“It’s opened my eyes to a number of other options” was the view of one of the pupils at our informative Careers Fair.
41 businesses, colleges and universities attended the second running of this fantastic event where pupils from Years 8-11 had the chance to engage with companies and make informed decisions about their future.
Year 11 Sophia said: “I want to be a doctor so I have talked to a few people including East Lancashire Health Maternity.”
Afia is interested in radiology. “I like looking at X-Rays and I really enjoy physics.”
Martin Jenkins is an orthotist at East Lancashire Hospital Trust. He said: “There is a shortage of orthotists in the UK so we are looking to attract more. The pupils have asked us lots of questions.”
Sohail said: “I want to go into construction. I was thinking about going to college and doing a T-Level but after speaking to STORY I am hoping to go straight into an apprenticeship at a company.”
Hadyn Bradshaw, a Graduate Civil Engineer at STORY, said: “Last year we came to Pleckgate and a pupil emailed and came to us on work experience. The pupils have been receptive to us and asking questions.”
Bentley, based in Crewe, was extremely popular. Ben Hall, a Mechanical Engineering Placement Student at Bentley, said: “I am really passionate about Bentley. We have everything here from finance, to events, to HR, to engineering.
“Our mottos is ‘Creating the Extraordinary’ and we all buy into it. We have had a lot of interest from the pupils about what we can offer. I love talking about Bentley!”
Youth Action were offering courses for pupils. Development Officer Kim Tattersall said: “We offer courses for 8-16-year-olds in Blackburn. We came to Pleckgate as we have free courses on writing CVs, volunteering sessions and more.”
Shahina Ahmed is in her second year of coming to the Careers Fair. She is a hair and make-up artist and runs her own training company.
“Last year, some of the pupils came training with us and have gone on to have successful careers.”
Fellow pupil Rabiah said: “I want to go to Newman College so I have spoken to them. I want to do a BTEC in Social Care and see how this can get me to university.”
Amelia said: “I either want to go into dentistry or psychologist. I have some decisions to make. I want to go to Blackburn College to do either a BTEC in Sciences or A-Levels in Criminology and Psychology.”
KPMG meant Class of 2021 Muhammad Dilawar returned to Pleckgate.
“I haven’t been back since results day so it is a bit weird. It’s nice to see some familiar faces. I think I was in Year 11 when these present Year 11s were in Year 7 so a couple remember me! Pleckgate was great for me, I got the grades I needed here to go onto college and then to KPMG so it’s been a domino effect. I want to show pupils that you can achieve what you want.”
Aziz Mitha is another ex-pupil and staff member who returned for the Careers Fair. The Class of 2014 pupil came with Nybble, an IT company.
“I was here when it was the old school building and it changed to the new building in Year 10. I worked here in the IT Department as well until I moved to Nybble. There has been a lot of interest as there is a big interest in IT here.”
Community Rail Lancashire, which promotes careers in railways, got pupils to dress up which they enjoyed.
Year 11 Mariam got a lot out of the Careers Fair saying: “I want to study Law at either Blackburn College or Cardinal Newman so I have spoken to both colleges and I keep changing my mind about which one I want to go to!”
Blackburn College’s Student Recruitment Co-ordinator Elisha Cox said: “We do have a large intake from Pleckgate so I have been busy. There are a lot of pupils asking me questions and 90 per cent of them have already applied. They are just asking for more course information and the next stage for them now they have applied.”
Thank you to everyone who made our second Careers Fair such a big success.
