Career Opportunities in ICT Under Spotlight for Newry Pupils
04 April 2011
Pupils from Sacred Heart School in Newry have achieved a 500thpupil 'milestone' after the school participated in a workplace visit to leading IT services provider, Northgate Managed Service in Newtownabbey.
Hosted by Northgate as part of its commitment to careers development and aiming to provide pupils with an insight into the opportunities presented through the technology sector, the visits are part of an on-going series, organised by Momentum under its Bring IT On programme. As well as recording the 500th pupil visit, this was the 25thschool visit to Northgate since it teamed up with Momentum in 2010.
In addition to capturing the imagination of pupils by highlighting the wide ranging career opportunities now offered by the ICT sector, the visit also gave the Sacred Heart pupils the chance to see how Northgate delivers its service support to 1250 primary and secondary schools throughout NI under the Classroom 2000 contract.
Andy Ross, Chief Executive of Northgate said: "As a key provider to the education sector, we're delighted to welcome the pupils and teacher of Sacred Heart from Newry to our headquarters and play our part in promoting ICT as a profession which is positive, creative, focused, exciting and future focused.
"ICT is a driving force in our economic recovery process so it is essential we do all we can to support schools, colleges and local communities as we seek to attract our talented young people and do what we can to build a qualified, sustainable workforce for the future. We hope the visit gave them food for thought and that in the years to come we may well be welcoming some of the pupils back as full time members of the Northgate team."
To enhance the value of the tour, members of Northgate's highly effective technical team explained how they provide valuable support to schools such as Sacred Heart to ensure seamless delivery of the learning process.
Mrs McGeeney, head of IT for Sacred Heart added: "Actually seeing how Northgate delivers support to all NI schools through C2K was a revelation for our students. The diversity of services provided, using ICT, to both the public and private sectors was also a revelation as the students were able to see what they were being taught in school becoming a reality in the workplace. This was a very worthwhile experience."
Pictured Above: Mary Brogan, Technical Specialist showing students from Sacred Heart School in Newry what she does in her job.
