The story so far ………
In the session 2016/17 we addressed this National Improvement Framework priority through senior management team training and the creation of a 2 day programme for our primary 5 – primary 7 learners.
This was in addition to our existing World Of Work Day in June.
In the session 2017/18 we aim to build on this success by continuing with our existing programme and also having monthly speakers at our assemblies who will share their experiences of the workplace and answer questions from our pupils which arise from their input.
We would love to have parents/ carers / family / community members join us for this.
We have already involved the local police and HMRC in this programme and have planned input from Santander Bank, Morgan Sindell and John Wilson Photographer in the months ahead.
Please get in touch with us if you would like to participate in this important initiative.
Developing The Young Workforce February 2018
Once again we addressed this National Improvement Framework priority through senior management team and staff training and the creation of a 2 day programme for our primary 5 – primary 7 learners in addition to the development work described above.
Our programme began with a whole school assembly by Mr Alan Mulvanny based on his experiences as a referee at international level. He described what led him to this path and was very clear that this was a part time role which required great suport from his employer with regard to flexible working. He had prepared an interactive session where all pupils were given a red and yellow card and were invited to view clips from games and see what decision they would make if they were the referee.
While Primary 5 participated in the stand up/sit down activity that linked their personal characteristics and preferences to different career paths Primary 6/7 A B and C all worked together on Entrepreneur Me, an enterprise project that will continue this term encouraging not only business skills but team work and strong communication.
The next section comprised of each teacher preparing a powerpoint as to their own personal career path and sharing it with the children on a class by class basis so that each child had the opportunity to hear a wide variety of scenarios all leading to the same work destination.
As you can see some teachers knew their career path from an early age!
Following on from this all clasees created individual questionnaires which they used to interview a family member as to their choice of career, when they began working, how many different jobs they had had and what skills and qualities were required in their role. The children shared the results of their interviews with their class and discussed the importance of variety and a wide ranging skill base to meet these job requirements. They also highlighted the role of satisfying employment as a key to strong mental health and having a sense of purpose and direction throughout your life.
Their final workshops involved looking at the role of technology within traditional areas of employment such as agriculture and the career opportunities that now exist for young people outwith a traditional farming background.We used the LANTRA website and resources to facilitate this.All children also explored the concept of mythbusters which challenged their thinking on preconceived thoughts and opinions regarding gender or skill base in relation to specififc areas of employment such as engineering.Learners had to match the myth to the mythbuster and discuss their own opinions as they did so in what proved to be an interesting debate.
All learners ended the day by completing a feedback form based on their experiences of the programme and took them home for their parents and carers to complete their section as to their own views and development ideas for DYWF.
DYWF QUESTIONNAIRE
We look forward to reviewing this feedback and using it to plan our next steps as a school in our approach to Developing The Young Workforce.
In the session 2018/19 we have continued to embed and expand our DYWF programme.
It has proved challenging to find parents to come in to speak to us at assembly due to their need to be at their place of work during the school day ! We have been very creative in addressing this problem through creating an ipad usage agreement where parents can be interviewed at home by their child and then this footage can be used on the large hall screen at assembly time to develop our understanding of the world of work even further.
An enormous thank you to those parents who have managed to speak to us in person about their roles from setting up a hairdressing business to becoming a quantity surveyor. Even Father Brown was quizzed as to his journey to becoming a priest.
Following the February break our P5-P7 pupils again followed a two day programme where they learnt more about the skills and qualities needed for future careers and employment. They participated in 8 teacher led activities aimed at exploring how their skill sets and personalities would direct them towards certain careers. One of the main sources of information for this is My World Of Work which the children explored but I would ask that you also try to visit this with your child and start this conversation within the home environment. The enthusiastic response of the children and the purposeful focus this gives them to work even harder to achieve their goals is a powerful tool for raising attainment.
Beyond this we continue to strive that each class has at least one workplace based visit each year. On Friday 8th March our P6 and P7 pupils are going to the Forth Road Bridges to look at the work of the engineers involved in their creation. Engineering was also the focus of a live glow link up as an activity within our 2 day DYWF programme in addition to a design brief challenge with Mrs Lebond.
All learners ended the day by completing a feedback form based on their experiences of the programme and took them home for their parents and carers to complete their section as to their own views and development ideas for DYWF.
