On Tuesday 15 November, our Year 11 pupils embarked on a morning trip to Ascot Racecourse to attend the National School and College Leaver Show. The exhibition promotes all post-school and post-college opportunities to Year 11, 12 and 13 pupils, from a variety of employers as well as further and higher education providers.
The following is a write-up of the trip by Head of Careers, Mrs Rapple Moore:
"The National School and College Leaver Show at Ascot Racecourse is a great careers event as rather than focusing purely on universities, it includes a lot of companies, from local businesses to big multi-national corporations.
Exhibitors at the show this year included the Army, the Police, American Express, Bank of England, British Airways, the Atomic Weapons Establishment, Cadent Gas, Corinthia London, Lanes Group, Legoland Windsor, Merlin Entertainments, Nuffield Health, PGL Travel, Red Bull, Sodexo, Unilever and Virgin Active.
It's really important for pupils to be able to chat to representatives from companies and find out more about the opportunities on offer, both as apprenticeships and as jobs. There were also a range of universities in attendance, from Brunel, Brighton and Nottingham Trent to Cardiff, Reading, Royal Holloway and the University of Law. A popular stand was 'Not Going to Uni', a company that showcases the alternative routes to the standard university path, working with apprenticeship, enterprise and training providers.
Our pupils were very positive about the experience, saying that they had an enjoyable and informative morning and that the trip was extremely worthwhile. Many of them emerged clutching leaflets and pamphlets about different opportunities and employers, as well as freebies from coffee cups to pens to notepads."
Talking after the trip, Mrs Rapple Moore said “I was delighted to be able to take Year 11 to this excellent Careers Fair as this is the first time since COVID that such events have taken place in person. It makes a real difference to pupils to be able to talk to real people from real companies and find out more about all the opportunities on offer to them when they leave Shiplake."
