michelle.hogan@ownfutures.co.uk
Careers Fair - Coop Academy Beckfield
Transform Your Academic Performance with Own Futures
Years 4, 5 and 6 took part in a Careers Fair where volunteers from a wide range of organisations and sectors each had stalls for the children to visit. The children were able to ask questions, try things out and learn about the different companies and the kind of work they do.
The children had pre-prepared questions to ask to structure their encounters (although they could obviously ask their own too!) and rotated around the stalls in groups to make sure everyone saw all the volunteers. It was a great way for them to consider career options that they may not have previously considered or even heard of!
Volunteers included:
The Police
NHS
Teledyne Defence
RSPCA
Bradford Museums and Galleries
Bradford Libraries
Eurofins Forensics
Kier Construction
Dance United
Contact Us Today
If you would like Own Futures to deliver a careers fair at your school email michelle.hogan@ownfutures.co.uk
Preparing for my Future, Employability - Academy St James
We worked with the Year 5 students over a series of 6 afternoons, developing their employability skills, knowledge of the world of work and financial literacy through our Preparing for my Future workshops.
The students identified their skills and qualities, they found out about the changing world of work and how many opportunities are out there, they also thought about what kinds of work they might like to do in the future. In addition, the students learnt about money in the real world - needs vs wants, saving vs spending. In the final week the students learnt how to present themselves positively and then interviewed each other for their perfect job.
The children were really engaged in all the sessions and it was great fun working with them!
Comments about the sessions included:
"I found it helpful because now I know what my attitude needs to be toward money and helped me to know what jobs I would like to do when I’m older"
"I liked talking about careers and what we want to be when we grow up"
"We enjoyed how much you taught us about our futures"
"These lessons were so useful for me in the future"
"Thank you because it has really taught me about my future and how to stay safe with money"
"We learnt about our perfect jobs, i didn't realise i wanted to do that until today"
Get in touch
If you would like Own Futures to deliver Preparing for my Future workshops at your school email michelle.hogan@ownfutures.co.uk
Preparing for my future, Careers and Aspirations - woodside
We delivered our Careers and Aspirations workshops to Year 1 and 2 at Woodside Primary School in Bradford .
Using a bag of props to help, the children came up with a wide range of jobs . The wooden spoon helped us think about being a chef or baker, the digger helped us come up with a range of jobs in construction, and the dinosaur bones taught us a new word - palaeontologist - as well as made us think about working in a museum .
After the children learned about skills and qualities that they might have, we considered different ways of working, for example inside or out / get dirty or stay clean / travel around or stay in one place and they decided which they would prefer. We then looked at tv and film characters and thought about what skills, qualities and ways of working would be needed to do. their jobs .
Finally, the children came. up with their perfect job and considered what they would need to be successful at this job.
The children were brilliant! They loved picking out the props and recognising the characters and joined in really enthusiastically throughout the session!
Get in touch
If you would like Own Futures to deliver Preparing for my Future workshops at your school email michelle.hogan@ownfutures.co.uk
STEM Week - Farfield Primary School, Bradford
The school engaged Own Futures to plan, organise and deliver a STEM week to inspire and engage their students in STEM subjects and careers. We were able to use our contacts and expertise to run an exciting week involving years 1 to 6.
The week was divided into three afternoons and one full day of activities . The volunteers were asked to make the sessions as interactive and hands on as possible so that the students could actually get involved in the activities and develop their understanding of the STEM sector. The volunteers were amazing and students had experiences including solving a crime with forensic scientists, rewiring a plug with female electricians, looking at cells and tissue samples with a biomedical scientist, solving codes with a cyber security expert and much more!
It was a fantastic week and students and staff got loads out of it, both in terms of learning about STEM and also meeting inspiring volunteers from the World of Work.
Comments about the sessions include:
"I liked all of it because it was fun"
"We got to discover and learn new things"
"I learnt how biomedical engineering helps others through science and technology"
"Really fun, practical and engaging "
"The forensic scientists were really hands on. The children were really engaged"
"I thought the medical physicist was fun because we got to find out how electricity felt"
"I liked seeing what the future could be like"
Get in touch
If you would like Own Futures to organise a STEM event at your school, email michelle.hogan@ownfutures.co.uk .
