Former Hollyoaks Actor Helps Students Discover Their Workplace Skills

Former Hollyoaks actor Lee Otway encourages Cleethorpes Academy students to discover their hidden skills. Pictured (l-r) are Year 10 students Oliver Barber, George Binns, Alfie Blyth, Workshop Facilitator Lee Otway, Gracie-Mai Bennington and Shobana Aravinthan.

A former Hollyoaks actor visited Cleethorpes Academy to deliver a workshop designed to unleash students’ hidden skills and prepare them for the workplace.

Lee Otway is best known for his role as David "Bombhead" Burke in the TV drama Hollyoaks, for which he was nominated for a British Soap Award. Otway also played 'Ben West' in the BBC drama 'The Syndicate'. 

Lee also works for The Talent Foundry, which encourages young people to discover what they are amazing at, develop valuable new employment skills and take that first step into the world of work.

The workshop, entitled ‘Rise” was delivered in conjunction with experts from a number of professional services firms who have come together to unlock the potential of young people. It focuses on showing students the skills and attributes they already have and can develop within school to release their potential.

Lee said: “’The Seven Steps to Rise’ is a combination of challenges that  test and engage students to work collaboratively and in ways that are both familiar to the classroom and relevant to the workplace. 

“The challenges focus on different themes, such as speaking, listening, teamwork, leadership, staying positive, problem solving and aiming high.

We know that all of these young people possess these skills, it is just that they may not yet have had the opportunity to use them. The workshops allow them to do that and to build their confidence in doing so.”

Dave Payne, from the Institute of Chartered Accountants, said the ‘Rise’ programme was borne out of a group of professional service providers  coming together to see how they could better develop work skills in young people.

“We work in conjunction with The Talent Foundry to deliver the workshops to young people across the UK. We have 50 events planned this year and hope to reach around 3,000 young people.

“The time lost through the pandemic has made it more important than ever for these young people to catch up, and we align our programme with the curriculum so that they can catch up on lessons missed but also see how the skills which they use in the classroom can be transferred to the workplace.”

Paul Kaylow, Vice Principal of Cleethorpes Academy, said: “At Cleethorpes Academy we are committed to raising the aspirations and skills of our students. It’s important to give students as many targeted activities as possible to develop their skills outside the normal classroom environment. Events like ‘Rise’ enable students to work with external visitors to develop team working and employability skills which they will use in their adult lives.”

Cleethorpes Academy Year 10 students (l-r) Tilly Newell, Holly Rowntree, Megan Hussey, Jessica Roche, Ben Smith and Jayden Henfrey (all 15) with Dave Payne, from The Institute of Chartered Accountants, at the ‘Rise’ workshop.

 Year 10 students at Cleethorpes Academy take part in the ‘Rise’ workshop delivered by The Talent Foundry.