CAREERS
Exploring Career Choices The My Future programme was launched in 2019. It focuses on a ‘whole school’ approach, supporting our pupils in their future choices and helping them to identify and explore career opportunities. The programme starts as early as in the Third Form, focusing on life skills during the weekly PSHE lessons. In the Fourth Form, the PSHE programme continues alongside an introduction to CV building. The programme takes on a stronger focus in the Fifth Form: in the Advent Term the whole year group take their online Morrisby assessment, which uses a combination of psychometric assessments and questionnaires to identify the potential of every pupil, advising on where their strengths and preferences lie. After analysing the results, Morrisby offers impartial recommendations for careers and subjects that match the pupils’ abilities and interests. After the online
assessment, pupils attend a one-toone career counselling session with a dedicated career coach to further explore their future options. An important event in the Fifth Form’s timetable is the annual Careers Fair, which takes place in the Advent Term. This year we showcased 17 sectors – from Medicine, Finance, Sustainability to Law, with four interactive sessions for each pupil. The speakers, part of the Lancing community of parents and OLs, always offer an invaluable insight into their own careers, discussing entry routes and key skills they needed to pursue the career of their choice. Following their GCSE exams, pupils are encouraged to seek opportunities to
gain an understanding of the world of work through work experience and shadowing. In the Sixth Form, pupils’ preparation continues with additional sessions aimed at understanding the workplace and exploring career options. A dedicated event, Careers in Depth, takes place in the Advent Term, bringing in experts representing the wide breadth of each sector who share information about their roles and their specific industry. This year seven sectors were represented including: law, engineering, financial services, medicine, arts & media, bio sciences and business & management.
‘In the Engineering workshop I learned that studying something is also about the skills you learn – not just the knowledge.’ ‘I enjoyed being able to hear the honest experiences people had in their careers.’ ‘I had the opportunity to meet many inspirational people, ask questions and get involved.’ ‘I enjoyed learning about the different areas of work relating to sustainability.’ It was great to get back to Lancing and take part in the Careers in Depth event. The panel had been extremely well put together, with a good mix of varied experience: a law student; a consultant commercial litigator who had once been a criminal barrister; a charities lawyer who had previously worked in-house for the RSPCA; and then me, the only member of the panel who didn’t study law at university, but did the conversion course and now specialise in intellectual property. This enabled us to offer a really good range of experience to discuss with the students. They were all engaged and asked good questions – hopefully I’ll see some of them in Court soon. MATT DICK Teme 1990–1995
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THE QUAD
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ADVENT 2021