World Of Work Week - Peel Park Primary, Bradford
The school wanted to hold a careers week to inspire their students, raise aspirations and challenge stereotypical views about who can do what jobs. They engaged Own Futures to plan, organise and lead this week in order to use our expertise in planning this kind of event, as well as our ability to invite a wide range of volunteers across different sectors.
We divided the week up so that each year group had a day focused on them where they met a range of volunteers. The mornings were classroom based where the volunteers did activities, showed props and pictures, talked about their job and then answered questions. The afternoons involved a panel in the hall with students first guessing what the volunteer did from looking at a prop that the volunteer had brought in and asking questions before the job was revealed, they then moved into smaller groups to find out a bit more information about the job and what it entails.
The whole school was involved from nursery through to year 6 and there was a real buzz around school all week. Over 28 volunteers visited the school to inspire the students.
Comments from one of the teachers
"What a fantastic week we have had in school! We had lawyers, nurses, police officers, electricians, film makers and many more visitors in school! Michelle’s planning and organisation for the 3 days has been impeccable! Quite a few of the teachers have commented on how well the sessions have ran because of Michelle. The children have been truly inspired by all the professionals and are still talking about some of the visitors a week later"
Get in touch
If you would like Own Futures to organise a World of Work week at your school, email michelle.hogan@ownfutures.co.uk
Enterprise Challenge - Reinwood Junior School, Huddersfield
As Year 6 had been to a theme park as their end of term trip, Own Futures were asked if we could organise an Enterprise Challenge linked to this theme. Over two days we worked with two classes of year 6s who worked in groups to complete the challenge.
Students were taught about USPs, budgeting and marketing and were provided with a brochure of things they could buy for their park, along with an imaginary budget of £10,000,000 to equip their park. They had to work in teams to make decisions, design their park, make models of aspects of their park, budget, design costumes, create a marketing campaign and come up with a pricing structure. The activity developed their transferable skills such as teamwork, communication, creativity, budgeting, time keeping and resilience.
Finally the groups presented their ideas, designs and models to the rest of the class who voted on a winning group.
Comments about the days included:
"It was really, really fun. I loved it"
"This activity really helped me to be confident and come up and speak"
"It helped me learn to problem solve better using creativity"
" This is an amazing experience"
"It was the best day at school. I really enjoyed it"
“A very enjoyable and engaging workshop for the children that prepares them well with the skills needed for the future challenges.” (teacher)
“Good presentations, resourced well. Children engaged throughout” (teacher)
Get in touch
If you would like Own Futures to deliver an Enterprise Challenge at your school, email michelle.hogan@ownfutures.co.uk
PArent Employability Skills - Bowling Park Primary, Bradford
We were asked to deliver workshops on Employability Skills for parents at Bowling Park Primary School in Bradford. The sessions were informal and friendly but designed to improve parents' confidence in their own employability skills.
We started by getting parents to identify their own skills and qualities based on what they already did, for example: their hobbies, running a household, raising a family, work, volunteering, speaking additional languages, caring . We showed them how these aspects of their lives could be used as evidence to show what skills and qualities they have. From this we moved on to looking at job adverts and identifying what they were asking for then tailoring a CV and letter of application to suit the advert.
Finally we looked at interview skills and improving the parents' confidence at interview. We looked at how we might answer typical questions and talked about doing research into companies before applying. We also looked at body language and the importance of non-verbal communication.
Comments about the sessions included:
"inspiring"
"amazing"
"the tutor was friendly and very helpful"
Get in touch
If you would like Own Futures to deliver parent workshops at your school contact us on michelle.hogan@ownfutures.co.uk
Careers Day - St Clare's CAtholic Primary, Bradford
The school asked Own Futures to work with their Year 6 students on a day of Employability Skills and Careers Information. We started by looking at the students' own skills and qualities - using what they enjoyed and what they were good at as a starting point. We then moved on to looking at why these were so important given the changing world of work. We looked at unusual jobs such as Golf Ball Diver and Waterslide Tester before going on to considert jobs that didn't exist 10 years ago and what the world of work might look like in another 10 years.
