Rockingham Motor Speedway is becoming a unique educational venue as it teams up with the Enterprise Education Foundation (EEF) to create the Rockingham Education Partnership. It aims to provide hands-on projects and learning experiences in an environment away from a traditional classroom.
The EEF will be responsible for managing and delivering all of the circuits educational services and will work with young people aged 11 to 25 from across Northamptonshire. The students will be able to take part in a number of activities to develop a variety of personal and business skills.
The framework of the partnership has been split into three categories. First there's Targeted Education, covering employability, enterprise and young business, environment, green energy and co-ordination and partnership. Then there's Community Engagement, looking at how Rockingham can be used by the wider community and finally Engineering, focusing on motor vehicle education and training.
Chief Executive of Rockingham, Charlotte Orton, said: “We have always recognised the key role industries such as motorsport can play in helping to inspire young people to pursue the right choices. The EEF has a wealth of experience working within education and with young people, and therefore we are delighted to have them on board to manage and deliver this area of the Rockingham business.
“The Rockingham Education Partnership will allow us to strengthen our relationship with educational organisations and ensure we add value to the participants own work through the hands-on learning experience we offer.”
Director of Enterprise Education Foundation, Graham Lloyd, said: “We are very excited about the education we can provide using the unique backdrop of Rockingham. We know already that young people are instantly inspired by just being at the circuit.
“The partnership offers us a real chance to work in collaboration with Rockingham and to use their business expertise to offer a range of educational opportunities. We know some of the most engaging education is delivered through partnerships and this is what we will be developing with Rockingham over the next few years.”