Posted 26 February 2020

On Tuesday the 11^th February Elliott Hudson College hosted its annual Destinations Day event for all Year 12 students – and this year the event was bigger and better than ever!

Destinations Day includes a careers fair set across two spaces in college, with over 40 stalls staffed by representatives from apprenticeship and higher education providers from across the UK. It was great to welcome back some college alumni to speak to our students in the exhibition fair, including one who is now a Clinical Support Worker, another who is now a Law Apprentice working towards becoming a solicitor and three who are studying at various universities across the region and beyond! It was brilliant to see our Year 12 students engaging and networking with professionals at the fair, asking lots of questions and collecting lots of useful information about the options available to them in the future. Elliott Hudson students really made the most of the unique opportunity of having these practitioners in front of them, and their enthusiasm was commented on by visitors.

As well as exploring the careers fair, each student attended a Unifrog session where they had time with a tutor to use the online careers platform to research their post-18 plans and evidence their skills. Every student also got to choose 2 talks to attend from a range of 40! These talks covered a range of topics; from subject specific masterclasses such as “Becoming a Professional Accountant”, “Careers in the Music Business” and “Psychology Careers”, to more broad sessions providing advice & guidance on post-18 options such as “Doing a Degree at a University Centre”, “Can I get a degree without going to uni?”, “Writing an Outstanding Personal Statement” and “Apprenticeships: The Leeds Job Market”. These talks gave students the chance to hear from industry professionals in more depth to gain a more detailed insight into their options for after college, whether university, employment or an apprenticeship, as well as advice as to what might be the best option for them.

Student feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with students commenting on how useful the talks were and how much they gained from speaking with the wide range of exhibitors. “I feel like it really helped me to firm what I want to do,” said one student. “This was the best event!”

Overall it was a fantastic day and we really hope it has helped our Year 12s to think more about their future and move towards making those all-important informed decisions about their next steps!

 

Hannah Fraser, Higher Education Progression Officer at Elliott Hudson College