Ben’s talk was really, really inspirational because he spoke about starting out and training at a really young age, so made me think I can accomplish more at the age I am now.”
James Westhead, Executive Director for Teach First says “I want to thank Sir Ben Ainslie who has taken part in The Big Class Challenge and taken time out of his busy schedules to inform and inspire pupils. We know at Teach First that interactions with employers can make such a difference to the outlook of young people and hope that this lesson has sparked ideas about a possible future direction for the pupils of Ark Charter Academy.”
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