Following this we worked on Communication Techniques with students trying to describe a picture for their partner to draw without seeing it! This led to us looking at what makes good communication and how important non-verbal communication is.
In the afternoon we started pulling all this together with students creating their ideal job description, applying for this job and then in pairs interviewing each other for their perfect job.
After school, a group of parents attended an employability workshop where they looked at linking skills and qualities to job adverts, writing CVs and presenting themselves positively.
Comments on the day include:
"I learnt how the world of work is changing and things are disappearing" (student)
"It was fun and I learnt a lot" (student)
"I enjoyed having Michelle come in and would like something to happen like this again" (student)
"Before I wasn't confident about being a vet but now I am" (student)
"The day was good, I liked it and it was educational" (student)
"During the mock interview I learnt how to behave and what to do in an interview" (student)
"Thanks Michelle, I look forward to maybe some more workshops on all the skills to help my future job" (parent)
"Fantastic workshops - all children highly enjoyed" (teacher)
Get in touch
If you would like Own Futures to deliver a Careers Day at your school, contact us on michelle.hogan@ownfutures.co.uk
Employability Skills - Farfield Primary, Bradford
Over the course of a year, Own Futures worked with all of KS2 at Farfield Primary, developing their employability skills and knowledge of how these link to the world of work. We visited the school every half term for two days and focused on making students' more aware of their transferable skills. The sessions were adapted according to year group and were fully planned, resourced, delivered and evaluated by Own Futures.
The sessions included: Identifying Skills and Qualities, Communication Techniques, Resilience, Teamwork and the Changing World of Work taught through a range of learning opportunities including discussion, individual, paired and group work with plenty of opportunities for practical activities and for students to be able to try out the skills for themselves.
Comments on the programme include:
"It really helped me learn about resilience and now I am never giving up on anything"
"This session was EXCELLENT because I learnt so much"
"I loved today's session and every other session like always"
"I love Own Futures, it helps me choose my right future job"
"I am now very confident for any interviews when I am older"
"I loved this course"
Get in touch
If you would like Own Futures to deliver Employability Lessons at your school, contact us on michelle.hogan@ownfutures.co.uk
Annual Careers Convention - Park Lane Academy, Halifax
Michelle has organised hugely successful Careers Conventions at Park Lane Academy since 2009. The events are extremely well attended with approximately 30 employers, post-16 and 18 institutions and training providers attending. Recent years have included The University of York, University of Leeds, Jet2, Network Rail, Eureka! National Children's Museum, Nestle, Lloyds, National Apprenticeship Service,Federation of Small Businesses, Together Housing, Armed Forces, Police and many many more!
The event is attended by years 8 to 11 with Michelle providing information about the exhibitors before the event in order for tutors to prepare students. Questions for the students to consider asking are also provided. The students gain valuable information about a range of different jobs and the various routes they can take. Exhibitors are encouraged to make their 'stall' as interactive and engaging as possible so students are able to pick things up, try things out, put things on! Recent activities have included welding, trying on police handcuffs, making torches, stroking animals and doing hair!
Comments about the events include:
"Really enjoyable event, got to meet some lovely people" (Lloyds)
"Very good event! Would love to attend in the future" (Kirklees College)
"I was really impressed that there was a huge variety of companies, institutions, colleges and universities. At previous events [at other schools] where they have given the range of opportunities to students, I feel this is the best I’ve ever seen!" (Powell UK)
"I really enjoyed it, it helped me think what I want to do when I’m older" (student)
"I like how they put across what they learned and told us what to do and what qualifications we may need" (student)
"‘It was good, really helpful" (student)
Get in touch
If you would like Own Futures to organise a Careers Convention at your school or you are an employer, post-16/18 provider, training provider or other business and would like to be involved in future events please do get in touch michelle.hogan@ownfutures.co.uk
World of Work Day - Thornton Primary, Bradford
The school invited Own Futures to deliver a World of Work Day for the whole school to launch their careers week. Prior tqo the event we sent the school some questions for the tutors to discuss with the students to help prepare them for meeting the World of Work volunteers.
