On Wednesday 8^th November, forty-eight students graduated from one of the four programmes. Two of the cadetships are accredited at Bronze level by Industrial Cadets and students received the Bronze Accreditation certificate alongside their Certificate of Higher Achievement from The High Tide Foundation.

This event was the final graduation of the year, after celebrating the success of five previous programmes. The evening saw teachers, parents, grandparents, younger siblings – and hopefully future High Tider’s, all join the celebration. Charlie Nettle from AV Dawson also attended the event to support the students graduating the Automotive Cadetship. Charlie plays a huge role in the participation and sponsorship of the Automotive Cadetship and we were delighted to have him there!

Small groups of graduates from each programme delivered brilliant presentations on their experiences. The students shared their favourite moments with the audience, as well as demonstrating their new knowledge about the industry and the careers within each industry. Kevin Shakesheff, the co-founder of High Tide, was the guest speaker of the evening and presented the students with their certificates due to his participation in the Shipping Cadetship and his attendance at the Port to Port Programme.

Our Shipping and Automotive Cadetships are six-week programmes that run after school and are designed to introduce students to career opportunities within these sectors. The graduates were from Nunthorpe Academy, Unity City Academy, Kilton Thorpe School and Hillsview Academy.

Our Automotive Cadetship  was developed last year, in partnership with five industry members and has been exceptionally successful in strengthening young people’s skills. Charlie Nettle commented: “At AV Dawson we’re really proud to be involved in an initiative like this. When you hear the feedback from the students at the graduation it makes you realise the impact you’ve had and how important it is for us all to be doing as much as we can to support our young people to find their future careers.”

Twelve students graduated from the Port to Port Programme after taking a trip to Rotterdam to increase their knowledge and understanding of the logistics industry. The students were from local schools, including Unity City Academy, Dyke House Academy, Huntcliff Academy and St Hild’s Church of England School, visited companies such as Huntsman and Tata Steel to explore the career opportunities within the industry. There was excellent feedback from this trip, with 75% of the students rating their experience a 10/10 and all students saying they had gained more knowledge about the maritime sector through the programme.

Ten students from All Saints Academy, graduated from our Ocean Youth Trust Voyage after setting sail on a five day sailing voyage up the east coast of the UK. The Ocean Youth Trust Voyage has been running for three years and challenges young people to engage as a team, develop a range of personal skills and build confidence.

General Manager, Lauren Bywater said “This is the first time we have held a graduation to celebrate this many of our programmes. Through the other groups presentations, the students were able to see the extent of the opportunities that High Tide can offer. From meeting the young people weeks and even months before completing the programme it is great to see the journey they go through and the skills they develop along the way”.

If you’d like to learn more about the High Tide Foundation and how you can get involved, visit our website or take a look at our programmes.