On a beautiful sunny Friday morning, members of the Education and Employers team visited Greenacre Academy for a Career Footsteps event designed to engage their year 7 boys, and introduce them to the range of routes into the world of work that are available to them. Greenacre Academy is a boys’ secondary school and sixth form located in Kent.
The day kick-started with a career speed networking session which saw the students asking the volunteers questions about their jobs, and trying to guess what it was they did. This was followed by a carousel of workshops in which the students spent half an hour with a volunteer, who answered questions about their jobs and gave the students a taste of what their job encompassed through a practical activity.
Throughout the day, the students met entrepreneurs, an IT training officer and a Medicine Optimisation Project Manager, to name just a few. They also met a Policy Official for Apprenticeships, gaining insight into the misconceptions surrounding the Apprenticeship route.
David Lavelle is an IT Procurement Category Buyer at the Financial Conduct Authority, and was at the event representing The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS). He ran a workshop engaging the students in a pizza challenge whereby they attempted to maximise their value for money. He said of the morning’s activity:
“I was surprised at how much the boys understood and how engaged they remained throughout”
The boys were delighted with how “different to what we usually do” the morning was and commented on their enjoyment about “finding out about different jobs”.
Lisa, Skills for Life Manager from Greenacre Academy, who organised the morning was thrilled with the engagement and enthusiasm of the boys, commenting:
“The aim of today was to highlight some of the careers that are out there. Having just started it is likely our year 7 students are unaware of the options and careers available to them, and we believe it is important that they get this information. The ethos of the Trust is to prepare the boys for the next steps in life and this event fits well with that Skills for Life ethos. The type of people that attended today were people we wouldn’t have been able to get ourselves. Inspiring the Future’s expertise and range of volunteers provided a unique opportunity for the boys which they were very lucky to have.”
The Career Footsteps programme run in partnership with the Edge Foundation, and aims to open students’ eyes to the wide range of routes they can take into the world of work with a focus on vocational and technical paths. The programme is open to all schools across the county and is completely free to use. Check out the Career Footsteps page for more information or contact us at enquiries@inspiringthefuture.org for direct enquiries.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, please sign up at the top of the page.