STAFF and students at Thomas Keble School are celebrating their recent accreditation as a Careers Mark School, the first school in Gloucestershire to achieve the accolade.

The accreditation came on top of the recent OFSTED report in November 2014 which described Careers provision at Thomas Keble as ‘outstanding’.

The events of Careers’ Week, which took place between March 2 and March 6 showcased much of the work that has led to the plaudits being given.

During the week a range of activities were organised for students of all ages.

Year 7 students took part in a Q&A session with 15 parents who volunteered to be quizzed on their jobs which ranged from professional photographer to stained glass artist.

Mrs Vicky Burnside who organised the Year 7 session said: “Our Year 7 pupils have been concentrating on Careers work in tutor sessions since returning after the Christmas holiday. The final session was to invite a visitor in to school to talk about their career coinciding with National Careers week. Year 7 decided that if we were inviting one guest in, we should push the boat out and invite more! 15 of our parents volunteered to visit and the pupils prepared questions to ask them to guess their career. The aim of the session was to raise awareness with our youngest pupils that it is never too young to start thinking about the future and there are a wealth of careers to choose from."

Students in Year 11 were given the opportunity to speak with a range of employers during their lunch breaks to find out more about career opportunities and qualification routes.

Representatives from the legal profession, construction, engineering and the police were amongst those represented.

One Year 11 student said the lunch break drops-ins were superb as they gave her a chance to really talk to the professional from her intended career pathway.

“I want to be a lawyer so finding out about the best A Levels and what various routes I can take has been really great.”

To round off the week Year 9 students worked with a number of people who have made a career following their study of languages.

The students were able to discuss how languages have made a difference in opening up opportunities for a range of professionals from translators to retail sales managers whose products have recently expanded into the European market.

Joyce Rendell, Careers and Progression lead for Thomas Keble said “The Careers Week at TK has been highly successful with over 60 employers and parents working with the students giving advice and information about a range of career pathways.”

Julia Maunder, Headteacher echoed these thoughts: “Students of all ages have had the opportunity to think about their futures and how their time at school can be best used to support their own ambitions and aspirations. We are very grateful to the parents and local employers who have given their time to support this work.”