National Careers Week

W/c 4 March was National Careers Week and the school had a number of activities taking place throughout the week.

The week began with Year 7 students taking part in a series of tasks, delivered by a team from the excellent Bright Futures organisation.

The overall theme was entrepreneurship, developing some key employability skills along the way, including being able to communicate effectively and working in a team. Students had opportunities to design and create a ‘Makarapa’ - inspired by the man who invented a protective helmet during the South African football world cup and they also took part in Festival Frenzy! This looked at how businesses need to take calculated risks to try to make an overall profit.

After school, staff listed to Mel Papworth, the school’s enterprise co-ordinator, as she explained how they can link their subject to the world of work to meet Gatsby Benchmark 4.  Mel provided a range of links to resources and careers lead, Linda Taylor, also reminded staff of the wealth of material available for them to access, including use of a dedicated careers and personal development logo.

Y8’s activities explored the use of branding and students then had to design and create a counter-top card holder for a gift card called Greenspend, focussing on the three key areas of profit, planet and people.

There were some very innovative designs and students developed their numeracy skills as they bought and sold materials, looked at profit and expenditure and  finished by ‘pitching’ their design to the facilitator.

That morning we welcomed Joanne Earth from the DWP who delivered an assembly to Y8 students and talked about the different pathways and careers within the Civil Service.

Jo was back in again on Wednesday to speak to Y9 students before they moved to their Bright Futures activities. Their tasks today involved looking at the key skills employers are looking for and discussing a job specification, to help identify the most suitable candidates from a range of CVs. The final task was to design and create a roller coaster theme park ride, using the paper resources provided, with prizes for the best design and longest marble run!

Wednesday evening saw parents/carers and students in Y12 attend an information evening centred on the use of Unifrog and Post 18 progression. Careers posters continue to be put up on the doors around the school with teachers and support staff sharing the routes into their careers and the experience and skills gained along the way.

On Thursday it was the turn of Y10, who are preparing to go out on work experience in May. Students were given a series of mini tasks to develop their teamworking and problem solving skills. They also looked at negotiation and listed to a presentation from Sir Darren Sugar!

The week finished with a number of Y11 students taking part in activities linked to revision, study skills, progression routes and their English literature novels.  Students found out about The Leitner System and created some great flash cards based on questions relating to their English texts and Biology. This system helps to focus on the gaps in knowledge and the boxes represent a tangible way of reflecting your own memory.

The sessions finished with a learning and earning task – featuring Festival Frenzy, which was a great success with students earlier in the week and provided some useful information about setting up your own business. Working in teams, students were very competitive and used their numeracy skills to calculate risk and reward.

A huge thank you to the Bright Futures team who were as professional and innovative as ever and to the many staff who supported the event throughout the week. @brightfuturesx @studyskillszone

Linda Taylor

Careers Lead