Melior: TV star’s apprenticeship

Entrepreneurial spirit was in the air when a finalist of BBC One’s hit show The Apprentice visited Melior Community Academy.

Kathryn Burn reached the final last year when millions of viewers saw her battle it out with Harpreet Kaur for victory in the boardroom and Lord Sugar’s financial backing. She finished runner-up but she remains a passionate and empowering businesswoman. Founder and owner of Pyjamily and My Christmas Pyjamas, she was often praised by the public for her positivity, honesty and kindness on the show.

She is now available to hire as a speaker for a range of motivational school packages and workshops. Kathryn gives students business advice and inspires them on how they can do it too, along with stories from her time on The Apprentice.

The skills and inspiration from Kathryn’s talks and workshops are not just for young entrepreneurs and business students but will build key skills and motivation said: “This was a real unique event for our students, offering them experiences of the World of Work.

Encouragement was given to Year 10 female students from Melior Community Academy at a Women into Manufacturing and Engineering (WiME) Careers Fair.

The Baths Hall, Scunthorpe, event was an opportunity to find out more about the amazing job opportunities and apprenticeships organisations had to offer.

Those attending were ABP, AutoTrail, BAE Systems, Cargill, British Steel, Centrica, CITB, Croda, CLdN, Equinor, Endurance, Howdens, Hiiroc, N3i, Northern Powergrid, ORE Catapult, Orsted, OLG, Prax, Siemens, RWE, Smith + Nephew and Tronox.

Students received a hands-on experience with various exhibitors and learned a great deal about Women into Manufacturing and Engineering roles as well as local labour market Information.” that can be applied in general life, studies or just to simply boost selfconfidence.

Students interested in working with horses or in animal management enjoyed a World of Work visit to the National Horseracing College.

Organised by Melior Community Academy Careers Leader Melanie Nixon, the Year 10s left with a better understanding about careers and training after leaving school. They explored different job roles in the industry and gained hands on experiences of feeding the horses, watching them gallop and participating on the horse-riding simulator.

Since the show, the talented businesswoman from Swindon has made countless appearances on media outlets, including BBC radio shows and This Morning, with lots more in the pipeline.

Motivated to be the best version of herself, Kathryn is now keen to inspire and motivate young entrepreneurs and the future boardroom leaders.

Melior secured the Ultimate Entrepreneurial Day for students. This included a 40-minute talk with question and answer, The Apprentice Style classroom workshop, and a 60 minute careers/Business advice session. Careers Leader Melanie Nixon said: “It helped students acquire the key skills for success, by improving their mindset, motivation, confidence, and persistence.”

The Army worked with Melior Community Academy’s more challenging students in Years 8 and 9 to motivate them about career options.

An assembly showed students the different roles and pathways into the sector and then they participated in elite skills sessions. Students learned lots of transferable skills throughout, including teamwork and communication.

Careers Leader Melanie Nixon, who organised the day, said students were taken out of their comfort zone, placed into groups, and expected to complete Elite Skills sessions competing against the other teams.

“At first the students found this difficult,” she said.

“However, by the end of the day, they were working as a team using valuable communication skills.”

A presentation at the end of the session saw students awarded with certificates of achievement for their participation.

The top three students, chosen by Sgt Mat Hardy, were awarded vouchers. They were Carson (£50), Archie (£30) and Lewis (£20).