Enrichment day boost to employment skills

 

A enrichment day for Years 12 and 13 asked the students to work together in a series of tasks designed to develop their employability skills.

Year 13s worked in teams on a sustainability project with many strands, while Year 12 looked at improving their understanding of academic writing.

Year 13 – Sustainable community design project

Year 13 students were asked to create a sustainable community, using skills they had developed through their studies. Working in groups, they were asked to research, develop ideas collaboratively and finalise a project document ready to present.

The task aimed to encourage a range of employability skills – teamwork, communication, problem solving, time management, leadership, as well as allowing the students to identify personal strengths and recognise areas for improvement.

The project deliberately had a wide focus, allowing students from all disciplines to bring their skills to their teams, while also feeding into the aspirations of some of our students who already know where they want their careers to take them.

There were roles for:

• biologists and geographers (green spaces and agriculture)
• philosophers and sociologists (ethical and social considerations)
• economics, maths and business students (finance
• art and drama students (cultural)
• PE and childcare students (recreational facilities)
• scientists (renewable energy and technology)
• health and psychology students (health and wellbeing)
• English and media students ( communication and presentation)

Tom, who was looking at green spaces in his team, said: “I want to be a transport engineer when I leave school – I’m thinking about an apprenticeship. So this task, with the sustainability and design aspect, ties in with that.”

Coming at it from another perspective was Katharyn, an ethics and philosophy student. She used her skills and knowledge to look at ethical considerations, bringing another important element to the group.

Grace, who is studying biology and was taking care of the environment side of the task, said: “I’ve not done an all-day event like this before. I think it’s worthwhile for all subjects and ambitions – I want to be a primary school teacher and obviously sustainability is really important there. Also with the climate crisis we need to be thinking more about these things.”

Ryan wants to be a surveyor and was using his computing skills to bring the researchers on his team’s findings to life with a detailed visual.

Harry – who studies geography – was looking into the green spaces aspect of the task, bringing together the findings of his team. He said he was: “Enjoying the project. We’re repurposing an old building to save money and waste. I want to go on to an apprenticeship – I’m not sure what in exactly yet but maybe media and marketing. What I’m doing in pulling all the information together here feeds into that.”

After pulling their ideas together, the teams were asked to consider how they would best present it.

The day concluded for Year 13s with a talk on how to fund themselves through university.

 

 

Year 12 – Academic writing

Elsewhere, Year 12 were worked on a series of activities to develop their writing.

Eight Royal Literary Society Fellows  (all professional writers) delivered the workshops which covered everything from planning to proof reading, the purpose of different writing styles and paragraph plans in a day designed to build academic and formal writing confidence at university, college and work.

Students agreed it was a ‘really useful day’ and they will ‘definitely use what have they have learnt in their studies and in uni applications.

 

A student resources pack containing practical advice and activities can be found here

 

 

Head of Sixth Form Paul Marshall said: “We were thrilled to be able to welcome the Royal Literary Society Fellows to The Bicester School. Many had travelled far to be with us, and they provided invaluable training and experience for our students. The Year 13 ‘sustainable community’ project was born from a sixth form student voice and a Trust-wide interest in sustainability. It was modelled on the ALET ‘build a data centre’ project, aiming to incorporate the diverse range of subject knowledge in the sixth form. The projects submitted certainly reflect the impressive creativity and focus students showed throughout the day.”