Last Wednesday, 5^th October, students at Withernsea High School took part in a Business Breakfast networking event. The hour and a quarter long session gave the 140-strong Year 7 cohort an opportunity to meet and engage with over 25 local employers, and representatives from further and higher education providers.

The event offered a fun and informal introduction to the school’s careers programme – a programme which, over the next five years, will deliver a range of opportunities and comprehensive information, advice and guidance aimed at equipping students with the skills and knowledge required to achieve their aspirations.

To help them get the most out of this opportunity, the school’s youngest students had previously been given the chance to work with expert trainers from Talk The Talk – an organisation whose aim is to develop communication skills through oracy intervention.

Through a transition workshop, which took place within the first fortnight of the new academic year, Talk The Talk supported students using oracy-based activities and strategies designed to enhance self-confidence, resilience and empathy. Among those activities were a number of tasks that encouraged students to step out of their comfort zones, away from people they knew at primary school, to interact with others who were new to them.

Confidently putting their enhanced communication skills to the test at the Business Breakfast, students were placed in groups of six and encouraged to get to know an external representative who had been assigned to each table. Taking their cue from prompts in an accompanying workbook, the students were interested to learn about the lives and career paths of their assigned representatives, as well as the opportunities that could be available to them in the future.

Held in the school’s dining hall, the informality of the event opened-up discourse in a relaxed and meaningful way, with the room abuzz with conversation. Fuelling this was a complimentary breakfast of pastries, hot chocolate and fruit juices that were served directly to tables by a team of staff and student volunteers. 

After breakfast, the groups competed against each other with a general knowledge quiz before taking part in a mind mapping session to demonstrate the knowledge they had learned from the experience. The event proved to be a resounding success, with positive feedback forthcoming from staff, students and guests alike.

The Business Breakfast was organised by Careers Leader Viki Foster. Mrs Foster commented: ‘We were delighted to bring back the Year 7 Business Breakfast after a three-year hiatus and we are grateful to all the representatives from further education and the local labour market for giving up their time to be with us to support our students.

While decisions about future careers may seem quite a long way off for Year 7, it is important that they take their first steps towards thinking about their futures and learning about the many options available to them.

Our aim is to provide students with impartial information about all the pathways and opportunities available so that when they come to make decisions, such as what to study at GCSE level or which direction to take upon leaving school, their decisions are fully informed.

The behaviour of students throughout the Business Breakfast was exemplary and feedback has been incredibly positive. We are very proud of Year 7 for the mature way in which they have embraced our careers programme and I hope they enjoyed the experience.’

Among the many guests who attended the event were former students of the school who had returned to help support a new generation of learners. One such guest was Gary Hornsby, owner of Beverley-based SALT Architects. Mr Hornsby commented: ‘I really enjoyed listening to the students, all of whom had good things to say and were engaged with the topics discussed. The really impressive thing was that they all had an idea of what they wanted to do in the future, and the reasons why. I hope they all do well and I look forward to hearing about their future successes.’ 

From the worlds of further and higher education, the event was supported by representatives from Wilberforce and Wyke colleges, and the University of Hull.
 
Among the variety of companies and organisations who contributed were the NHS, Southgates Accountants, the Yorkshire Ambulance Service, Humberside Police, and construction company Balfour Beatty.

Michaela Maunders, Customer Communications Stakeholder Lead at Balfour Beatty plc said: ‘Giving up a few hours to come and inspire students to think about their future is worthwhile. The opportunity to get involved and inspire future engineers is vital and something I’d encourage other companies to do.’

Earlier this year, Michaela led a group of fifteen students from the school on a tour of Balfour Beatty’s £355 million A63 Castle Street road improvement scheme. The students, who were all studying Geography and/or Engineering, were introduced to a wide range of engineering career pathways that are accessible from study at GCSE to degree level.

Thanks to established links such as this, and with new connections being forged all the time, there has never been more support available for the young people of Withernsea High School to secure the future careers they aspire to achieve.

Since September 2013, local authority-maintained schools in England have been under a duty to provide impartial careers guidance to pupils from Years 8 to 13 (ages 12 to 18). On September 1st this year, the Education (Careers Guidance in Schools) Act 2022 came into force which extended the duty to all pupils in state-funded secondary education, meaning that schools must now also include independent careers guidance for students in Year 7 (age 11).

Commenting on this provision for Year 7, Careers Leader Viki Foster said: ‘As a school, we are proud to have been ahead of the national curve by including Year 7 in our programme of careers events for a number of years. The skills and experiences such opportunities bring, such as increased confidence and communication skills, are not only an asset for the workplace of the future, they also help students navigate their way through high school and their teenage years.

The world of work is ever-changing and our students are faced with more choices than ever before when it comes to deciding on their chosen career. This in itself brings new challenges in ensuring that all students are given the information they need to help them make informed choices in the future.’