Careers first for St Cuthbert’s

St Cuthbert’s Catholic High School annual careers event ‘Employers Marketplace’ provided the chance for their students to engage with nearly 40 businesses and organisations to find out the many exciting opportunities available to them after education and guide them on the path towards a successful future.

The pupils from Years 8 to 11 attended the event which gave them the opportunity to speak to local employers from many different sectors such as RNLI, Merseyside Police, Barclays bank, building surveyors, engineering consultants, designers, college and university representatives and apprenticeship providers.

Invest in St Helens also joined the event stressing the need to change the perception of the borough, which has the second highest jobs growth of anywhere in the north of England.

Nikki Ward the school’s lead practitioner for careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG), said: “We are aiming to build on numbers each year in order to provide as many of our students with the best advice and opportunities as possible. It is therefore a vital partnership that we have with local businesses and we have received some really positive comments from our young people and their parents to back this up.”

The school was the first in England to be awarded the Quality in Careers standard in 2018. This is awarded to schools that meet the Gatsby Benchmarks. The Gatsby Benchmarks are a framework of eight guidelines that define the best careers provision in schools and colleges.

Benchmark five is concerned with encounters with employers and employees and goes on to explain that every pupil should have multiple opportunities to learn from employers about work, employment and the skills that are valued in the workplace.

This can be through a range of enrichment activities including visiting speakers, mentoring and enterprise schemes. Judging by the overwhelmingly positive feedback received during and after the event, this was certainly achieved!