In March, local business professionals visited Stratton Upper School Year 12 students to speak about their careers and fields, during a Careers Carousel event run by Form the Future and funded by Forward Gamlingay. Showcasing the range of careers available in the local Bedfordshire area, the event aimed to equip students with information on how they too can work in those fields.
Students got the chance to meet professionals from a wide range of companies, including Zion Landscaping, Lloyds, Heptares Therapeutics, Wyboston Lakes and Cambridge University Press. Stanley Carter from Marshall Aerospace Defence Group came along to speak about his apprenticeship. Stanley was especially inspirational as the students attending his workshop were the year group that he attended before he was placed.
Tony Vallely, of Pinewood Structures, spoke with students about working in construction. Being interested in helping bridge the skills gap in this field, he said that the event was “a super opportunity to connect with tomorrow’s bright young workforce. A most rewarding event for us and hopefully for the students too.”
Speaking with the students about careers in marketing, Natalie Primavera from Keystone Marketing was a hit with the students; “It was fantastic meeting the young people, showing them the exciting work businesses like Keystone do, alongside the many different routes you can take to begin a career in Marketing. Hopefully Keystone left the students inspired and motivated to begin planning their futures.”
Choosing the Right Route
Laura Walton, CEIAG at the school said “the event was very successful with carefully chosen employers from the local area, students were really engaged and introduced to some career areas they had not considered before.”
The headteacher of the school, Rob Watson, also attended, and said “Increasingly high achieving students are making very careful choices about what is right for them as they plan for their future careers. Apprenticeships offer a real alternative to University and provide mechanisms to achieve the same level of qualification. In recent years many Stratton students have been successful in securing wonderful opportunities through apprenticeships at all levels, so it is no surprise to see the interest and momentum gathering as older friends and relations are seen to achieve so much in their careers.
Although we have an excellent track record in supporting students who are applying for apprenticeships it is not always easy for schools to build a complete picture of what is available in their area.
Form the Future provided an excellent bridge between our students and local employers keen to invest in their future workforce. The preparation for the event was excellent with a well-chosen range of apprenticeship opportunities from an accessible geographical area. No wonder the feedback from our students was so positive. This event has significantly helped our students be informed about the crucial decisions they will make as they prepare for their future.”
Exploring the Unknown
As the first time Form the Future have worked with this school, the event was a huge success, with students commenting that they really enjoyed speaking with the wide range of professionals and discovering jobs that they had not considered before; over 60% of the students surveyed said that they had encountered previously unknown careers.
Charlotte Steggall of Form the Future noted “not only did the event help inform students as to the range of careers available to them in the future, but it also gave them valuable experience speaking with different adults. The importance of being able to network and interact with a range of people is something that is often overlooked by young people starting out in their careers.”
