The Careers team helps to prepare your daughter for the
opportunities and responsibilities of adult life by offering them a
varied and challenging programme throughout their education. We aim
to encourage their self-development, facilitate career exploration
and so enable them to make the choices that will lead to fulfilling
working lives in the future.
The Team:
Mrs Beth Lowe, BA Manchester: Head of Department
Mrs Karen Bell: Careers Assistant
Mrs Chris Sutcliffe: Careers Assistant.
Our Resources
The Careers room, which is staffed by our two full-time careers
assistants, Mrs Bell and Mrs Sutcliffe, and shared with the Boys'
Division, contains an excellent bank of resources which can be
accessed by your daughter throughout the day. Here she can consult
prospectuses and a wide range of current publications as well as
making use of DVDs, the Internet and software packages such as
Kudos. Advice is available on numerous issues from education,
training and employment, to scholarships, sponsorships and
loans.
An Overview of our Programme
Year 7 Work Sampling: all girls spend a day in
the work place of a family member or friend so that they can begin
to become aware of the demands of different kinds of work.
This is what some of our Year 7 girls said about the experience:
"I learnt that, wherever you go to work you will always have a lot
of responsibilities but I had a great time"; "I learnt that the
working day is not just about physical work, but also about people
and working relationships"; "I was having so much fun I didn"t want
to go home!"
Year 8 Careers Day: in the post exam period,
Year 8 spend a whole day looking at four different career areas. A
short talk by a visiting speaker is then followed by a challenging
activity drawing on the skills needed for a particular type of
work. This year we were visited by a clothing designer, an
automotive engineer who works for Bentley Motors and an
astrophysicist from Durham University. Mrs Lowe and three prefects
also helped the girls to research five more career areas.
Here are some of the girls' reactions to the sessions. On
Clothing Design: "I liked using the different materials and learned
that designing can be stressful". Another girl added, "Today has
been unique - amazing fun - but I still don't know what I want to
do!"
Year 9: all girls use the Kudos programme to
encourage them to consider how their interests and skills might
lead them into a particular type of work and to research one career
area in more detail.
Year 10 Challenge Day: the whole year group is
taken off timetable and the girls learn how to make a 10-shot film
with "Young Film Academy". Designed to introduce them to this
creative industry, the day allows them to practise team-working
whilst exercising a variety of other skills and talents.
Year 11 Careers Interview: your daughter will
have a one-to-one interview to discuss the results of the Morrisby
test taken at the end of the year. Our aim is to provide the kind
of support that will encourage her to make an independent and
well-informed decision about her future.
Work Experience: all girls in Years 10 and 11
are given the opportunity to arrange a work experience placement
through the careers department to be carried out after GCSE exams
or in the school holidays.
Sixth Form
The girls in the Sixth Form enjoy an extensive programme
designed to help them:
- Develop a wide range of transferable skills in readiness for
the world of work
- Build a better awareness of the business world
- Develop interview skills
- Make sensible choices about Higher Education and /or a
career
- Prepare a strong application for Higher Education
The programme is delivered by outside speakers from the world of
work and Higher Education as well as our own experienced teaching
staff.
Biennial Careers and Higher Education
Convention: all girls from Year 9 upwards are invited to
attend this event which is held jointly with the Boys' Division in
the Autumn Term.
Where do students go after Bolton School? Learn
more about where students go when they leave the Girls' Division in
our Destination
of Leavers section.