This year, we have created a new group of Year 12 students who are already aspiring towards a career in the NHS (or a degree in the first instance). This does not include the Year 12 Medics group that we also run separately.
Students have been targeted via the new Enrichment Coordinator. At Freshers Fair time, shortly after enrolment, students were asked to specify an interest in one of a number of different enrichment activities, including our new NHS aspiring group. These sessions are timetabled weekly on a Wednesday 3-4pm. Attendance is compulsory and registers taken.
One of the Health and Social Care tutors delivers this session and has worked closely with Careers to come up with a programme of useful activities and speakers, to develop student knowledge of careers and the skills needed to succeed.
Currently there is a regular group of 15 Year 12 students attending weekly. These are mainly from health and social care groups but also include some science / STEM focussed students too.
So far, there have been two speakers into the sessions. The first was a Mental Health and Learning Disabilities Nurse, the second an Educational Needs teacher. There are also four more planned for after Christmas, including a midwife, therapeutic radiographers and a podiatrist, all from South Tees.
A further activity that has been undertaken was a skills analysis for the specific NHS role the student is aiming for, using various websites. Students were also encouraged as part of the activity to identify where their knowledge ‘gaps’ were and an action plan as to what they can do to ‘plug’ these.
Gatsby Benchmarks
Benchmark 2 – Access to quality information about study options and labour market opportunities
Benchmark 5 – Encounters with employers that result in a better understanding of roles
Impact
“The NHS enrichment sessions have helped me to learn more about roles I wouldn’t have ever known about otherwise”
“This enrichment has given me the opportunity to understand the roles and responsibilities of a variety of different health professions. From this I have found out about many things I never knew before even from the profession I would love to achieve myself.”
