Here’s what happened and how you can get involved next year.
This year’s NWG Young Citizen’s Work Experience programme was another resounding success. In July, 400+ enthusiastic Year 10 students from schools right across the region gathered at Newcastle Racecourse for two dynamic days of hands-on workshops as part of the annual NWG Innovation Festival.
What did they experience?
Each morning of the festival began with a powerful keynote session, where renowned speakers shared their personal learning journeys and inspired students to make the most of their experience. These engaging talks set the tone for the day, encouraging curiosity, ambition, and self-belief.
We were honoured to welcome an incredible lineup of guests, including:
- Tim FitzHigham – Comedian and Author
- George Clarke – Architect and TV presenter
- Simon Reeve – Broadcaster and adventurer
- Priya Lakhani – Tech entrepreneur and AI expert
Their stories sparked imagination and reminded our young citizens that every path to success is unique and full of possibility.
Just some of the brilliant workshops our students encountered included:
In this hands-on workshop, students dived into the inner workings of desktop computers disassembling and identifying key components and reassembling the systems in small teams.
Alongside technical skills, this introduced students to real-world IT career paths, industry standards, and apprenticeship opportunities, offering a practical gateway into the world of technology and hardware.
“The computer engineering was really fun to do”
"I loved opening the pc, taking out the components and fixing them back together”
“I enjoyed dismantling the computer”
Newcastle eagles delivered a workshop that blended the excitement of basketball with strategic team challenges to enhance collaboration and critical thinking.
Participants work in teams to overcome a variety of basketball-based tasks, each with its own level of difficulty and point value—promoting smart risk-reward decision-making. Guided by coaches, teams develop, execute, and refine strategies while engaging in reflective discussions that strengthen teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills.
“The basketball session was a really enjoyable way to learn new skills”
“The basketball activity was physical but it made you think too!”
“I like sports but I had to consider my actions and my team as well”
This interactive session used fun, lighthearted activities to explore personality types and communication styles.
Participants uncovered their own preferences, learning to recognise those of others, and engage with real-world scenarios that highlight diverse ways of interacting. The session wraps up with practical insights on appreciating differences and empowering teams to communicate more effectively and collaborate with greater empathy.
Teachers and parents try this colour worksheet in class or at home.
“Learning about different personality types was soooo interesting”
“Working out our personality colours was fun”
Students spent 60mminutes with award winning theatre, drama and creative learning company Mortal Fools for a whistle stop tour of confident communication basics during this fun, practical workshop.
Our friendly facilitators will have you playing drama games and creatively working together to explore what it means to get outside of your comfort zone. Teachers and parents share these seven top tips to help with communication.
“I loved the Mortal Fool session, it got me out of my comfort zone. I then felt more confident and the activities were super fun”
“The Mortal Fools session was super engaging and fun”
This workshop demonstrated the importance of good leadership and management in a construction setting, where participants use Lego to deliver a construction product, firstly without clear guidance or a defined leader, then again, with clear guidance and a defined leader.
After the practical students used KPIs to compare the and contrast both outcomes.
Teachers and parents try our leadership exercise with your class.
“The leadership with lego building was the best!”
“I really liked the leadership activity with the lego tree!”
A cyber crime had been committed and the students had to solve it!
Working as part of a team, they used code cracking communication skills, passionate problem solving and amazing analytical powers to find out what happened and how it could be resolved. Working against the clock, this was as much about keeping your calm as completing the task successfully.
“I liked the problem solving activity where you had to crack the code to get into the briefcase, that type of stuff interests me and I am pretty good at it”
“The safe cracking session was definitely the best”
Teachers and parents try our year 10 code cracking worksheet.
So what did our teachers say
“Each day had an inspirational opening session followed by real life experiences and applications in the world of work. Thank you”
“The personality session was really great. It actively engaged students (and staff) to reflect on themselves and what a TEAM requires.”
“The mindset growth session was fab as it was lovely to see the children working together”
“The two digital sessions where the students were dismantling and rebuilding a computer, and the digital careers session with VR were really informative and hands on.”
“The students had a great time and thank you to the group mentors and the delivery teams for being inclusive of all our students. We will be back!”
Roll on next year!! Interested?
Are you interested in priority booking for Young Citizen Work Experience 2026 or being first to hear when our registration will open. Please log your interest here. Together, let's build a brighter future for our young citizens.