Across our curriculum from year 7 onwards we value the development of soft skills, and this is a core foundation of each subject’s building of curriculum. Subjects will draw these out as part of their lesson plans and encourage students to reflect on their progress in areas such as collaboration, research, oracy, and organisation. These sorts of skills are then able to be linked to career paths and students can use this to aid their personal target setting. In addition our Head of Careers works with each faculty to give insights into the latest developments in the working world and support the curriculum references to careers and soft skills.
All our year 11 students are allocated a senior member of staff who meets regularly with them (and their parents) to discuss sixth-form pathways and aspirations beyond school to help guide them in their decisions.
Mount House emphases the role of volunteering and thinking of others. Our students are all encouraged to volunteer inside school or in the wider community. This includes some outreach with local primary schools. In particular this is a requirement of the IB Career-Related Programme in sixth form. The benefits of Service Learning are huge and especially allow students to develop and reflect on both soft skills and seeing communities through different lenses. This is all overseen by our Head of Service Learning.
This week saw our students engage with the world of careers. During this Careers Week, students were introduced first hand to the practical world beyond the classroom. Throughout the week, students took part in lessons that featured a variety of activities designed to introduce them to different career fields. They saw how their current learning opens doors to different careers, participated in engaging discussions, and learnt about the skills and qualifications needed for different professions within each faculty.
These lessons were tailored to help students understand how their subjects such as maths, science, art, Latin, and history can lead to potential careers in fields like engineering, healthcare, technology, legal, or the creative industries. Many subject faculties set homework tasks students that encouraged students to dive deeper into their career exploration by researching specific jobs, creating posters, or highlighting key skills for careers. Some were assigned projects where they had to create presentations or career pathways, which allowed them to reflect on their strengths, interests, and aspirations in their learning. Shout out to Miss Bailey who created an extremely engaging Latin task for year 8s, where they learnt the etymology of Latin terms in the medical and legal fields!
Our sixth-form students continued to focus on their post-18 options, for example on key employability skills and using their A Level options to inform university/apprenticeship choices. Mr Crosby gave an inspirational assembly to our year 11s reinforcing the importance of GCSE grades and how they inform career options. Careers Week has not only provided practical knowledge to our students but has also inspired many students to start considering which career paths align with their passions and interests, and sparked an interest in seeing how their learning is relatable to the outside world.