U4's World of Work Day

Skills, Decisions & Networking

The World of Work day took place on Thursday 5 December 2024 and was an amazing experience for our U4 students with 83% agreeing or strongly agreeing that they enjoyed taking part.

The event centred on the importance of developing Career Management Skills to enable students to have positive and meaningful careers in the future. The World of Work day primarily focused on ‘Know yourself’ and ‘Explore Options’. Details of the activities we did are detailed below.

The day was designed to introduce students to the importance of understanding and reflecting on their skills and strengths, identifying and thinking about what is important to them and their future, and all the considerations that go into making an informed decision.

Skills and Strengths

We discussed the difference between skills and strengths, we thought of examples and evidence of where we use them in and outside of school, and we talked about the importance of self-reflection to help inform career choices for the future.

This highlighted to students that skills are developed in every part of their lives from academic lessons to cooking meals for family and friends. 74% of students now have a better understanding of their skills and strengths.

What is important

To make an informed choice about the future, U4 were asked to consider what was important to them. Do they need to be challenged? Do they need to be respected and listened to? Do they want to make a difference or to work with people?

Students were asked to choose nine things that were important to them and rank them from most to least important. They had the opportunity to reflect on what it is they want from their future which will help them to focus and make the right informed choice. 89% reported having a better understanding of what is important to them.

Decision making

There are many considerations when making decisions, such as the effect of external influences, opinions of parents, siblings, teachers and friends, the information we need to collect to help inform our decisions, and what we need as individuals to make us happy, content, and ready for the future.

The Decision-making Triangle activity helped students to visualise their decisions and articulate everything they need to consider before they make their choices. 85% of students said they now have a better understanding of how to make important decisions.

Students had the opportunity to hear from some current GCSE and Sixth Form students to learn more about life in Middle school and during A levels. Mrs McGrenary and Mrs Jones were on hand to answer the many questions U4 had which helped them to gain a deeper understanding of their journey ahead.

The day culminated with a speed networking event supported by twelve volunteers made up from a mix of alumnae, Queen Anne’s parents, and external guests.

Students used their newfound networking skills and engaged with each guest to learn more about their careers and day to day work. Careers included Cyber security, Marketing, Computer science, Defence, Nuclear, Technology, Engineering, Finance, and Business.

85% of students agreed that meeting and engaging with our wonderful guest speakers raised their awareness of different careers.

Mrs Odell’s parting advice to U4 was, “you can only be what you see, so see as much as possible.

#QASCareers #QASU4 #QASUpper4 #QASFierceMinds