National Careers Week: The Future is Bright!

From Monday 7^th March Leighton Park students and staff embraced National Careers Week (NCW), ably led by Head of Careers, Sally Saunders. NCW is a celebration of Careers education, information and guidance across the UK. The aim is to provide a focus for careers guidance activity at an important stage in the academic calendar and to help support young people leaving education. The week also coincides with the start of Science Week with its 2022 Smashing Stereotypes campaign and with International Women’s Day so there are lots of events and activities which encourage students to think about what they want to do in the future and signpost them towards key information.

During the week Collects have focused on challenging stereotypes surrounding jobs and careers and on looking at career journeys. Members of staff have been shared stories of previous roles they have held, including some fascinating ones of professional actors, driving for a Formula 1 racing team, researching at Oxford University as well as working for the company which audited the Royal jewellers!

Although physical work experience is often a challenge because of the pandemic restrictions many employers are offering creative alternatives for students to gain important skills and exposure to career opportunities. New online or virtual options are available which allow students to try a wider range of programmes and sectors. Many of these are free of charge with few restrictions on who can access them. For example, the ‘Observe a GP’ programme allows students aged 16 or over to participate in an interactive video platform to provide insights into the work of a GP, and the wider healthcare team. Other companies such as Springpod (free to participants) and InvestIN (paid for options) offer a wide range of online and virtual programmes in careers like dentistry, architecture, media production, finance and law.

Sixth Formers have been encouraged to join the Virtual Insight Sessions at PwC next summer covering a range of pathways across the firm’s different business areas. Younger students have been inspired by competitions run by the NHS to design a job advert for one of the 350 different roles that the UK’s largest employer has to offer. Another NWC competition gave students the chance to submit an image depicting their dream job with a caption explaining their attraction to the field.

Sally was keen to ensure that students understood that building your CV starts at School and the choices that students make within the Co-Curricular programme or for their Duke of Edinburgh Award, all provide evidence for employers of interests and experiences that are valuable in the workplace. At Leighton Park there are so many opportunities for students both inside and beyond the classroom to try new things and explore activities which might benefit their preferred career path; the future is certainly bright!

You can read the full newsletter from Sally Saunders to find out more.