Driving Ambition and Inspiring the Next Generation –
At The Highcrest Academy
Two of our core values and virtues here at The Highcrest Academy are ‘ambition’ and ‘purpose’. Since the start of the academic year, all of our students from Year 7 to 13 have taken part in regular ‘Careers Q&A’ sessions with young people who went to Highcrest and are now in ambitious career paths (via Microsoft Teams, broadcasted in all tutor rooms). Our recent alumni, which has been built through using LinkedIn, have been invited to take part and the response has been resounding. Recent guests have included: Professional Footballers, Data Analysts, a United Nations Intern, Insurance Analysts, Marketing Copywriters, University Students and Degree Apprentices at Johnson & Johnson.
Students listen to the former students story through Highcrest and then how they got to their career path. Our students then have time to ask questions through their tutor. All of these are recorded and saved on our internal careers channel. These then link to a postering campaign around the school including an image of the guest with a QR code linked to the recording of the interview.
On top of this, our students now all have access to Unifrog. This is a one stop shop careers and destinations portal. Students have a unique log in which allows the to explore potential destination pathways, search university courses, apprenticeships and includes useful tools which help them to build a CV and log all their activities completed outside of school.
All of our Year 11s and 12s have had individual careers meetings this year with a fully qualified careers advisor. Every year group has had a careers linked event and Years 9 to 13 have had their Careers Fair, our first live fair since the pandemic. These events have all been hugely successful and the positive impact on driving our young people’s ambition has been immense.