Students discuss education and employment opportunities
Students from Years 10 to 13 at the Coopers Company & Coborn School in Upminster had the chance to explore possible apprenticeships, employment and study opportunities at its annual Careers Convention last week.
In addition to a number of prestigious universities such as Cambridge, Queen Mary and Kings College, representatives from Network Rail, TFL, Ford, Marks & Spencer and Lloyds Bank came to support the evening, along with the Army, Royal Air Force and Police.
“It was really interesting, it opened my eyes to employment opportunities I’d never even considered before,” said a pupil, studying for GCSEs.
Many educational centres and companies gave advice on how to apply for apprenticeships and the benefits, life skills and qualifications they can offer.
The government recently revealed plans to increase the number of apprenticeships for young people to three million by 2020.
The school’s dedicated careers adviser also gave a talk to pupils who were not certain about their futures, as other staff circulated to give additional information.
One parent said: “My daughter doesn’t have a career in mind so she found it useful to discuss the different pathways post-18. It was an amazing evening. The school should be proud.”
Several former pupils returned with their employers to give advice.
Tom Martin manned the Lloyds Bank stand, two years after leaving the school.
He said: “It feels really strange being back, but I came along to this event when I was in Year 13. I didn’t know whether I wanted to go to university or not and it’s always a good thing to give some guidance.”
The event was organised by Coopers Coborn’s head of careers Sam King, who added: “The annual Careers’ Convention was extremely well attended with over 500 parents and students attending.
“We were lucky to have the support of a great many local and city businesses, as well as so many alumni who gave up their evening to represent their professions.
“The exhibitors were really impressed with how the students conducted themselves during the evening.”
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