As part of our drive to ensure all of our young people get quality advice to make informed decisions on the skills needed for a successful career, The Lower Academy recently hosted Saturday morning Taste Your Future sessions. Our students engaged in a variety of different careers sessions based around their long-term goals. 

Our aim is to raise our young peoples' aspirations, giving them skills and knowledge for a successful transition into adult life. We want our students to be successful, and for that, they need to fully understand the opportunities available to them and to further understand the requirements for employment.  

Z.Spencer ran career guidance sessions using our online careers platform Unifrog, to steer students to reflect on their own strengths and what careers may suit their motivations and interests. M.Ogden ran Personal Training sessions for students to understand routes into this career; students had the opportunity to use gym equipment and received some practical training. L.King ran Hairdressing sessions where students learned how to use styling equipment, practice on models and discuss all avenues into apprenticeships. We held three cooking sessions - one with C.Penkalla making the famous 'Pain Perdu', R.Joseph made a Jerk Chicken feast and Chef Stav created a 'fakeaway' of Chinese Salt & Pepper Chicken. There were also one-off sessions including Make-Up Artistry and Music, ensuring a diverse range to engage all of our students.

The engagement from our students has been fantastic to see; they arrived full of enthusiasm to immerse themselves in their chosen session. It was amazing to see our students reflect on their individual strengths, capabilities and interests and, discuss careers that suit their aptitude and abilities. We will continue to foster academic enthusiasm to ensure our students make informed decisions during the upcoming options selection process in March.

“Taking part in the Taste Your Future sessions allowed me to understand how I can use my skills to reach the careers that I want. The career guidance that the sessions have provided have been incredibly useful and showed us multiple routes available to achieve our goals.” Annie.R

“I found it very useful because I learned about a variety of careers and qualifications.” Regan.C

“I really recommend the Personal Training session; it was a lot of fun. The people there were really nice.” Jake-James.N