On Thursday 16th September, Year 9 students were involved in our very first careers drop-down day. The aim of the day was to get students thinking about their future and raising their aspirations.

We were incredibly lucky to secure some fantastic speakers for the day, who volunteered their time to talk to the students about their own career paths and how students, who may be interested in their profession, can embark on their own career journey.

We started with our very own Mr Hiscock, who spoke to students about his vast experience in the military; the army, in particular. Students were fascinated by his experience and were very surprised to learn that combat is only a small aspect of military life.

Dr Anna Mallott then spoke about her career in medicine and being a GP, in particular. Her passion for helping people and her interest in the human body was very engaging for the students and a number of students interested in a career in medicine remained behind after the talk to ask her questions.

Rob Jones, who is a pilot for Easyjet, spoke to the students about his career, firstly as cabin crew and then as a pilot. He spoke about the skills and qualities that are required of pilots and highlighted the need to remain calm in emergency situations. He had the students fascinated with the story of the American airline that landed in the Hudson River when both engines were taken out by birds!

Our last speaker, Alex Stevenson, is the Press Secretary to the Leader of the House of Commons. He spoke eloquently about life in and around the House of Commons and the role he plays in controlling what information the press have access to. The students were intrigued by his stories, but were a bit disappointed that he didn’t have Boris Johnson’s telephone number!

As well as being fortunate to be able to listen to some fantastic speakers, students were also involved in classroom based activities that introduced them to Unifrog (an online platform that we are using to assist in our delivery of careers education). Students considered what attributes they have, what careers they may be suited to and learnt how to use the platform to research different careers.

The buzz around students in the classrooms was fantastic to see – many had started to research careers that they had never thought of before and others were starting to plan how they might achieve their career goals.

I would like to thank all of the speakers for coming in to inspire our students on Thursday. We will be running many more careers events in future, where we would love to hear from people from as many different industries as possible. If you are interested in talking to some of our students in small groups and have capacity to give us some of your time, please contact Michelle Phillips: m.phillips@kwschool.co.uk.