Wealden Works supports students at HCC for an Employability Workshop

On 9^th March 2023 the Year 9 students from Heathfield Community College engaged in a number of workshops all centred around Employability Skills: Finance, Business, Oracy and Finance. In Finance students learnt about different salaries for different jobs, discussed what they thought of these salaries and whether they were fair and learnt about the tax system. In Business they heard from entrepreneurs who had started a company from one idea and learnt about merits of the different employment options. In Digital Skills they learnt the high percentage of jobs that require strong digital skills and had fun building a Pizza Company in teams. In Oracy they learnt the secrets of confident speaking and had the opportunity to put these skills to practise and speak in-front of each other.

The students also had the opportunity to work with Wealden Works on the personable skills Employers look for and Ms Taylor, Careers lead, on opportunities in the local area. Wealden Works is an Employability Programme based in Heathfield and the college was thrilled they time to work with all of the Year 9 students. Students also engaged in discussions about what is acceptable and not acceptable in the workplace and it gave everyone the opportunity to think about life as an employee and how to work with each other. The Careers Lead, Ms Taylor, also spoke to the students about local opportunities and the skills employers are looking for. It also gave Ms Taylor the opportunity to explain the support that is offered over the next couple of years including Careers interviews and a chance to visit a Careers Fair in Year 10.

Feedback from the students included: “I loved the advice given by Wealden Works as they were nice and they really knew their stuff also I loved learning about CVs as it made me feel a bit more confident.”

And one students commented: “I really loved learning about everything however I loved the Wealden Works workshop the most”

Ms Dupasquier and Ms Taylor who ran the event commented: “We are very grateful to our teachers for running engaging and informative workshops and to Wealden Works who were able to share useful advice to students as they start thinking about job applications and what it takes to be a successful applicant”