Careers NewsletterSpring Term Careers Update

Welcome to the Spring edition of the Newark Academy Careers Newsletter! I hope that all of our wonderful students and their families have had a fantastic Christmas and are ready for 2024.

This term, we have lots of exciting opportunities based around careers and aspirations for all students to access, year 7 through to year 13. 

If you would like to find out more, or get involved in our careers programme, please contact me to have a chat - abrown@newarkacademy.co.uk

- National Apprenticeship Week - WC 29th Jan

- National Careers Week - WC 4th March

- Career Spotlight - Sport Psychologist Dr Phil Harrison 29th January (tickets available from reception)

- Full crew on Further Education / Higher Education for all year groups

- Year 10 targeted trip to Newark College

- Year 9 - Options programme

- KS5 lunchtime career clinic - each Wednesday with visiting colleges and training providers

- Year 11 - support with post16 destinations

- Year 10 work experience WC 18th March

- Year 12 work experience launch

- Year 13 - managing 'change' and exam stress session

 

During the Winter term, Newark Academy welcomed over 20 local employers, colleges, training providers and universities to attend our annual careers fair. All students were invited to drop in, to meet the exhibitors and find out more various pathways and careers, in the hope that when the time comes for them to make key decisions, they are more equipped. We received some great feedback from students, exhibitors and staff. If you’d like to find out more or maybe offer some feedback, please get in touch – abrown@newarkacademy.co.uk

In addition, all year 11 students attended the Newark and Sherwood District Council Future First Career Expo. This is also an annual event, which is full funded by NSDC, providing another opportunity in their crucial transition year, to find out information that will support them with their futures. It was great to see so may students having meaningful encounters will local stakeholders and come away with lots of ideas, information and of course, 1 or 2 freebies too!

Our 2nd WOW (World of Work) week was focused on STEM, with Mr Thomas delivering a fantastic assembly to our students, looking at the future of the STEM industry and jobs of the future. We hope that this has encouraged our students to consider the world of STEM as a future pathway, with 11 million additional graduates being required to fill jobs by 2035. There is a huge skills gap in STEM industries, particularly for women. During crew time, students were also given the opportunity to celebrate women in STEM, challenging stereotypes and looking at the amazing advancements that have been driven by these inspiring individuals.

 

Each year we aim to take our year 12 students to visit various universities across the UK. Having a great relationship with the University of Lincoln and their numerous awards for gold standard teaching, cost of living and student’s choice university, they are always on our list to visit! Our students had a tour of the campus, in addition to receiving a talk on student life and revision skills, we hope that they have come away with a real taste for life at university.

This year, we are celebrating National Apprenticeship Week slightly early, due to having such a packed calendar of activities in the crew programme.

Students will be finding out about apprenticeships at different levels, from industry expects, such as ASK Apprenticeships and Lincoln College. All students from year 7 will be taking part, as the earlier they are receiving this information, the more informed they will be when they arrive at year 11 / 13. During this week, we will also be sending out information to parents / carers, to ensure you all have information that will allow you to support your son / daughter in the right way, when the time comes.

When and what level?

There are different levels of Apprenticeships available, each with their own entry requirements, course length and average salary.

It might be better to get some Level 3 qualifications before starting an Apprenticeship because you will be eligible for an Advanced or Higher Apprenticeship and earn more money.

If your Level 3 grades are good enough, you may be able to apply for a Degree Apprenticeship, which means an even higher salary, studying at university without paying tuition fees and still ending up with a degree.

Monday 18th Jan was a super exciting day! Royal Navy Chefs delivering their interactive masterclass with Yr10 Hospitality and Catering students.

What an opportunity, the challenge was set high with students being placed into groups – “Ready Steady Cook” style within 90 mins to create Herby Chicken Kievs with Fondant Potatoes and Mini Pavlovas with Fresh Berries, Chantilly Cream and Coulis. The students rose to challenge and worked within their teams, delegating and negotiating responsibilities to complete beautifully presented and high skilled dishes.

