My Future Pathways is an annual event that provides year 11 with the opportunity to meet with providers from a range of sectors including numerous career paths and post-16 options. During the day, all of year 11 are released from their usual timetable to complete four individually-chosen sessions as well as the compulsory hour on interview techniques.

In order to get the most out of their day, students pick from a variety of sessions ahead of the day that included forensics, veterinary medicine, hair and beauty, and apprenticeships – to name a few. On the back of our summer Speed Networking event, we found that students were able to focus in on key areas of interest to them and their choices were informed and personal to them.

Each year, our provider list gets longer and more varied with professionals, colleges, universities, and our own Post-16 speaking passionately about what they do and keen to show off a realistic insight into their career or institution. Once again, we were fortunate to welcome BBC journalist Sarah Teale to deliver a session on not only the variety of careers within the BBC but set students their own journalistic task for the hour. Students also enjoyed sessions with Dr Seetohul, a lecturer at Nottingham Trent University and a practicing forensic scientist for a hands-on session that aimed to show students some of the key skills needed in forensic sciences with a mock crime scene for them to investigate. We were also pleased to see Emma Drinkall back with her veterinary training dog Mouse to show students the processes that vets and veterinary nurses go through when learning the craft. 'Mouse' was huge hit with the students and assisted Emma in showing how a veterinary check is done; naturally, she also enjoyed lots of fuss from staff and students.

A record number of students this year chose to partake in sessions on our own Post-16 centre, with 8 full sessions across the day – Mr Bowie and Ms Donovan were delighted to meet potential new sixth form students and alongside helping them to gain insight into life in Post-16, they developed their logical reasoning skills, something that will be essential when transitioning to A-Level study.

We would like to extend a huge thank you, once again, to all the providers that came in and all of our own members of staff who put in lots of work to ensure students got the most out of their day.

If you would be interested in supporting any aspects of our careers programme in school, whether it be My Future Pathways, Speed Networking, Mock Interviews in November or any of the other events that we put on please do not hesitate to get in touch through the school admin office: admin@wbs.school

Here are a couple of comments from year 11 students about their day:

 The whole day was very informative and incredibly useful from a student perspective. For those of us who do not know what career we want to pursue, the insight from industry professionals helped us to consider different possibilities for our futures that we may have not even known existed. The interview techniques session was a great addition to the day, as it taught us skills that are necessary for our mock interviews in November. The experience of the professionals and their different journeys in life showed us that not one of us will take the same path and that we should pursue what we enjoy, no matter how winding the road is.

Kate Roadknight

My Future Pathways day was very useful to help me understand what I can aim to achieve in the near future as well as aiding me in my choice of long-term decisions. It allowed me to understand the path of my actions now and where they might take me, as well as the benefits of what I am doing at the moment in school and how that will support me in the future.

Arthur Field