12th February 2013A Oathall

To support the KS4 options process, on 18 January our Year 9 students made a date with experts from twenty-five different professions from around West Sussex including computer animators, doctors, publishers, scientists and airline engineers. They filled the sports hall and spent the morning on rotation around the space. In groups of around 5, with 5 minutes per session, the students fired questions at the experts, discussing aspects of their work and trying to get as much information from them about what their job entailed, the qualifications required and the routes they took to get there.

Martyn Woodington, an aircraft engineer from Virgin Atlantic Airways, said “This is an extremely useful opportunity for young students.  This sort of experience would have made a huge difference to me when I was at school.  I think that being able to get this type of insight into different types of employment opportunities is invaluable”.

Patricia Hegarty, editorial director at Caterpillar Book Publishers, said “Having an opportunity to create an awareness of my profession was very rewarding.  It was clear that many students hadn’t considered the myriad of opportunities in the publishing industry and hopefully now a handful may consider it as an option”.

Professor Keith Caldecott, a research scientist from the University of  Sussex, said “I really enjoyed talking to the students and was very impressed at their levels of interest in the Sciences.  The University of Sussex is proud to have such a good relationship with Oathall as I believe we offer your students work experience placements every year.”

Following the event students were asked to review and evaluate the experience.  99% found the event useful in finding out about the world of work and would recommend that we hold this event every year.  They have also suggested other areas of employment that could be included in forthcoming years.

Mr J Blackholly, Head of Work Related Learning, said “We are very happy with the outcome especially as the students have now got a much better awareness of their options in the world of work and have a better understanding of what different types of job involve”.