wait for results is testing time

And that goes throughout the ages for children. From SATs tests for Year Six pupils, right through to GCSE and A Level.

It’s certainly a testing time.

There is much conversation about whether or not we should be testing our children quite so much. Does it set them on the right path for their future careers? Does it negatively impact their learning?

As a businessman, I know we need to have people who can reach the required standards in the core subjects. People have to be able to be confident with numbers and they have to be able to write properly.

It makes a massive difference to how a business runs. For example, if somebody is in charge of taking cash payments, have they calculated correctly? Can they input information into databases or spreadsheets?

It’s surprising how much the written word is important these days. If you think about the hospitality sector, there are online reviews, Facebook posts, Twitter updates, TripAdvisor comments, proposals to draw up and more.

If you can’t promote yourself properly, and professionally, it will affect your reputation.

But the UK economy needs more than that.

The UK needs a workforce that is hard-working, reliable and can sometimes think outside of the box.

For us, we’re one of the busiest wedding venues and hotels in the Mansfield area. But not every wedding that we cater for is the same. Not every hotel booking is the same. We host funerals and business meetings. They’re not the same.

People need to be able to make sure they can do the job at hand, but also be mentally-agile enough to think about how to go a step further.

If there’s a puzzle somewhere, how can it be solved? How can opportunities be spotted and used?

Oftentimes, thinking about how to get the job done is a major way of doing business properly. A good educational grounding is definitely needed but there’s also the requirement for a spark of something special.

It is the people who can demonstrate that who will go far and succeed in business and in life. Schools, parents, and businesses have a duty to equip our workforce with the skills to deliver today and in the future.