Queen Margaret's takes a whole school approach to supporting every girl in their academic progression, course and potential career decision making. We believe in nurturing the personal development of each individual girl through an agenda involving staff, parents, wider networks and ICT resources to enable every girl to thrive.
The aim of Careers Education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) is to develop each pupil’s knowledge, understanding and experience of the opportunities in education, employment routes and the skills necessary to make informed decisions about their own future beyond school.
As girls progress through the school to Advanced Level study and university applications in the sixth form, the department works closely with girls and their tutors, to help individuals apply relevant knowledge, understanding and skills to their own particular circumstances especially for specific decision points when subject and career pathway choices have to be made.
Four career skills give a framework to the careers work within Queen Margaret’s’:
Personal careers development/self awareness: Developing ‘Myself’ in relation to others
Career understanding: Clarifying own and other peoples’ ideas about the changing nature and future of work
Wider career management skills (career exploration and investigating opportunities): Showing Initiative, using help and support, managing plans, managing decisions, using negotiation skills, using ‘Self Presentation’ skills, managing transitions
Employment Related: Investigating the World of Work, –using the world of work as a resource, environment and context for learning. Learning about work – using a specific context to increase pupils’ understanding of themselves, of the world of work and its contribution to the economy, aspects of learning for work – equipping pupils for working life through, for example, the development of transferable and career management skills.
In practice, we seek to deliver all strands of CEIAG at Queen Margaret’s through an integrated and appropriate mixture of timetabled lessons, small group work, individual tutorial guidance, out of school activities and events and involving outside agencies.
The CEIAG programme is delivered within the schools’ pastoral and personal development curriculum. In the senior school, tutorials and a range of some challenging and informative events focusing on higher education and career opportunities support the programme. Individual guidance is available throughout the school.
Six Years On...
Six OMs returned to QM in June to take part in a Careers Soiree. The evening consisted of the Lower VI girls moving around tables on which the six OMs sat learning about how they had gotten from QM to where they now were. The Lower VI were given invaluable advice on the specific careers the OMs had chosen to go into, namely, medicine, auditing, civil service, charities, childcare and management consultancy and more general advice on gap years, university entry and student living. Key messages taken from the evening included, don’t panic if you don’t know what it is you want to do, many people do not end up in careers related to their university degree subjects and take your time to research thoroughly courses that interest you. Current QM girls commented that the evening was really enjoyable and that it was very interesting to see what former pupils had gone on to do in life. Many thanks go to the six OM students for returning to the school and sharing their experiences with the Lower Vi.
Higher Education Conference 2011
Lower Sixth girls were invited by Ampleforth College to attend their Higher Education Conference on Friday 18th March. With guest speakers from universities including Cambridge, Oxford, Sheffield and Northumbria and speakers from Keeds College of Art and the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama, the day was packed with insightful and interesting material. Not limited to the option of going to an UK university the conference also had a representative from the University of Notre Dame who spoke about studying in the USA. An invaluable experience the day was packed with interesting seminars on topics as varied as 'Student life' and 'Broadening Your Horizons' to more specific such as 'Chemistry and Pharmacy' and 'Law at University.' Many thanks go to Ampleforth College for inviting QM to attend.
Year in Industry Talk
On Wednesday evening Mark Wood, who is the Head of Education, came to speak to inform us about a Year in Industry (a charity associated with organising paid work placements with 300 companies in the UK). It was an eye opening talk, aimed in particular at people interested in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering or maths).
We would like to thank Mrs Price very much for organising this talk.
ISCO GAP FAIR to be held at AMPLEFORTH COLLEGE Friday 15th October 2.15-4.15
Parents, friends and girls welcome!
Are you thinking about taking a gap break or planning your next career move? Are you uncertain as to what you can do or where to go? Are you wondering how much a gap break will cost or how to plan for it? If so, you won't want to miss out on attending one of ISCO’s Gap Fairs. ISCO’s Gap Fairs provide you with all the information you may need to help you plan your future before and after university. All details can be found on the ISCO website www.isco.org.uk
Entry free to Queen Margaret’s girls and their parents/guardians.
VENUE:
Visitor Enquiries: Please contact Emma Waite on 01276 687526
Friday 15th October is the Friday of our half term
when Queen Margaret’s will finish at 1.00
Camilla Riddell in Uganda
Camilla is spending her Gap Year volunteering with Africa Asia Venture (
http://www.aventure.co.uk/) in the East African Country Uganda. Working as an Assistant Teacher at Namalemba Primary School, Camilla is part of a group of volunteers who have been busy organising events such as poetry competitions, and football and netball tournaments. Camilla has settled well into African life and is enjoying getting stuck in to teaching.
