WELLINGBOROUGH School recently held its hugely anticipated biennial Careers Convention. Over 100 professionals gave up their time to educate students from Wellingborough School, Wrenn School and Wollaston School about the many career opportunities on offer. A variety of companies were in attendance, including representatives from Jaguar Land Rover, Balfour Beatty, Weetabix, Bellway PLC, Northamptonshire Police, Barclays Bank, Carter Jonas, British Army, Unilever, Shoosmiths LLP, Kier WSP, Mazars LLP, Severn Trent PLC, Haines Watts (SEM) Limited, Procter & Gamble, Handelsbanken, BBC Northampton and Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
Many universities were also on-hand to give educational and career advice such as University of Bristol, Oxford Brookes University, University of Northampton, University of Leicester and University of Birmingham.
Headmaster, Andrew Holman, highlighted the importance of exploring career opportunities from an early stage: “At Wellingborough School, careers advice is an integral part of the support given to pupils, in keeping with our aim that each one of them leaves us with the ability to navigate the next stage of their life…and beyond.
“This happens both formally and informally – academic staff are able to guide and steer by highlighting areas of strength and enjoyment; pastoral staff have a broader view and can act as a sounding board to help pupils make informed choices. The focused work, however, is carried out by our Head of Careers, Jo Matthews, who speaks with every child in the Senior School at various stages to ensure that they are thinking about their future and being given useful advice about where and how to look.
“As well as one-to-one conversations, Mrs Matthews organises psychometric testing to give the pupils ideas that match their interests with jobs, invites external speakers to give insight into specific careers, and helps pupils to undertake work experience and work shadowing in order to get a proper feel of what a week of hard graft actually looks like.
“The piece de resistance, though, is the school’s Careers Convention, which happens once every two years. This extraordinary event draws in over 100 stand holders from companies, universities and apprenticeship providers, allowing our pupils (and those invited from other local schools) to speak to people in areas where they already know they have an interest, ask questions about opportunities that they didn’t know existed, and leave with a much clearer picture of what their life might look like in two, five or even 20 years’ time.
“This is very much a two-way process as, in certain cases, the pupils are also putting themselves in the shop window, demonstrating the passion and skills they already have and starting to create that all-important network. We are extremely grateful to everyone who makes this event work so well. Many of our visitors have been multiple times; they know how important it is to attract the best potential employees and are always very complimentary about how the pupils are able to articulate themselves. With the world of work becoming more pressurised and complicated, our Careers Convention can only become more important. I’m already looking forward to 2021’s edition!”
Wellingborough School was also delighted to welcome back many Old Wellingburians who have progressed into various careers since their time at Wellingborough School including: Benjamin Roe (Lead Knowledge Lawyer for Global Disputes at Baker McKenzie), William Asheton (Partner at GSS Architecture), Sam Kendall-Marsden (Director of Claims at Charles Taylor & Co. Limited), Andrew Graves (Regional Sales Manager at Knights of Old Group), Emma Laurie (National Account Manager at Procter & Gamble), Tom Austin (Genetic Counsellor at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust) and Joe Zielinski & Paul Coverdale (Zinc Digital Business Solutions Limited).
To learn more about what Wellingborough School has to offer visit www.wellingboroughschool.org
Entrance Examinations will be on 25 January 2020 and can be booked through the website.