our pathway to positive destinations. - alva...
Post on 23-Apr-2020
3 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
Developing the Young Workforce
Alva Academy
August 2017 Vol. 1
Our Pathway to Positive
Destinations. . .
Here at Alva Academy we have been busy with activities and events designed
to help Develop our Young Workforce and take steps to ensure our leavers go
on to become Effective Contributors in a Positive Destination. Take a look at
our newsletter to find out a little more about what has been going on!
S6 EMPLOYABILITY AWARD
This year saw the launch of the New S6 Employa-
bility Award. This subject is offered to all S6 pupils
in order to allow them to prepare themselves for
the World of Work.
The course offers pupils the chance to develop
their employability skills, prepare a CV and cover-
ing letter, practice their interview technique and
take part in employer-led mock applications and
interviews.
Each pupil who completes the course not only
gains a brilliant skills set to help them prepare for
life beyond the school walls but an SQA qualifica-
tion—The Employability Award. An excellent addi-
tion to their CV!
The course has been so successful we are now en-
suring school leavers in S4 and S5 have the oppor-
tunity to attend.
The Employability Award — Pupil Feedback
This course was such a great help to me this
year—it has helped me gain skills for work and I
have now been given an apprenticeship with the
council after a successful Interview—the Mock
interviews I got from businesses really helped me
build my confidence for the real thing!
Robbie Watson, S6 2016/2017
This course has really helped
me finding jobs and developing
life skills to set me up for the
future—Thank you!
Ben Murray, S6 2016/2017
MOCK INTERVIEWS
One of the highlights of the course was the mock in-
terviews conducted by businesses. Pupils had to com-
plete application forms, attaching their CV and then
prepare model answers to common interview ques-
tions.
Many local businesses came along to help us with the
Interviews to make the experience as real as possible
for our pupils, helping them develop their confidence
and communication skills.
A huge thank you to all the businesses who supported
us with the Employability Award this year—we are
looking forward to working with them again next year!
ALVA PATHWAYS — CAREERS FAIR
We hosted a Future Pathways Careers Fair here at Alva Academy. The event saw repre-
sentatives from over 30 business—local, national and multinational come in to speak to
our S3-S6 pupils. The event was a huge success with many of our S4 pupils securing
some work experience on the day and all pupils benefitted from gathering information
about the opportunities available to them beyond Alva Academy.
The full event was organised by the Future Pathways DYW Team—all contact with busi-
nesses was made from the pupils and we received great feedback about this!
Thank you to all who were involved and made the day a great success!
S4 STUDY LEAVE PROGRAMME
This year saw a fantastic programme for all S4 pu-
pils who were not taking full study leave.
We had a huge range of activities planned in order
to help them develop their Core Employability
Skills and gain qualifications where possible. Each
department hosted and activity and we had many
local businesses involved to bring the programme
to life.
S4 Study Leave Programme — Pupil Feedback
I really enjoyed the Driving
part of the programme—I
loved driving the car and I
think I will be more prepared
for lessons next year now!
Anonymous, S4 2016/2017
THANKS
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all the
staff and business representatives who helped with
the programme and made it such a success!
PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS
Cycle and Bike
Maintenance
Police Terrorist
Threat Project
First Aid
Certificate
SQA Driving
Award
Blairdrummond
Safari Park
Employability
Award
Ski Lessons
John Muir
Award
Low Level Leader
Training
Sporting
Activities Awards Ceremony
FORTH VALLEY COLLEGE
Our links with Forth Valley College continue to strengthen. Session 2016 17 saw the introduc-tion of the CJET programme for pupils in S4. The CJET programme is a school / college / local business partnership initiative. Each week throughout the session it involved pupils spending two days in college working on vocational and life skill activities, two days in school working on SQA qualifications, and 1 day in the workplace gaining vital work skills through involvement in the extended work experience programme. Subjects taught in the college included hair and beauty, childcare, construction, engineering to name a few, but also included the development of other vital skills for the pupils such as CV writing, Application form writing, and interview tech-niques. All pupils involved have gained a positive destination for next year, either through offers of full-time work, unconditional offers at college, or in the case of one pupil, returning to school for S5. In addition to this course we had four pupils on the ACE course at the college too - this is a full-time course for pupils in S4. The majority of pupils on this course gained 5 SQA qualifications, work experience, and developed many other interpersonal skills, allowing them to successfully continue on at college or enter the world of work. This session we will continue to send pupils to these two courses and also to the skills for work
courses two days per week. In addition we expect to have some pupils working towards an HND
at college next year whilst also working towards Higher level exams at school.
NEW OPPORTUNITIES — HAIRDRESSING
With the support of one of our local busi-
nesses, S3 pupils were given the opportunity
to gain knowledge and experience of the
role of a hairdresser. This was carried out in
one of the vocational hairdressing rooms,
specifically designed for this purpose, within
the school. Following a short taster session,
a number of pupils then carried on working
with the hairdresser for two periods per
week throughout the remainder of the ses-
sion. It is hoped that a similar opportunity
will be available for selected pupils in S3 in
session 2017/18 and this will be an accredit-
ed course designed to help them access to
the hair and beauty industry.
A big thank you to Hazel Waine for giving up
her valuable time for this great project! And
continuing to offer her support for the com-
ing year!