Georgina Lambton in Senegal
Having completed my A levels in June 2008, I decided the time had come to do something interesting with my life. Having a gap year was the perfect opportunity, but what to do? And where on earth should I go? I had already decided to study French as part of my degree at University, so absent mindedly typed “Africa, French speaking” into Google. And up came all of this information about Senegal, and a gap year company called Projects Abroad……
My New Year started somewhere over the Sahara Desert, as in a moment of complete madness I had managed to book my flight to Senegal on New Years Eve. So at 00:05 on 1st January 2009, the Royale Air Maroc tannoy system came into action, and we heard a gravelly “Bonne Année” coming down the microphone.
Three taxis, one Sept Place (your average Peugeot with 3 extra seats crammed into the boot), and one hotel room later, I had reached St Louis, in the North of the country, where I was shown my home for the next 5 months. I was greeted straight away by Madame Bawa Ndiaye, my “Senegalese Mummy”, brandishing a bottle of Africa Cola. Within minutes I was given my first taste of Thieboudjenne, which is simply a very tasty heap of rice, fish and vegetables, and the occasional chilli pepper to catch people out. It was then that I realised that my previous idea of “losing weight in Africa” was not going to happen, as every attempt to put my spoon down was greeted by “NON, il faut bien manger!”
A few days on, and my skin had turned a shade or two darker, my French accent was becoming weirder, and my “rice and fish belly” considerably larger. But none of that mattered as the time had come for me to start my care placement in Abou Abbas Sall, a primary school where I was to help out in the kindergarten. I was allowed to choose which class I worked with (the choice being between three, four or five year olds) so immediately went for the youngest who may not have been the easiest to teach, but were definitely the noisiest, fattest and sweetest, and were being taught in a straw hut…Perfect. All attempts to tell them my name was Georgina were ignored, and I was introduced by my fellow teacher, Maïmouna Diop, as Tata Jorjeenie. It was then that I realised I had a problem – none of the kids spoke a word of French. Only Wolof, a language I had never even heard of! But despite being completely hampered by the language barrier, I thought I’d give it a shot, so within minutes we were singing, dancing and clapping (and unfortunately for one or two who’d been trodden on in the excitement, crying.) By the end of my first morning I was already quite proud of my new Wolof vocabulary, but also completely exhausted and felt I deserved my mounds of rice for lunch.
And so it went on…After a few weeks I was still being greeted with cries of “Toubab!” (although the people on my street seemed to have realised that I wasn’t just a tourist, and that I was going to be there a while), and had lost count of the number of marriage proposals I’d had. Breaking down in a taxi was becoming an essential part of my day, bissap juice was now my preferred drink, and I even found myself singing along to Yousson N’Dour and Ti Ti as their music blared out of the Car Rapides. I like to think I’d also become an excellent haggler, and a first-rate djembé player, although this could be taking it a bit far!
A lot of my time in St Louis was spent planning my travels. I had allocated three weeks at the end of my stay to see more of West Africa with a school friend who was flying out from England. As the weeks passed, my plans became more and more ambitious, ranging from trekking fearlessly through the Mauritanian Desert, to sitting on the roof of a train for days on end to reach the legendary Timbuktu. After a while I realised that three weeks was never going to be enough time for all this, so we ended up going down to Casamance in the South of the country, then into the Gambia and finally back into Senegal to the Sine Saloum delta. My only regret was that we missed the well-known International Jazz Festival in St Louis, which took place at the end of May. However, I don’t feel I missed out completely as Senegal is a hugely musical country, and concerts and performances were never hard to find elsewhere.
And suddenly I was home. After the most memorable 5 months of my life, two stressful flights and a 6 hour wait in Casablanca airport, I eventually arrived at 10:30pm on a drizzly Cumbrian train station. I unpacked my two rucksacks (having originally left England with just the one, the second being reserved for my mounds of tailor-made clothes), drank copious amounts of tea, ate slice after slice of toast and marmite, and had endless hot baths. I found myself speaking to the dogs in Wolof, telling them to “caille fee” and “torgal”, and caught up with friends and family whom I hadn’t seen for months, proudly showing them all of my 1800 photos! But after a few days, the excitements of being back home wore off, and I realised that I would give anything to hop back on a Royale Air Maroc flight to Senegal and have cold showers and rice all over again. And three months on, sitting in front of my laptop wearing my Senegalese clothes and listening to my Mbalax CD, I still feel exactly the same way.
I have been asked to promote Projects Abroad as much as possible, so if anyone has any queries, or would like some advice then feel free to get in touch on
georginalambton@projects-abroad.co.uk. I am currently in my first year at Bristol University, and I really did have an incredible time so would be more than happy to share my thoughts.
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My Class Room Walking home from School A Djembé lesson on my 19th birthday!
In Years I to III key elements of CEIAG are incorporated within the pastoral programme. The programme of study focuses on questions such as
‘What am I like?’ emphasis upon starting to develop self-awareness (strengths, abilities and interests) and informed decision-making.
