Using the Inspiring the Future platform, Natasha Kinder at Urmston Grammar has arranged a number of career events for a range of year groups across the school, introducing the students to a wide range of volunteers from the world of work. In this short blog, she tells a bit about the events she has organised for her school and why:
“We organised a World of Work Day incorporating career speed networking and a careers fair for year 11, and a Be Inspired Day incorporating speed networking and ‘Guess My Job’ assembly. The purpose of each event was to give students the opportunity to speak to people first hand about the jobs that they are doing and to help break down stereotypes about who does certain jobs, inspiring students to find out more.
The year 11 World of Work Day saw students spend the day on a carousel of work related activities but by far the activity they enjoyed the most was the Speed Networking. We had 25 volunteers who spoke to students for 7-8 minutes before students moved on to speak to the next volunteer. This meant each student got to speak to seven employers in total. They had prepared questions in advance to ask the volunteers, who did not reveal their job until students had asked a few questions and tried to guess. They loved it!
We run this every year with each year 11 cohort but we then also get some of the volunteers back to do specific lunch time careers talks to Years 9-13.
The Inspiring the Future platform is great because it provides a brilliant way of engaging with new volunteers and making new links. We were even approached by one of the volunteers about her becoming a school governor, and appointed her through Inspiring Governance* .”
If you would like to organise similar events for your school sign up at the top of the page to start inviting volunteers, or contact us at enquiries@inspiringthefuture.org.
*Inspiring Governance is a free, online service that connects schools and trusts in England with skilled volunteers in the local area who are interested in becoming a school governor or trustee. Sign up at Inspiring Governance and start searching for skilled governors for your school.