On May 14th, Pipster’s Bidding Manager Jo delivered an interactive careers workshop to two Year 7 classes at Avanti Park School in Frome, working with students aged 11–12 as part of the school’s wider career development programme. As Enterprise Advisor, Jo has been collaborating with Assistant Principal Brendan Bayew for the past two years to support the development of the school’s careers offering. This session marked the second year running that she has delivered a workshop introducing students to the world of bidding as a career.

Jo and Brendan ran a practical exercise to bring bidding to life, giving students a real-world insight into how public sector organisations compete for work. Students were split into teams of 3–5, each representing a company bidding for a contract. Their challenge was to develop a compelling proposal, focusing on three core elements common to public sector bids:
• Price – understanding cost and value
• Quality – demonstrating how they would deliver an excellent service
• Social Value – considering the wider community benefits of their proposal
Each team competed against one another to “win” the contract, encouraging discussion, teamwork, creativity, and strategic thinking.

Students were introduced to the concept of bidding and why organisations do it, what is meant by ‘public sector’, how companies build up a price for their services, the importance of understanding the client and researching their needs and how aligning proposals with client priorities leads to higher scoring bids. The activity encouraged students to think critically about how businesses make decisions and present themselves in competitive environments.

A valuable career insight….have we just created some future bid writers?! For many students, this was their first exposure to bidding as a potential career path. The session provided an introduction to a profession that combines commercial thinking, creative writing skills, strategy, and collaboration. The students were engaged, confidently shared ideas, asked thoughtful questions, and demonstrated a strong understanding of the key principles by the end of the session.

Jo has found it incredibly rewarding to support Brendan and Avanti Park School over the past two years, and to see their careers programme continue to grow and evolve. Opportunities like this play an important role in broadening students’ awareness of the wide range of careers available to them.