27 September 2017
We are delighted to announce the launch of the Woldingham Business Partnership with Gatwick Airport which offers Lower Sixth students the opportunity to experience the corporate environment and work as a team on researching, planning and presenting their findings on real-life business challenges facing the airport.
Gatwick is the UK’s second largest airport, with over 45 million passengers a year travelling to 228 destinations in 74 countries. Last Monday, following a competitive application process at the start of term, 18 students attended the first of three workshops. An introduction and briefing from four senior Gatwick personnel was followed by an airside ‘behind the scenes’ tour of the airport, where the girls we were able to really get under the skin of the brand.
The first brief is a benchmarking project focussing on Gatwick’s Community Engagement Programme; the students will select three or four corporations of similar size to Gatwick and benchmark their approach to community engagement against that of Gatwick. Throughout the Business Partnership project they will be supported by Mr Roy Peachey, Head of Higher Education and Careers, in association with Oxford University’s The Student Consultancy, which will coach them on a structure with which to approach and respond to the briefs.
Following their presentation to the team at Gatwick, our students will be given a second challenge related to Gatwick’s retail operation, before giving a final presentation to the CEO of Gatwick and the panel.
This is an invaluable opportunity to gain experience of the world of work and we are grateful to the team at Gatwick for providing this experience for our students.