The Naval personnel then delivered an inspiring presentation explaining the Royal Navy in more detail and the wealth of opportunities available for possible career choices.  It was an absolute pleasure to be honoured with their visit and hope that this link can be strengthened for future years.

We are excited to be working with Newark Academy again to offer an unforgettable summer experience for year 11 & year 12 students.  

Places on NCS are now LIVE!

The NCS programme is a government initiative, empowering young people with a once in a lifetime opportunity to do something meaningful, as well as a chance to develop skills and take on new challenges.

Places are on a first come first serve basis so you need to act quickly to ensure your young person will have their chance to choose from unforgettable experiences and have a range of dates available.

 

We've seen first hand what an amazing feeling of accomplishment and increased confidence NCS brings. Over 750,000 young people have already worked together to achieve fantastic results with NCS.

We look forward to coming into school very soon to give further information. In the meantime go to our website NCS to find out more and secure your place.

Year 11 students should be starting to think about making their applications now, if they haven’t already. They should all be aware of their options by now and if they haven’t yet received a 1:1 career meeting, they will have one very soon. They don’t need to wait for their 1:1, if they have any questions or need support, they can come and see me, Mrs Brown at the Career Clinic that takes place on a Wednesday lunchtime in the dining area.

A-levels at NA6 or another 6th form

Vocational course at College – different levels of study available, to suit varying GCSE results

T-levels (available at local colleges)

Apprenticeship

Traineeship

To find out more, please check out this video again Post16 video but equally, if parents or carers have any questions or would like any support in helping to navigate their child through this process, please get in touch.

For anyone looking for an apprenticeship, you need to be looking around March time. However, I would suggest looking at College courses, as a back-up options as the landscape for apprenticeships is ever-changing.  Newark & Lincoln College have an apprenticeships team that can move students on courses there, to apprenticeships if appropriate.

As a rough guide, the table below shows what GCSE qualifications are required for different levels of study. This can be used as a guide to inform what level course / apprenticeship students should be applying for, post16. Some 6th forms and colleges will have varying entry requirements; therefore, you should always clarify on their websites.

Some students select subjects based purely on what they enjoy, and these can be a mixture of academic, creative and vocational courses. This balance is often beneficial to students and ensures they have some variety in their timetable.

Students with clear career goals in mind should investigate which courses work well together and which subjects they need to study to access their chosen career or university course.

Ensure you select course combinations which are acceptable by universities/or particular apprenticeships/career. Some subjects such as Media Studies and Film Studies can be seen by some universities to work well together, however some universities may see them as being too similar and covering common ground.

Are you ready for the world of work? Apprenticeships :

•Vocational qualifications gained through placement/ job in industry

•Applied learning – theory links in with practical activity

•Portfolio of evidence and reflective accounts plus practical assessments

•Gaining real working experience while gaining a qualification

If you think you would suit an apprenticeship www.apprenticeships.org.uk

A levels:

•Academic – theory based, abstract and critical thought

•Learning about a subject through lessons, reading and research.

•Essays, exams and coursework

•For you if you’ve enjoyed learning and studying at school

•Gateway to higher education

BTEC or similar:

•Vocational and often linked to an industry

•Applied learning – theory links in with practical activity

•Coursework and practical assignment based – some exams

• Gateway also to higher education

T Levels:

T Levels are equivalent to 3 A levels, at level 3. T Levels offer students a mixture of classroom learning and ‘on-the-job’ experience during an industry placement of at least 315 hours (approximately 45 days). Click here for the latest updates on the new T-Level releases. Some level 2 T-levels are available.

