At Cirencester Kingshill School, we encourage all pupils to understand the importance of planning for the future. Many pupils start off choosing a “safe option” rather than looking at career paths outside of Cirencester.
Work Experience Learn in the Industry
Every Year 10 student go out on Work Experience. This is a good chance for each young person to ensure their career ideas are right for them and in turn this helps them to choose the right subjects Post 16. I feel it is essential for every pupil to find a placement that is a career path they might wish to take rather than just going with a relative because that is an easy option. This takes place during the last week of June.
Mock Interviews A Head Start for Students
Every Year 11 student has a Mock Interview. All of the interviewers are local employers who kindly give up their time to help them practice their interview skills and to become successful adults. It is all very well having the qualifications for a particular job but this is no help if you can’t promote yourself to others. These take place in March.
Careers Convention
The Careers Convention is held every year. Cirencester Kingshill School and Deer Park School share the event and each take responsibility biannually. It is open to all pupils in Years 8, 9, 10, and 11, it has over 60 stands which are run by Employers, Colleges, Sixth Forms and Universities. This is an excellent way for local employers to share their knowledge with pupils on the qualifications required in that chosen sector, also the qualities required to succeed. In previous years the event was attended by over two thousand people in two hours. Some of these employers attend the Careers Convention as they are looking for future apprentices, others just so they can share their knowledge and help prepare pupils for the future. It is usually in October but this year we are trialling in on the last Tuesday in September (28th). The idea of this so that we can have some stands outside to give people more space to move around, depending on how this works will depend on future dates
Careers talks
Careers talks are open to pupils in Year 8, 9, 10 & 11. We try and have a different speaker in every two to three weeks running from the October until the end of April. They run from 8.40am – 9.10am and any pupil that is interested in the subject signs up. The number of pupils that sign up is variable depending on the topic. We have had some speakers with 20 pupils and another with 120 sign up for talks. All talks are invaluable no matter how many pupils are there. If one pupil is interested in a topic for me that is successful. I am fully aware that some people are daunted by speaking to pupils. With this in mind in the past I have done the session as a question and answers rather than a presentation. If you wish to share your knowledge please contact me and come and give a Careers talk.
We also work with quite a few local employers advertising apprenticeships and part-time jobs.
Contact: Mrs Penny Hicks
Email: phicks@cirencesterkingshill.gloucs.sch.uk
School telephone number: 01285 651511