Today, as part of the Tanfield Futures careers programme two of our students had the great opportunity of meeting the Secretary of State for Education, Gavin Williamson. The students, alongside 12 others from year 9, were at the Highways Agency morning at New College Durham.

While on a tour of New College the Secretary for State took some time to chat with our Head of Careers, Mr Fitzpatrick, and a couple of our students. Mr Fitzpatrick explained to him the exciting developments in our careers programme and the ways in which our school is always improving to meet the needs of our students. Mr Williamson then discussed career options with the students and got their feedback on the careers fair they were attending.

“It was nice to see the Secretary of State take an interest in our school and in our students. His understanding of the importance of a good careers programme served as a confirmation of the work we are doing here at Tanfield School”. Mr Fitzpatrick, Head of Careers

All of our students in attendance at the Highways Agency careers morning enjoyed their time at New College Durham. They got to speak to many different companies and explore some of the impressive machinery used to make our roads in the UK. It was a fantastic opportunity for them to learn about careers in engineering (design engineering, environmental engineering, structural engineering, mechanical engineering), road construction and road marking, traffic management, innovation, commercial, finance, IT and health and safety, amongst others.