The students at Beaconsfield High School were treated with a packed day of enterprise and career based workshops with Career Footsteps on Tuesday 19 June. This day was delivered under 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 first half of the event, the students took part in an enterprise workshop where they would create a service or product and present this to the Dragons in the Dragons Den.
Students worked in teams to create a product or service that would benefit people with disabilities. They had to design a product, come up with a way to market the product, create a financial plan and persuasive pitch for the dragons to hear. They worked closely with the volunteers in their classroom to come up with some useful products that had the potential to support people with disabilities.
Designs and ideas were sprawled across five rooms as students and volunteers engaged with the task. The students benefited from the support and guidance offered by the volunteers throughout the enterprise activity:
“I really enjoyed working; in a group, to design and pitch a product”
“I liked learning about what it was like to present an idea to dragons”
“I learnt about making a product and managing the finance and marketing/advertisement. Improvising in my presentation”.
After the enterprise workshop, the students then had the chance to attend five workshops led by volunteers. They learnt about careers within Aviation with Natalie Hernandez, careers within Human Resources with Dorothy Smith, had a life skills session with Apinder Sidhu and Nick Horslen explored his own career journey. The last workshop was led by Simone Marples and Kim Wood from the Thames Valley Police.
Student feedback noted the variety of jobs they heard about, and the friendliness and support offered by the volunteers with feedback including:
“I liked being able to speak personally to the volunteers and learnt about a wider range of career opportunities.”
“I liked when different people came telling us about their jobs”
“I liked learning about how to start a business and mange it”
“I learnt how we need to work hard to achieve our goals”.
The students benefited from hearing the personal stories of the workshop facilitators and that at their age they themselves were unsure about their own future. This day was both fun and informative for the students with a chance to meet adults that shared their routes to success.
“Thank you, Career Footsteps for organising the volunteers to visit us on the day, I know how valuable it has been for the students to see so many different pathways represented.”
Jemma Green, Head of History at Beaconsfield High School
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