Recruiters are now using Assessment Centres more than ever before, with traditional interviews being just a small part of the interview process. In order to prepare our students for apprenticeship and graduate job applications, representatives from the Civil Service visited the school to run mock assessment centres.

Our Year 12 students received essential advice on how to succeed, with everything from making a good first impression, to being aware of their body language, through to how to work effectively in a team and communicate ideas professionally.

Students were given two tasks, both used by big apprenticeship employers in their recruitments practises. Each group received detailed feedback on what went well in Task 1 and students were then able to reflect on this and improve in Task 2.

Every student pushed themselves out of their comfort zone, developed transferable skills and said they felt more confident approaching an assessment centre in future.

Barr Beacon School was lucky enough to have a return visit from Randip Bahra, a Chartered Surveyor and Fellow with RICS. A new cohort of students learnt all about the different opportunities in surveying and stepped into the shoes of a Quantity Surveyor and Planning Surveyor, working out the profit margins for a housing project and devising environmental solutions to make their project more sustainable. Students were interested to not only learn about the attractive salaries on offer within these professions, but also to discover the wider reach of housing projects in supporting local communities.

Pupils in Year 10 were visited by representatives from Oxford and Cambridge University to discover more about what studying at a top university would be like. Our speakers explained the differences between their universities, the community feel gained from the college system and the many wide ranging courses on offer. The key message was to always try applying if you are interested, as you never know where it could lead.

Year 12 Students and Year 10 pupils had the invaluable opportunity to attend free first aid training with St John Ambulance. Pupils learnt how to deal with several life threatening situations, including responding to a catastrophic bleed, performing CPR on an a patient who isn’t breathing and placing unresponsive patients in the recovery position.  

The session also raised awareness of the risks of vape spiking and knife crime.

Our Year 12 Students were visited by the team at Ask Apprenticeships to gain advice on pursuing apprenticeships after Sixth Form. Students learnt about the key places to find vacancies and were given top tips for succeeding.

Barr Beacon School was once again lucky to be visited by WPR agency. Our Year 12 students had the chance to learn about a new career that they never knew existed, discovering how a career PR links to their current studies and the creative opportunities within the field. After learning about the career from two professionals in the industry, students then had the chance to create and pitch their own PR campaigns for a new bug restaurant in Birmingham. Our visitors praised the innovative ideas of our students and said that some of their ideas could easily be used by their firm on real projects.  

As part of National Apprenticeship Week, Year 11-13 students attended a webinar from BMW with lots of advice on how to submit a successful application. Competition for apprenticeship is fierce, especially at the bigger firms, and the well-attended session at Barr Beacon alone shows just how much interest there is in the apprenticeship route.

Our aspiring medics and dentists in Year 12 attended the 3^rd annual In2Med School Hackathon. They presented a healthcare initiative to doctors at University of Birmingham, following 6 weeks of careful preparation and research. Our team ‘Healthy Horizons’ won Runner Up for their detailed research and innovate ideas on how to tackle diabetes in the local community. Our second team ‘The Plaques’ focused on the affects of vaping on dental health and certainly won the audience vote with their engaging performance. Both teams put a huge amount of effort into their projects and we are extremely proud of their achievements.

Year 12 students have enjoyed two engaging assemblies from Aberystwyth University this term. Each assembly had a twist to make it more fun. First students discovered how to choose the right university and course though a music quiz. Then students learnt how to make the most of open days, with the addition of a few guessing games. All of this was carefully designed to encourage students to start thinking about their next steps early, so they are fully prepared to make a competitive application next autumn. Our students enjoyed the interactive nature of the assemblies, making the information accessible and enjoyable to learn. Moving into next year, we will be focusing on apprenticeships, and students will begin preparing their applications next summer.

Students can access a useful Open Day Calendar here.