EVEN though it’s early days, Everest Community Academy is trying to give Year 9 pupils a headstart in their future.  

On Tuesday, 2 April, 16 employers joined us for the day including  Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, Basingstoke ITEC, Cornerstone Sunrise Nursery, Gillette Management PLC and Taylor Wimpey, to talk to the Year 9 students about different apprenticeships and what most employers look for in an employee/apprentice and explained the process to apply for an apprenticeship.

All students got the opportunity to talk to as many company representatives as possible as Mrs Berte organised a carousel to help encourage the students to think about their future and inspire their choices.

To keep the conversations flowing and to get as much information as possible, they were given raffle tickets - each time they asked or answered a relevant  question, students would write their name on the ticket and at the end five tickets were pulled out of a bag and five students were awarded a prize.

The whole purpose of this process is to inspire students to look for apprenticeships, to give them more confidence and to make them realise that no matter what industry they choose there are many job roles and that they will not be restricted. For example, Cornerstone Sunrise Nursery is not just about childcare as there is advertising, finance, and recruitment, for example.

Hopefully this opportunity has broadened their horizons and they will take everything they have learnt into consideration.

By Courtney Little and Bethany Fletcher