Article written by Newark Academy Lead and Senior Ambassador Y12 - Harun Akyol & Sienna Brown

With 2023 finished comes new and exciting leadership opportunities at Newark Academy, with students from lower years being able to join in with creative decision making regarding our school and its ethos. Recently, our Lead and Senior Ambassadors (With the additional help of Emily!) have begun training our new Vice Ambassadors. With this training, younger students take on an opportunity to grow and expand their rational decision making and creative skills whilst taking a deep dive into the action of leadership and representation of our younger student's voices in the school. Through providing impactful training sessions, we hope to bolster the leadership programme and promote students to step out of their comfort zones! We’re extremely excited to see what 2024 holds for everyone at Newark Academy and cannot wait to see our students’ reaction to what is yet to come...  

 

My name is Emily, and a lot of you may remember me as being Head Student last year. My journey in NA6 has been challenging, but it is definitely a journey I will always remember and look back on fondly. NA6 was always what I wanted to do, it was my only post-16 option that I made in Year 11 and I was determined to secure a place at NA6; it meant I would be able to stay in the school I had been in for years and I would be able to stay in contact with my favourite teachers for support. When I first joined NA6, I thought I wanted to become a lawyer, however I always had the idea of teaching primary in the back of my mind and I ended up solidifying my future career aspiration as becoming a primary teacher, following my work experience in X12. Once I’d managed to solidify this decision, I was able to begin my UCAS Application. At first, UCAS seems really scary and personal statements can appear very daunting: my best advice would be to spend a lot of time on ‘Unifrog’ as this really helped me with my application, and also take your application in small steps – your personal statement will never be done on your first go! A big challenge I came across with my application was due to my choice of course: because I want to become a teacher, I was required to interview for each of my university choices which was really scary at first, as I didn’t know anyone else who had interviewed for a university yet and I’d struggled to find advice online, however Mrs Brown was a massive help by reassuring me and putting together a ‘mock interview’ for me so that I could have a practise – my interviews ended up going really well and I wasn’t nervous at all going into them because of the preparation I had done with Mrs Brown and I was accepted into all 5 of my university choices! I was determined to get my application submitted and my interviews done before Christmas, so that I could make sure my attention after Christmas was focused solely on exam preparation, as I find that I work better when I am not distracted by other commitments/responsibilities. Although it is very scary that my exams are coming up very soon, I am proud to say that I am not too stressed about catching up with revision as I revised throughout X12. To any student that is in X12 now or if you're planning to go to NA6, my biggest advice to you is to constantly revise – little bits of revision add up to big bits, the earlier you revise, the less you have to cram before the real exams and you’ll be much less stressed.

Hi! I’m Ellie and I’m a past student at the Newark Academy, completing both my GCSE’s and A-Levels there. I studied Health and Social Care, Business and Psychology during my time in sixth form and I'm so appreciative of my teachers who guided and taught me through the two years that I was learning there. Not only did I receive excellent teaching from the staff but the careers advice that was given helped massively   when trying to reach a decision about the future, in relation to our careers. When you’re in sixth form or college it can be hard to think about what your next steps are, but one of the best things that you can do is openly welcome all the information that is given and speak to the careers team to ask questions and get the advice that’s relevant to you. After completing the UCAS process and getting the grades needed for my top university and desired course, I moved to Lincoln to start my next academic journey. I’m in my second year of university at the moment, studying Health and Social Care which covers a range of topics such as mental health, anatomy of the human body, communities and therapies. It’s a super exciting time joining university, but it can also be daunting to begin with, with various decisions that would need to be made such as deciding where to study, if you’ll commute, what accommodation you may want to live in etc. However, using the universities services these can easily be decided. Although just because I chose the university route doesn’t mean it’s for everyone, there are many different avenues that can be completed post sixth form or college. But weighing these out and establishing what suits you, what skills you have and the learning environment that’s best for you is important. Whatever you choose to do when you leave Newark Academy enjoy it and take all the opportunities that you can to improve your skills set and experience!

