Inspiring Futures in Yorkshire: Our Second Year with Quickline

Since October 2024, Quickline's support has powered two dedicated Tech She Can teachers, Fran in West Yorkshire and Sarah in South Yorkshire, to deliver hands-on Career Inspiration lessons into primary classrooms across the region. This year alone, that meant 877 pupils across 20 schools and 8 local authorities, 95% of them in recognised social mobility cold spots, and 90% with a higher-than-average number of children eligible for Free School Meals. Combined with Year 1, the partnership has now reached over 1,800 pupils across 40 primary schools with more than 400 Career Inspiration sessions.

Each class took part in a series of six sessions covering everything from sustainable transport and space technology to online safety, with pupils taking on the role of software engineers, solutions designers and communications engineers, and getting hands-on with Sphero robots, micro:bits, and augmented reality apps.

The numbers behind the change

The impact shows up clearly in what pupils told us, before and after:

The number of students who could name a real person working in tech rose by 68.3%, from 18.5% at the start of the year to 86.8% by the end. Hands-up counts taken at the start and end of every session showed the same story; on average, 51% of pupils said they'd consider a tech career by the end of a lesson, up from 33% before it began. And when we asked pupils what skills matter in a tech career, their answers changed too: "smart" and "computing" gave way to "teamwork," "communication," "creativity" and "problem-solving" — the real, transferable skills the tech sector is actually looking for.

Teachers noticed it too, rating the programme 4.9 out of 5 across 20 feedback forms, with students' engagement scoring a perfect 5.

In their own words

The quotes tell their own story. "That was the best lesson I've ever had in the whole of my time at school!" said one pupil. Another admitted, "Before I met Fran, I only knew 2 technology jobs!" — by the end of term, her class could name specific careers like drone engineer, UX designer and network architect. In South Yorkshire, one teacher told Sarah: "You've definitely caught their interest today. It was lovely how they all wanted to stay behind to talk to you after the lesson, you wouldn't usually get that!"

And perhaps the line that sums up why this work matters, from a teacher in an area with limited access to technology funding: "They have loved the wonderful robots and sessions... in an area where our children don't get to experience much technology due to funding."

Thank you, Quickline

Twenty schools. Two brilliant teachers. A generation starting to see itself in tech. None of it would have been possible without Quickline's continued commitment to closing the opportunity gap for young people across Yorkshire. Beyond the classroom, Quickline's own "Tech for Connectivity" lesson has now been watched by over 14,600 children since October 2024, extending this impact even further.

We can't wait to build on this momentum together next year.

Interested in partnering with Tech She Can to bring tech careers to life for the next generation? Get in touch to find out how your organisation can get involved.