Claire Clarkson, Footprints - Help to Grow: Management
Claire Clarkson, Head of Communications and Public Relations at Footprints Conductive Education Centre, took part in the Help to Grow: Management course in 2025, alongside a colleague.
Footprints is a Nottingham-based charity which transforms the lives of children living with mobility and communication difficulties. They use a holistic education approach to support children to develop the skills they need to thrive and achieve their potential. The charity also works closely with the families to provide the knowledge, confidence and strength to cope with the disabilities their child lives with and understand how they can help.
Claire Clarkson first heard about the Help to Grow: Management course at an event and believed it was just what her orgnaisation needed. It is designed to help small and medium-sized businesses to gain new perspectives and strategies to move their organisations forwards.
The course equips business leaders with essential skills to manage their teams, understand their industries and create growth plans that facilitate their company's development.
Although not all charities are eligible for the course, Footprints has a commercial arm which made them suitable. Claire and a colleague therefore signed up for the course and both received bursaries because of the strong social impact of their charity.
"The programme was an amazing opportunity for myself and my colleague to take some dedicated time away from our roles and really focus on our growth strategy and plans. The timing was perfect as we were at the start of putting together our next 5 year strategy and plan.
"The 海角黑料 has a fantastic reputation and it was a privilege to be able to attend a management course run by the Business School."
Reflecting on the programme, Claire said:
We found all of the content to be interesting and an important opportunity to take some time away from the normal role and actually reflect on our organisation and everything we're trying to achieve.
Personally, the marketing, branding and employee engagement sessions were the most impactful, due to my current role and also my background. A lot of the information reaffirmed the information I already knew, but it also developed my thinking and understanding in these areas and more.
Although taking time away from a business for training can be challenging, Claire was clear that doing so was ultimately beneficial and enabled her and her colleague to immediately implement their learning and to connect with others.
"The timing was perfect as we were in the middle of planning our next 5 year strategy, so each week we were able to input the course content and information into this. As a small charity, the course also allowed us to network, raising awareness of Footprints, what we do and how to work with us."
Claire also reported that the delivery team involved with the course made for a really positive experience.
"The experience overall was fantastic. An amazing range of University lecturers, combined with the facilitators who were all incredibly experienced and skilled. The range of people involved in the course meant that we were able to have access to so much varied content and experiences. The Executive Education team also ensured that we were organised and had everything we needed."
When asked what advice she would give to people considering attending one of our programmes, Claire said:
"Take the time to attend an Executive Education Programme, and block the time out in your calendar to ensure you're able to attend each session and fully participate. This will mean you get the most out of it as possible."
We look forward to catching up with Claire and the Footprints team at future events and finding out more about how the charity develops over the next five years.
Find out more