Month: February 2018

CTK was pleased to welcome Magdalene Adenaike, award winning entrepreneur CEO, Founder of Music Relief and a member of the FRSA (Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts) for a talk to its students.

Magdalene shared with students her experiences of being a teenage mum who faced redundancy and homelessness but never gave up on her dream of being successful in the field of music. Having left school she decided not to take the Accounting & Statistics course her parents wanted her to. She eventually worked for Barclays for four years, until she was made redundant.  Supported by her partner she studied for a degree at UEL in Music Industry Management whilst also volunteering as a vocal coach in the local community.

It was at this stage of her life that Magdalene fully realised the healing power of music, not just on her, but on the community: bringing people together and helping them share their issues. This is when she was inspired to found Music Relief in 2011, inspiring young people to grow their business through their talents, transforming their lives through the process and breaking down barriers that stops them from progressing. 

Magdalene is also author of the book “From Shame to Strength. Music Saved Me” in which she describes the influence of music in her life. Magdalene advised the students: “In growing up, life has its way of throwing challenges at you. Its your job to deal with those challenges .”

A cohort of CTK Business students recently enjoyed a talk by Rory O’Sullivan of Landers & Associates (chartered building surveyors). 

His talk, “What’s hot and what’s not” was based on his experience as an employer. He engaged with the students involving them in a hands-on session in which they practised a number of interview techniques that will help them when they apply for jobs in the future. Students enjoyed the session and received some very useful top tips on interview etiquette.

Rory has worked with CTK for a number of years, supporting students in understanding the world of work and he is also a member of the College’s Partnership Advisory Board.

Christ the King were pleased to recently run a daylong event with Unloc Enterprise Academy which was held for students wanting to consider alternative progression routes.

The Unloc Enterprise Academy programme was designed to help Colleges to inspire, motivate and develop the mind-sets of their students. The day helped to develop students skills in setting up and testing their own business and project ideas as well as exploring future apprenticeship opportunities.

Unloc started in 2011 as a small Portsmouth community project run by Hayden Taylor and Ben Dowling who were young people that wanted to see young people getting more engaged with local decision makers. Their aim is to help create a highly capable, actively engaged and civic minded generation of young people.

CTK was delighted to launch a new initiative with Capgemini (a global leader in consulting, technology and outsourcing services) and Urban Synergy that will see over twenty CTK students go to a number of workshops aimed at helping them develop
life skills and introducing them to degree apprenticeship opportunities. At the end of the initiative Capgemni hope to offer a number of CTK students a degree apprenticeship.

A degree apprenticeship combines full-time paid work and part-time university to offer candidates the opportunity to gain a full Bachelors or Master’s degree while partaking in practical, on-the-job training. They were launched by the government in 2015, and are studied over the course of one to six years. There are many benefits to degree apprenticeships. As well as holding employment status and receiving a wage throughout the course, an apprentice’s tuition fees and training costs are settled between their education institution and employer.