TRADES AT SCHOOL

Not every young person thrives behind a desk.

Trades At School was created through the C-Me Mentoring Foundation Trust to give Year 11–13 students a different pathway - combining practical trade training, mentoring, real-world work experience and pathways into employment while they were still at school.

The challenge went well beyond creating a programme. We needed to change perceptions around what a successful future could look like.

That meant connecting with two very different audiences. Students needed to see something relevant, practical and made for them. Parents and caregivers needed the confidence that this was more than an alternative to school - it was a credible pathway to qualifications, employment and a future.

We were part of the originating foundation behind Trades At School, developing the brand, marketing and communications strategy alongside the business strategy, modelling and funding case that helped secure $1.2 million from Foundation North to bring the programme to life.

A brand built to connect.

The identity was deliberately bold, direct and uncomplicated. Strong typography gave Trades At School an unmistakable presence and created a visual language designed to connect with a young audience.

But the most powerful part of the communication was the students themselves.

Advertising featured real students, real experiences and real possibilities. Rather than telling young people what their future should look like, we showed them what it could be -creating emotional engagement while giving parents and caregivers something equally important: confidence in where the programme could lead.

From 15 students to more than 500 qualified young people.

Trades At School began with just 15 students.

It went on to help produce more than 500 fully trade-certified young people, predominantly Māori and Pasifika, creating pathways into trades, employment and careers that may otherwise have remained out of reach.

The numbers tell an extraordinary story. But the real success was the change behind them.

For young people who weren't necessarily flourishing within the conventional education system, Trades At School offered another way forward. For their families, it turned uncertainty into possibility. And for hundreds of students, that possibility became practical skills, qualifications and the foundations of a career.

It wasn't simply about creating a new education programme.

It was about creating a new way of seeing potential.