Dear Parent/Carer,
This week we are observing National Careers Week. Last week, pupils had a focused assembly and we asked them to consider potential aspirations. Our theme for Careers Education this year is ‘A Brave New World’. Year 7 pupils at present are exploring the ‘World of Work’ as a unit in PSHE.
It’s good to talk!
We would like to invite you to have a conversation with your child about what their potential aspirations in life are. Please explore with them their hopes and dreams for the future. Although it is not essential for pupils to make decisions now in life that may define their life prospects, research states that pupils as young as 9 or 10 years old will start to make judgements about career aspirations and more worryingly any limiting factors. It is our job (as close and trusted adults) to support this process in an impartial and age-appropriate way. The jobs that pupils may think about having today, may not exist or be in low demand in 20 years time. We are encouraging an open and broad-minded approach to this aspect of careers education and value the contributions you can make as your child’s principal educator.
A good and staggered way to approach this activity is to ask the following questions:
- What type of job(s)/career do you think you may potentially like to have when you are older? If your child does not know what they may like to do (and we appreciate some of our pupils are only in the primary phase of education), get them to explore the things they like to do in life and what jobs would be suited for these preferences, for example, your child may say “I like to do trampolining, diving, producing artwork and my favourite subjects are maths and French.” These could be starting points for particular jobs e.g. a coaching job, accountancy or creative entrepreneur. The following website is a great resource for pupils to complete some independent research and could be the starting point for a discussion: https://www.firstcareers.co.uk/.
- What do you think is good about some of your potential career choices?
- How could you reach the destination of a particular job? What different routes can you take for e.g. an apprenticeship, university or college course, or other on-the-job training?
- Which subjects would be useful to study or are relevant for a particular career choice ? For e.g to be an architect, Physics, mathematics, art and design and design technology are very useful subjects.
Please note, we feel at Hexham Middle School, it is important, that your child has the opportunity to discuss potential career options in life with a trusted adult. Remaining impartial without projecting stereotypical viewpoints is a crucial part of this process to help open up lines of potential enquiry for individual pupils. It should go without saying, in today’s society, that gender should also not be a barrier for no-one. The following link is also great resource for parents: https://nationalcareersweek.com/ It can be used to help support your discussions.
During form time, we are planning for form tutors to share their own experiences in life regarding careers and jobs. Pupils will also get the chance to learn more about what other pupils may aspire to be in life. We would advocate pupils be the best they can possibly be, using their unique gifts, talents and skills at whatever stage they are at in life.
Moving forward:
As the school opens back up for face-to-face learning, we are planning a range of co-curricular activities across all year groups that will help support the wider personal development of each pupil, including the focus on careers education.
Please feel free to contact the school if you feel you can help out in any way. We have a careers policy on our website for further information.
Yours faithfully,
The Careers Team – Mr Freeman-Myers/Mrs Eyre-Tanner (Careers Leaders) and Mr Armstrong.