‘How do I choose my GCSE subjects for years IV and V? Decisions at 13+ and the links between school subjects and careers.
In Year IV girls begin to think about all aspects of the world of work and their possible place within it. Consideration is given to factors that influence career decision-making. Girls review the relationship between their own views about work, their particular strengths, abilities and skills and specific career areas.
In Year IV girls study a Careers Carousel which operates for one hour per week over a period of six weeks (half termly basis). Topics covered include careers in the modern world, how to use research tools, forward planning for A levels, trends and patterns, making effective applications and stereotypes and girls complete an small assessed task based on independent research.
In the Summer Term of Year IV all girls take the Morrisby Profile, a psychometric test and another tool in helping decision making for sixth form studies and beyond (www.morrisby.com) The MP is designed to help girls to discover their particular strengths and to see how these compare with their other abilities.
CEIAG continues to be integrated into the pastoral programme which is delivered within the schools’ personal development curriculum. In the upper school, tutorials and a range of some challenging and informative events focusing on higher education and career opportunities support the programme. Individual guidance is available throughout the school.
In the first term of Year V, each girl has a personal feedback session with the Head of Careers to review her Morrisby Report and consider her ‘next steps’ in terms of strengths, interests, possible career pathways’ and suitable Advanced Level programmers to support these aspirations.
In Year V the Head of Careers liaises closely with tutors groups and girls to develop girls’ thinking about their ‘next steps’ and support them in making well-informed and appropriate choices for Advanced Level study and university courses. In addition to exploring what is involved in managing career decisions at 16+, Year V girls begin to identify and plan to meet future goals, develop skills in analysis of information in relation to self, research longer term career interests and explore more Higher Education information resources.
Consideration is also given to relevant questions such as ‘How are careers changing?’ ‘How can I find voluntary/work experience (in the school holidays) to help me?’ ‘How do I make effective applications?’ ‘
When they enter the sixth form, girls are encouraged to take even greater responsibility for managing their own decision making, in conjunction with their evaluation of higher education information, profession advice and guidance from school, and their parents.
They prepare for their next career decision point by investigating the opportunities available to them, becoming discerning users of guidance, using effective and appropriate decision-making strategy, handling the applications process and preparing themselves for their next transition, in most cases, to undergraduate study in Higher Education. In summary, emphasis is placed on personal action planning and encouraging individual research activities.
In the Lower VI, the Careers Dept works, in tandem with Head of Year, Tutors and pastoral tam, to deliver information, personal development and career skills relating to progression to Higher Education and the world of work.
The Spring Term LVI Tutorial programme for tutors focuses mainly on choices at 18+ and progression paths beyond QM.
In addition, the girls attend a discrete weekly careers session which complements the tutorial programme and is based on HE preparation and associated areas.
Topics covered include:
Preparation for choices at 18+ (with Higher Education as the prime focus) what’s involved in choosing HE or employment at18+? Evaluating a Gap Year, Interrogating the prospectus and examining UCAS Entry Profiles How do I manage my career? How can I improve my ‘career capital’? HE applications processes. In addition some large year group sessions are organized at strategic points in UCAS admissions process.
In the first weeks of the Summer Term, before AS exams, a schedule of individual ‘Moving On’’ individual interviews is followed, giving all girls time to discuss, and receive advice and guidance on aspects of their current plans for progression into Higher Education.
This system ensures that girls retain focus on HE applications whilst monitoring their realistic understanding about matching achievements and aspirations.
In the latter half of the term work is centred on the mechanics of UCAS applications and the personal statement.
In the Upper VI girls receive guidance to support their university applications and to prepare them for student life beyond Queen Margaret's – help is always at hand. A successful system of self and tutor referral exists and individual support, advice and guidance is provided according to demand. Areas covered include: UCAS applications, interview support and mock interviews as appropriate, finance for HE, expectations for university, managing transition, study skills, strategies for examination success
Parents of Sixth Formers Applying to Higher Education…. how parents can make the most of web based tools.
There is much information available that will help girls to approach higher education with confidence. Helpful websites for 'parental browsing' about all aspects of the process include:
www.thegooduniversityguide.org.uk
This website offers advice on choosing courses provides UK, university league tables by subject, gives entry standards, publishes degree results, outlines graduate work prospects, allows you to customise your search. Another useful website is www.unistats.com which brings together key sources of official information about the quality of higher education in UK universities and colleges to help prospective students make an informed choice when deciding which university or college to apply to.
The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS)
www.ucas.ac.uk is the UK central organisation through which applications are processed for entry to higher education. UCAS also provides information and services to students, parents, advisers and HE staff. In the Course Search facility you may access 'entry profiles' about courses and follow links to a university and specific departmental websites.
At
www.ucas.ac.uk/parents/ you will find all the information you need to support your daughters with their choices and application; you may even register for a free parent's guide.