How can we attract young people to the manufacturing and steel industry? That’s the big question, and the answer is simple: impress, inspire, and empower. That’s what we focused on when students from High Storrs School visited LIBERTY Specialty Steels in early November.

LIBERTY has established strong connections with this school through the GFG Foundation educational programme. In the past, LIBERTY employees Steve Shaw and Rob Reiss worked as mentors at High Storrs School and were delighted to welcome the students onsite, alongside their colleagues, to showcase the LIBERTY business.

Around 40 A-Level Physics students were eager to explore LIBERTY’s testing facilities, and we provided them with the opportunity to visit various areas, including the Test House, the Forensic Metallurgy department, the NDT facility, and the Chemistry laboratory.

The students were genuinely impressed by the significant role played by technical and quality specialists within our business. These experts not only ensure the quality of steel and detect any deviations to provide customers with the best steel but also assist the operations team in enhancing the steel production process for greater efficiency, thanks to various scans, checks, and control methods in place.

Following their tour, the students had the opportunity to interact with some of our recent apprentices and learn more about the different career paths available.

James Hill, the Physics teacher from High Storrs School, expressed his gratitude for the visit, stating, “We genuinely appreciate the tremendous effort the LIBERTY team put into welcoming us and guiding us through all the different test areas. Please convey my thanks to everyone involved. The Y12 students had a great time, and there was a lot of discussion about how much they enjoyed it, how privileged they felt, and some were given food for thought about possible future career paths. I think they were all pretty stunned by the scale of the site.”

Robert Reiss said: “Today, we witnessed genuine interest from the students and received a lot of positive feedback from the teachers. I believe that we’ve made a significant impact on both the students and the teachers. Thanks to everyone involved in this remarkable event and for all the hard work you put in.”

Claire Neilson, Manager of the GFG Foundation in the UK:

“We were delighted to welcome the students to LIBERTY to give them an insight into industry and showcase the breadth of careers and opportunities that exist within our business. One of the aims of the GFG Foundation is to open young people’s eyes to the opportunities that exist within their local community, and I’m sure that today’s fantastic event has been an invaluable experience for both the students and teachers.”