NEW OPPORTUNITIES — S3 VOCATIONAL CURRICULUM
This year sees the development of the first S3 Vocational Curriculum at Alva Academy—the
Rationale behind creating this alternative curriculum is as follows:
To create a curriculum designed to meet the needs of individual pupils at Alva Academy
To reduce class sizes to allow greater support for pupils who require it
To ensure pupils gain a wide variety of skills / qualifications
To provide a timetable which allows Learning Assistants to support pupils in as many classes as possible
To provide a two-year curriculum with clear routes for progression
The pupils will be completing a wide variety of courses and gaining qualifications including:
RMPS
Police Terrorist
English
Lifeskills Maths
Personal
Development
Administration
Science
Social Subjects
Enterprise
Employability
Physical
Education
Personal
Achievement
SDS CAREERS SERVICE
Chris Thom is based right here within Alva Academy to give you the careers support you need throughout your time with us.
Through a combination of group sessions, one-to-one interviews and drop in clinics, Chris will help you understand how your personality, interests and values are key to making the right career decisions. They can also help you understand how to develop and use your tal-ents and skills, explore where they could take you, and identify who can help you along on your career journey. By way of establishing, developing and understanding these Career Management Skills, will help you plan for and manage your career and future!
To find out more about the support on offer please contact Chris in the school library or at chris.thom@sds.co.uk
You can also visit SDS Forth Valley Facebook for further information on local training and job opportunities, job search hints and tips, or to contact your local centre. Alternatively you can call the Alloa Centre careers team on 01259 215 214 to speak with an adviser.
IN THE NEWS
Check out what school leaver Ben Craw-
ford had to say about the careers ser-
vice at www.thescottishsun.co.uk
Science
CAREER READY 2017-2019
We are very excited to announce that we have our first Cohort of Pupils from Alva Academy accepted on to the Career Ready Programme for 2017-2019.
Career Ready is a UK wide charity linking employers with schools and colleges to open up the world of work to young people. Career ready gives pupils the confidence, skills and networks to achieve their potential. Through volunteer-ing for Career Ready employers get a rewarding opportunity to develop their own presenting, coaching and mentoring skills, and find the next generation of talented employees.
Career Ready is a 2 year programme for pupils in their 5th and 6th year here at Alva. The pro-gramme includes:
6 Masterclasses which focus on developing the skills required for the World of Work alongside opening up opportunities for networking with pupils from other schools and employers.
A designated Business Mentor who participants will meet with every 4-6weeks to help them in their journey throughout their final years at school an on towards an positive destination.
A 4-week paid internship within the business of their Mentor at the start of the Summer.
Student Selection is now complete for this session and we are please to wel-come our 5 pupils for this session!
The first Masterclass took place at Diageo, Menstrie in September and pupils are now looking forward to meeting their Business Mentors at the Launch Event in October!
ALVA ACADEMY SUCCESS STORIES…
My name is Joe Marriott, and I left Alva Academy in 2012. I am
currently living in Thailand and employed as a full time King
Cobra Tracker. My job involves going out three times every
day to track individual King Cobras and map their distribution
and movement patterns. I regularly visit Thai schools and talk
about our work to promote conservation and our project.
I acquired this position after leaving Alva Academy on comple-
tion of my 6th year in 2012. I moved to Aberdeen later that
year to study Zoology for four years, graduating in June 2016; I
secured my position in Thailand in September 2016 and moved
out here in February 2017. I will be out here for six months.
During my time studying at university, I was given many oppor-
tunities to participate in conservation projects around the
world, including studying butterflies in Barcelona, and wild
dogs and rhinos in South Africa!
Joe Marriott
Ryan Douglas
I left school mid-way through S6 (as Head Boy) and worked as a Business Support Apprentice for Clacks Coun-cil. Basically doing admin work for various teams at Council HQ. I did that for two years before moving within the Council to the Democracy Team where I helped organise elections (including the Referendum) and oversaw Freedom of Information and Data Protection requests.
From there, I joined the Ambulance Service in 2015 as their Patient Experience Coordinator at National HQ in Edin-burgh. I handled complaints, claims, DPA and FOI work-loads for SAS which subsequently led me to the job as a Student Technician I hold today. School gave me the quali-fications to get the apprenticeship.
The apprenticeship gave me experience and work-based qualifications which got me a job with the Ambulance Ser-vice.
THE TERM AHEAD. . .
The DYW Pupil
Team are continuing
to work on the
schools Corporate
Image and Skills
Framework.
S6 Employability
Mock Interviews
will be held in
December
All S3 Pupils will be
participating in the
ESH—Building my
Skills Project this
year!
CTSI will be hosting a
variety of volunteer-
ing sessions with S6 in
October.
SDS Quick Queries
Have a career
question? Available
in the Library every
Mon and Wed
3.10pm-4.30pm
UCAS/College
Application Support
October 2017
Weekly update of local
opportunities Stored in
Public Share
Employability Courses
Continue in S6 and
with all S4/5 Leavers
Skills Scotland Careers
Fair
29th November 2017
BUSINESS LINKS
Career Ready Launch
Event
4th October 2017
We are excited to be continuing to work with our business partners throughout the
school year offering many opportunities from presentations and activities to mock
interviews and workplace visits. This year we are developing a strong link with
Omega Diagnostics who are helping us with a variety of initiatives—starting with
our pupil group who will be going along to have a look at their
corporate image!
A huge thank you to all our Business links for their continuing
support!
S4 Work Experience
November 2017
top related