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Careers Power Day 2023
Miss Day sent this report:
Careers Power Day celebrates the wide array of careers our students can aspire towards. The activities of the day are designed to reflect this, challenging them to think differently about familiar challenges and tasks.
Year 7 - Business Enterprise Day
Year 7 worked in small groups to create a product linked to the theme of ‘Alice In Wonderland’ the winning team from each form class will produce their product and sell it on and around the time of the School Production of ‘Alice In Wonderland’. Students had to assign themselves different job roles and complete the designated tasks under the job role which they had chosen.
Students were given a design brief and had to complete the following:
- A realistic product to market
- Be achievable to make in school/in a short space of time
- A product that required little investment
- Generate the most profit
The ideas were creative and original, and we are really excited to see Year 7 working on these projects over the next term. The winners in each form were:
7I Vicky, Verity, Nolwenn, Liyanna, Evie, Fahmida
7N Emanuela, Livvi, Jas, Sophia, Violet, Opeoluwa, Lily
7V Farhina, Diya, Lily, Sumayyah, Alice, Sophia, Evie, Matilda
7C Izzy, Asma, Megan, Emily, Megan, Amie, Tida, Ibilola
7T Ella, Chloe, Etinosa, Penny, Angel, Jessica, Hannah, Nevaeh
7A Toffy, Moyo, Nyamekye, Monica, Prekshaa, Chloe, Ava, Scarlett
7G Ibukun, Ellie, Lucie, Lily, Jem, Sophie, Alimah, Rose
7S Tilly, Elsa, Khyianne, Emily, Megan, Ife, Aliyah, Jenna
Year 8 – The Wedding Planner
Year 8 were given a tender to complete whereby they had to plan a wedding for a ‘Celebrity Couple’, the aim of the task was to promote their enterprise skills, through taking on the role of a ‘wedding planner’ they gained experience in understanding the factors involved in calculating the prices of goods and services, the tender aims to highlight the importance of fixed costs, raw materials, and wages, and introduced other factors such as transport and profit.
The winning group was called ‘Boda’ (wedding in Spanish) and was made up by Caelyn, Abby, Ella, Priya, Amber, and Isabella from 8G.
Year 9 – STEM Day
Year 9 students were excited to be a part of a ‘STEM’ day. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics in an educational context. STEM related learning is important in schools, as it provides an opportunity for students to learn about topics and disciplines that will serve them well in later life. Students were able to see the benefits of studying STEM, such as understanding critical thinking, building creativity to lead to innovations and developing problem solving skills. The skills learned during STEM study have real world application and can be useful in any field of work. This year we were able to welcome a variety of different groups of people into the school, who delivered sessions on the following topics:
- Hanoi Towers
- Maths Challenge
- Women in STEM
- Glowsticks
- Human Nutrition
- Fossil Skulls
- Pharmacy
- STARR
- Engineering
Students really enjoyed the day, particularly the ‘Fossil Skulls’ session and the ‘Glowsticks’ (as they got to make glowsticks), we hope that it gave students a taster of some areas that they might like to explore further and possible career aspirations for the future.
Year 10 – Creative Industries
Year 10 embarked on a ‘Creative Industries’ session, this involved students working in groups of eight to complete the following three challenges:
- Design Challenge
- Sustainability Challenge
- Games App Challenge
The students worked incredibly hard throughout the day and the work they produced was outstanding. It was a brilliant day that allowed students to explore an array of skills, challenge themselves and see what it might be like to work in a number of creative industries, there were strong links made to careers in Business, Marketing, Media, Art, Fashion, Textiles, Computer Science and Geography.
Winning Teams:
10A – Eliza, Alice, Libby, Iris, Zuzanna, Maisie and Fiona
10S- Connie, Maddie, Lucy, Issy, Leah, Emma, Megan, Sam
Mrs Rivers sent this report:
Year 11 were quite surprised at the start of their recent Careers Power Day when Mrs Rivers told them they would be having a twenty minute mock interview with a visiting employer during the day. We were extremely fortunate to secure the commitment of 32 guests from local and national employers who kindly agreed to give up their time to offer our students the opportunity of a practice interview. Visitors included representatives from BAE Systems, the local NHS Trust, BAM Construction, Bell Equine, On Wave, the Hazlitt Theatre and members of the Rotary Club to name but a few. A number of guests included former Invicta students which is always a joy for us seeing our students come back to school as successful employees. Once Year 11 recovered from their initial shock they spent time during period one preparing for interview including how to shake hands, maintain eye contact, consider body language and learnt how to make their skills shine using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) in their discussions with the employers. The feedback from both the employers and Year 11 was fantastic and all the students received written feedback on their experience to help them to develop their interview skills longer term. A highly successful day and we are very grateful to all our visiting employers for their time.
Year 12, meantime, were learning all about their Options 18+ as they start on the pathway of making plans to leave Invicta at the end of A level. Their day started with a session from Mrs Rivers, Careers Adviser, covering all their options, application procedures and deadlines. Students then attended a rotation of workshops delivered by visiting speakers from a range of organisations. Guests included representatives from ASK (Apprenticeship, Skills and Knowledge) where students learned more about higher level apprenticeships and interview skills. Higher level apprenticeships are fast becoming a very popular option for students. Our guest from Portsmouth University told students all about the higher education option and Raleigh International speakers introduced students to the idea of a gap year and travelling the world! Year 12 are now fully informed in order to start on researching and developing their own plans for the future and we look forward to supporting them with their personal journeys throughout.