Labour market information can support you with decision-making. Labour market information provides crucial detail that can and should influence your future career choices. Through this, you can find out really useful data that can ensure your success and enable you to plan for your future. finding out more about labour market information and knowing where to find it, can support you finding a job that meets your needs and offers security.

• Labour market information details: 
• The jobs and skills employers are looking for 
• Which industries are hiring and where they are located 
• Where to find employers who are hiring 
• What working conditions are like for specific industries 
• What education and training you need for specific jobs 
• What factors can stop you from getting a job 
• Which job areas are growing in the future and other statistics 

Unifrog is a really useful website for finding out about labour market information. You can research different careers in the Careers Library Unifrog

Another great website is Prospects

Sticking with the theme of STEM, I wanted to share with you an article that was poublished in the Guardian.

Fears are mounting that AI could wipe out the livelihoods of millions of Britons after Elon Musk said that artificial intelligence will one day eradicate the need for jobs.

The owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, told Rishi Sunak at a summit this week that AI would be “the most disruptive force in the industry for jobs”, climbing that “there will come a point where no job is needed – you can have a job if you want to for personal satisfaction”.

The Prime Minister urged industry figureheads and politicians “not to be alarmist” about the rapid rise of AI, and denied the technology would be a threat to jobs. “I know this is an anxiety people have,” he said. “We should look at AI more as a co-pilot than something that is necessarily going to replace someone’s job.”

However, roughly half of British workers believe AI will impact their jobs in some way in the next five years, according to a study by PwC. Earlier this year, BT announced it would cut 55,000 jobs, and replace a fifth of its workers with AI.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs predicts AI could replace the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs globally in the coming years.

In the near future, customer service phone lines could be answered by a robot, while graphic designers, computer programmers, writers and teachers may well find their roles consumed, at least in part, by software. Some companies have married AI with hologram technology, replacing in-person customer service with digital avatars.

Specialist medical professionals ranked among the highest-paid roles best insulated from the march of technology, according to advertised salaries on Adzuna.

Average salaries for oncologists were £208,942 a year in June, compared to £194,510 last year – an increase of 7.4pc.

Orthodontists, paediatricians, surgeons, and midwives also scored highly, with advertised salaries ranging from £55,000 to £100,000.

However, the average pay for some roles has dipped year-on-year.

Pay across listed vacancies for orthodontists had dropped by 11.5pc, from £120,337 to £106,485, Adzuna said. Meanwhile, pay for midwives skyrocketed by 20.5pc – from £46,213 to £55,696 – in response to an exodus of midwives during the pandemic.

Jobs requiring subjective reasoning, including judges and politicians, were similarly deemed safe from the AI revolution.

MPs are paid £86,584 a year, and while judge vacancies are not advertised on jobsites, they can expect to earn salaries far in excess of £100,000. Adzuna listed 731 vacancies for chief executive positions in June, however, average pay had dropped by 4.6pc year-on-year – from £85,143 to £81,205.

Elsewhere, the jobsite said society would be reluctant to accept jobs involving “human stories or motivation”, such as influencers, life coaches, or personal trainers, being performed by AI. However, pay for the latter fell from £48,575 to £40,560 across more than 11,000 listed vacancies – a drop of 16.5pc.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, manual labour was also deemed safe from automation. Blue-collar jobs including surfacing, and tamping equipment operators (average salary £85,800), overhead line workers (£51,886) and brick masons (£50,345) dominated the list. Oil rig workers, crane drivers, and carpenters also ranked highly.

Even as companies embracing AI futures replace swathes of their workforce, the presence of the software is expected to generate jobs specifically geared around monitoring its use.

Prompt engineers, AI ethics officers, and AI auditors are expected to be common job roles in the near future, Adzuna said.

But the impact of AI has had a devastating effect on some workers in the tech industry.

Listed salaries for ethical hackers (who test companies’ online security), for example, are half of what they were last year. Across a similar number of vacancies advertised pay fell from £89,888 to £41,417.