A baking firm gave Upminster pupils a talk on the ingredients of a successful career.

Marketing exec Caroline Ratcliffe, of Zeelandia, based in Billericay, visited Sacred Heart of Mary Girls’ School during National Careers Week.

She told the students about the different jobs available in the food industry.

“When people think about work in the food industry,” she said, “they tend to focus on cooking or selling. But there are a whole raft of exciting opportunities across all disciplines, and across the whole supply chain, which includes food ingredients.”

Food technology teacher Joanna Trohear said: “It’s fantastic for the girls to hear first-hand from a successful young person in industry all about her own experience as well as about the many career pathways there are.

“It brought alive something that could otherwise have been quite theoretical, taught the students more about the supply chain and inspired them to think about the wide range of great opportunities there are in the food and drink industry in general, and the bakery ingredient sector in particular. We’re very grateful to Zeelandia for giving their support to our careers programme.”