Business group DIB is teaming up with Archbishop Blanch CE High School with the aim of developing a consistent engagement between the school and the city’s business community

Business lobby and membership group Downtown in Business (DIB) has announced a partnership and a Liverpool all-girls school.

DIB is teaming up with Archbishop Blanch CE High School with the aim of developing a consistent engagement between the school and the city’s business community. The partnership will be formally launched at the annual Women in Business Awards in March.

Chief executive Frank McKenna said: “We have hosted the Women in Business awards for almost a decade now, to celebrate outstanding female business talent. The awards are very much focused on nominees entrepreneurial and commercial skills and the idea has always been to create a showcase of role models who will inspire other women.

“This year we wanted to find a way of taking that inspirational message beyond the Downtown network and I can think of no better way than partnering with an all-girls school in the city – one that has demonstrated a genuine commitment to excellence and that has an ethos of achievement and ambition for its students.

“Despite being located in one of the more deprived wards of Liverpool, Archbishop Blanch has a second-to-none performance level, in terms of its academic and extra- curricular activities and its 97% attendance rate is testament to the fantastic work the school does.

“A major part of achieving such impressive results in any business or organisation is leadership. In the headteacher Claire Madeloso, Archbishop Blanch has a dynamic personality who demands the best from her students and her attitude and approach was our motivation for contacting the school to see if we could do something exciting together.”

Ms Madeloso added: “The partnership will enable us to engage with a wider business network, support our school placements programme and attract some motivational female entrepreneurs into the school to inspire our students.” 

The 2020 Women in Business Awards takes place on the afternoon of Friday, March 6, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Liverpool city centre. For further details contact helen.bamford@downtowninbusiness.com