One of the highlights of the term so far in the Careers office has been reading the entries for this year鈥檚 Summer Careers Challenge.聽It鈥檚聽always a delight to see the value our聽pupils聽get聽from work experience whether that be seeing a depth of聽knowledge聽develop in a particular career or a spark of interest in a new path,聽previously unexplored.聽The Challenge was started last year to acknowledge the effort many pupils put into learning about the world of work and exploring聽possible career聽paths, which is聽an聽important聽complement聽to聽their academic efforts.
One standout finding from the submissions is that over 59% of pupils said that doing the work experience had 鈥榙efinitely鈥� changed their view on potential careers they might enjoy with another 32% said it had 鈥榤aybe鈥� changed their views. The number of entries this year was over 5 times that of last year and with so many diverse experiences it was聽very hard聽to select our winners, but our final decisions were based on the quality of the reflections after their experiences聽鈥撀燼 really important聽part of the process.
Writes Sue Grice, Head of Careers
The Taylors鈥� Careers team constantly curates our list of work experience opportunities and posts them on the Careers SharePoint site. Pupils are regularly encouraged to get into the habit of checking聽frequently聽to catch the latest updates.聽聽Many of our entrants聽used this to find聽their聽experiences which included placements in the workplace, lectures, online聽MOOCs聽and virtual聽work simulation聽assignments. Some gained their聽placements via competitive selection processes, while others were able to draw upon the聽knowledge聽of family and friends聽to get聽meaningful placements.聽聽Volunteering is聽also聽an excellent way to develop key employability skills聽with a bonus of often being聽more rewarding than the聽pupils聽expect!
Below are just聽a few key reflections taking from winning entries showing聽the breadth of聽learning聽from the pupils鈥� experiences.
鈥淭he best advice I have both found and been told is to try every opportunity… This has been incredibly useful, and I would like to continue with this attitude as it is how I originally discovered the Royal Institution, which I now visit every other week during term time for lectures.聽It’s聽also how I came to get a contact at聽the聽Engineering聽firm, which led to my work experience there this summer.鈥�
鈥淸My work experience]聽has got me interested in manufacturing engineering, which, after some research, I think is incredibly cool and is a critical branch of engineering, often overlooked but equally impressive when compared to other forms.鈥�
鈥淭he path, engineering, that I would like to take聽remains聽the same, but the specific sector of engineering聽isn’t聽quite set in stone. I initially wanted to do Chemical engineering because of a love for chemistry, but I have discovered passion for other聽sectors, in oil and gas, although a dying industry, still has a good future moving to LNG and Subsea.鈥�
鈥淚 set up activities for children in nursery/reception and a challenge I faced was thinking of ideas that are suitable for people of that age. I thought the experience was helpful for me as this was something that I had not done聽before,聽and I felt great about the experience as it was聽very rewarding聽to see the boys enjoying the activity they were doing.鈥�
鈥淥ne workshop on human factors really caught my attention. It seems like a great combination of all my interests including design,聽aeronautics聽and electronics. The consideration of human interaction when creating a product was exciting to me and I hope to continue exploring this space, especially as I continue my DT studies at Taylors’ and my later career.鈥�
Our winners are:
Viraaj V, Ethan G, Sahas S,聽Shaurjesh聽B, Thomas M, Pranav M, Krishaang B (Divs)
Aarnav H, Demilade O. (5ths)
Pranay P, Chaitya J, Sebastian S, Chase C, Leo B, Riyan B, Ravin A, Huseyin O, Aarav P, Peter B, Alexander M (L6)
Prahil聽S, Amrit S聽(U6)
Winners from the Middle School received a 拢10聽Amazon voucher, whilst the Sixth Form were rewarded with a 拢15 Uber eats voucher.聽Congratulations to聽all our winners and聽well done to聽all those聽who聽took the time to not only do work experience聽this summer聽but to think about what it meant to them afterwards and enter this year’s Challenge. We can see that everyone took away valuable learning聽and experiences which will help them on their journey to聽further defining聽their career aspirations.
ANNOUNCEMENT!聽聽聽Watch out for our new Taylors鈥櫬燙areers Bulletin, coming soon to your email.聽聽This is a new initiative聽designed to聽be聽regular update about聽what is going on聽in聽the world of careers聽showcasing聽just some of the opportunities聽that聽your child can get involved with聽both at Taylors鈥� and elsewhere.
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