A Wiltshire secondary school is getting its students ready for the world of work – by building essential employment skills into every lesson they attend.
Kingsbury Green Academy, in Calne, has taken the step of getting careers into every aspect of the curriculum, so students can link their subjects to the working world and understand how their studies and the skills they are developing can lead them towards a bright future.
Cath Young, who is careers leader at Kingsbury Green Academy, explained that teachers throughout the school are making students aware of the skills employers are looking for so that they can build on those skills.
“We did a lot of work with the students in National Careers Week in March, and have kept the momentum going ever since. Students are encouraged to challenge teachers about how what they are studying is connected to the real working world, and the responses help them understand why they need to develop certain skills.
“We have amazing input from employers in the area – for example, 34 employers came in recently to run mock interview workshops for Year 10 students – and every department has a Careers Champion. The owner of local HR specialist Face2FaceHR came in to help with modules for our A-level and GCSE Business courses, and BP is working with our Modern Foreign Languages department with a project to help students understand the organisation’s structure, types of jobs available and showing how modern foreign language skills are used at BP.”
Kingsbury Green Academy, which is part of the Royal Wootton Bassett Academy Trust, uses the Skills Builder universal framework to develop students’ abilities in areas that will be essential for success in their working lives. Skills Builder enables students to work on the eight key skills of listening and speaking effectively, problem solving, creativity, staying positive, aiming high, leadership and teamwork.
Students with various talents and interests are reporting back that they are connecting their school work with their futures very clearly.
A Year 7 student in Mrs Cobbold’s class said. “We could advertise our property on AirBnB in French too, to encourage more people from other countries to stay.”
Another student Alex in Year 10, said he is already formulating a career plan. “In computer science, I am learning about codes and instructions which will help with jobs with computers – this is useful since technology is going to be big in the future.”
Meanwhile, Maddie from Year 7 identified how a subject can help build emotional intelligence. “In RS we learn to have compassion for others, seeing things from their perspective and why others believe things.”
Jason Tudor, headteacher of Kingsbury Green Academy, said students and staff alike are focused on achieving valuable life skills as well as excellence in the subject curriculum. “We are working towards every department having a direct connection with one or more employers.
“Our school motto is ‘Achieving Excellence Together’ and having excellent skills to take into adulthood is a crucial part of that process. We want every one of our students to be equipped to enjoy and succeed in whatever career path they choose, so we start them on that journey from the day they join us.”