---
title: "Year 9 Northern Reach workplace encounter"
url: "https://blackpoolaspireacademy.co.uk/news/2026-07-14-year-9-northern-reach-workplace-encounter"
school: "Blackpool Aspire Academy"
---

Parental Newsletters [Click here to view](https://www.blackpoolaspireacademy.co.uk/information/letters)

# Year 9 Northern Reach workplace encounter

  ![Image of Year 9 Northern Reach workplace encounter](https://files.schudio.com/blackpoolaspireacademy/images/news/northernReachpic.jpg)  14 July 2026

On Monday, 13th July, ten of our Year 9 students, who have chosen to study Digital Technology starting this September, attended the **Northern Reach workplace encounter** at the Robinson Business Hub in Blackpool. Throughout the event the students worked in groups to pitch their digital concepts to two seasoned software engineers: Iain Wood from [*Roots to Branches*](https://www.rootstobranches.agency/) and [James Wright from *Northgate Software*](https://jamesswright.co.uk/).

Both industry experts were incredibly impressed by the students' high level of engagement and the creative ideas they brought to the table. Following the pitches the software engineers mentored the groups to help them refine their projects and polish their presentation skills, giving our students invaluable, real-world insight into what a career in the digital sector looks like.

We are incredibly proud of how our future tech leaders represented Aspire and look forward to seeing them bring this same creativity to their studies in September.

 [ VR headset experience](https://blackpoolaspireacademy.co.uk/news/2026-07-13-vr-headset-experience) [A very special student-run afternoon tea ](https://blackpoolaspireacademy.co.uk/news/2026-07-22-a-very-special-student-run-afternoon-tea)

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