The day started by Michelle delivering an assembly about the changing world of work. This was delivered to the whole school but adapted to suit the different key stages. Following the assemblies the students came to the hall in year groups to meet our volunteers.
The students were asked to guess what jobs the volunteers did just by looking at them, there was a whole range of jobs suggested from Ships Captain to dancer to librarian! Once they had guessed with out any clues, each volunteer stood up and showed props related to the job they actually did (a children's book illustrator, HMRC Inspector, Social Media Manager and Apprentice Engineer) and the students asked questions to try and guess what the job actually was.
The year group then split into smaller groups where they had workshops with at least two of the volunteers. This was an opportunity for the volunteers to talk more about what they did, their career journey, discuss their props further and also for the students to discuss and ask questions.
The day was a great success with all year groups from reception though to year 6 being hugely engaged and asking insightful questions.
Comments on the day include:
" We enjoyed meeting the book illustrator and looking at his sketches." (student)
" We enjoyed talking to them and asking them questions about their jobs." (student)
"Really liked the visual props to help with the guessing part." (student)
" it gave them an insight into different jobs and transferable skills. A lot of the children had thought about jobs before today but hadn’t thought about how the skills they needed for that job could be used in other careers. " (teacher)
"All children really enjoyed the workshop and were engaged throughout both the assembly and the workshop." (teacher)
Get in touch
If you would like Own Futures to run a World of Work Day at your school or you would like to volunteer to be on a panel for a World of Work Day then get in touch via michelle.hogan@ownfutures.co.uk
enterprise Challenge - Byron Primary School, Bradford
Byron Primary School were studying Kensuke's Kingdom in Year 5 so asked if Own Futures could link an Enterprise Challenge to this book, which we did!
The students had to work in groups to create an Island Community which included making laws, designing a national costume, building a model of their island, creating an advertising campaign to promote their island, designing a map and much more! Through doing this they developed their communication skills, teamwork, creativity and resilience.
At the end of the day the students presented their communities to the rest of the class who voted on their favourite. As it was three form entry, the challenge ran with each class over three consecutive days with the winners then competing against each other in a final on the fourth day. The winner of this was voted for by a panel of judges from the school and the winning island and tutor group won prizes.
It was a brilliant week which the students really enjoyed!
Comments about the challenge include:
"Really fun, loved the lesson, worked as a team" (student)
"I loved it. It was very cool and brought out teamwork with people we don’t talk to very much" (student)
" I really enjoyed today I definitely recommend this to other schools" (student)
"Thank you! The lesson was the best lesson ever!!!" (student)
"Fab day! Children really enjoyed it and learnt a lot" (teacher)
"The kids thoroughly enjoyed the day and got so many extra transferrable skills as a result" (teacher)
"The day was excellent and I would definitely recommend it." (teacher)
Get in touch
If you would like Own Futures to plan and deliver an Enterprise Challenge at your school, either linked to your curriculum or one that we have developed, then email: michelle.hogan@ownfutures.co.uk
Financial Literacy - Bramley St Peter's Primary, Leeds
Own Futures delivered a day of Financial Literacy to years 3 and 5 at Bramley St Peter's. The day started with an assembly about the cost of living including different ways to buy a high ticket item such as a £500 TV. We explained how interest can affect the total cost that you end up paying and compared saving up £50 a month, buying it on a credit card, using a shop such as Bright House or using a loan or overdraft.. The aim wasn't to say one was better than the other but to ensure students could make informed choices when they were older.
The workshops focused on budgeting with Year 3 buying accessories for a hamster and with year 5 planning a party. Again the focus was on making choices - if you had no budget restrictions what would you buy and then once the budget was set, what would your priorities be.
The students realised that they couldn't have everything that they wanted and needed to make choices and prioritise according to what they thought was most important and what was necessary. This led to a discussion about what would be necessary if budgeting for a home and what would be a luxury.
Comments about the day include:
"It was really good trying to choose what to buy the hamster because we couldn't afford everything." (student)
"I think it is important learning about money because people can get ripped off if they don't understand it." (student)
Learn More
If you would like Own Futures to deliver Financial Literacy workshops at your school contact michelle.hogan@ownfutures.co.uk