A THORNBURY school has won a prestigious award through a national competition recognizing its work with local businesses. 


The Castle School is the winner of the British Chambers of Commerce regional award in the ‘Business and Education Partnership ’category, and is now up against eight other schools to take away the national title.


The award is in recognition of the school’s Premium Partnership scheme ‘Castle School Premium Partners’ which was set up four years ago to build strong, long-lasting relationships with businesses ranging from multinationals such as Renishaw to smaller enterprises in the local area.


Castle Premium Partners director Tessa Wilkinson said winning the regional award is a fantastic and exciting achievement.


“This is the first year the British Chambers of Commerce has had the ‘Business and Education Partnership’ category, which we applied for before the summer to try and get the chance to win,” she said.


“The award reflects all the hard work the scheme does to prepare students for work after education, build their confidence and improve their CVs. 


“Now we all have our fingers and toes crossed that we can win the national award next month.


“These are really prestigious awards and we are chuffed to have already won one.”
Castle Premium Partners sees pupils work with 70 businesses to raise their aspirations, run challenging and inspiring projects and help young people development skills needed in the workplace.


As part of Castle School Education Trust, the scheme is now operating at Marlwood school and will be rolled out to other schools in the trust. 


As winners of the regional award, the school will now compete with eight other schools for the national award on November 26 in London. 


If you are interested in finding out more about CastlePremium Partners, whether as a school or a business, you can contact Tess Wilkinson on info@premium-partners.co.uk or visit thornbury-premium-partners.co.uk.