Firsts and Full Time Jobs at the UK’s leading bakery Food On The Go retailer

Four Newcastle Business School students from Northumbria University have just graduated with First Class Honours Degrees.

These students have completed extended work placements with Greggs as part of their studies. To add to the good news, they have also secured full-time jobs with the UK’s leading bakery Food On The Go retailer.

All four graduates were studying on the Newcastle Business School Business Leadership and Corporate Management Course (BLaCM), which includes a two-year paid placement as part of a richly focussed work-based learning approach. Hannah Casey-Burnett, Lewis Calvey, Will Forster and Lewis Blakey have now all taken up high profile management roles and are based in Greggs’ North-East headquarters.

Presenting her experience of the programme at Newcastle Business School this week, Hannah Casey-Burnett said: “Completing the degree has been hard work and you do need a lot of drive and ambition, but it has also been an amazing opportunity which I have loved. Working at Greggs has also given me incredibly valuable experience in the work place, and it has allowed me to build up key relationships across a diverse workforce, from front line staff in the shops to the operating Board of Directors.”

During her placement, the 22-year-old from Stockton was given challenging tasks including managing an employee opinion survey covering 20,000 staff, and completed an intensive training programme to recruit shop managers for London. She has now been promoted to Trainee Product Manager - Savoury Category.

The BLaCM course has a high entry requirement of ABB at A level and is designed to develop students’ capacity and confidence as independent and self-directed learners and clearly demonstrates the University ambition to develop distinctive and highly capable employable leaders of the future.

Newcastle Business School Programme Leader Brenda Stalker commented: “This has always been an extremely successful programme, attracting highly ambitious and motivated students with a strong work ethic and an ability and maturity to manage multiple demands on their time. Full time placements for years two and three of the degree also ensure employers gain access to talent early, with students and graduates who are work-place ready. Indeed, by the third year many are already in substantive roles.

“It’s a three-way partnership between the student, the employer and the University. Clearly Greggs has invested significantly in these students – and it has paid off for all concerned. We are all thrilled with the success of Hannah, Lewis, William and Lewis.”

Kevin Haynes, Head of Learning and Development, Greggs, added: “We have four brilliant young people working for us who are a credit to themselves and Northumbria University. Thank you for providing them with such an excellent degree course which our business has reaped, and will continue to reap, the benefit of”

Julie Nowak, Management Development Manager at Greggs, said: “We run these undergraduate placements in parallel with our own management trainee programme and it is credit to the calibre of the Newcastle Business School students that there is absolutely no difference between them and our more experienced graduate managers.”

The course is focussed on accelerated learning and strong employability prospects. It also includes a study visit to La Rochelle Business School in France, which has a learning partnership with Newcastle Business School, providing the students with first-hand experience of international business management.

Since its introduction in 2004 over 50% of the students have achieved a First Class Honours, and in the latest cohort almost 70% reached this level.