This year we developed a new model for our Year 11 Mock Interviews. Previously we had seen the school close for Year 7 to 10 but as we continue to strive for positive attendance across the school and with improvements being seen, we needed to keep the momentum going! This resulted in us creating a new structure for our event, whilst keeping the engagement and standards high, and a meaningful encounter with an employer for our students... and it certainly did that! We ran mock interviews across 2 days and each student experienced the process of a ‘real-life’ interview, and received personal feedback on how they can improve for the future. The Main Hall was transformed with interview booths, a student waiting area and of course, a refreshments tables where employers could interact before the interviews began. Many of our employers praised the new format with 100% saying they enjoyed taking part and strongly believed this event benefitted the students. Across the 2 days we had 45 employer's conducting interviews from a variety of job roles and as per last year we had a fantastic turnout: 

Each employer chose a ‘winner for the job’ and certificates were awarded to students in the celebration assembly on the Monday morning following the event, student feedback was just as positive as previous years with 97% saying they enjoyed the experience, 100% enjoyed their encounter with the employer and 98% found the feedback useful in supporting them with future interviews.  

Before Christmas I did a survey with Year 11 and 57% students had already completed their post-16 applications, and following December's careers week, this number increased to 75%. Next week all Year 11 students will complete a ‘Post-16 Destination Form’ and this will give me a clear picture of those students who still need additional support with applications, and I will spend the next half term meeting students to complete these. Please continue to get in touch if your child requires any additional support: hayley.lawes@hessleacademy.com.  

Thank you to those students who have returned their Work Experience Placement Forms in time for the deadline this week, this process can take a lot of patience and perseverance when trying to source a placement. We have been granted an extension to our deadline for the Placement Forms, with a new and FINAL deadline set for Friday 25th April 2025. This will hopefully give those students who are still searching for a placement more time to get sorted. Remember to please make yourself known to Tutors or myself if you are struggling. 

We celebrated the annual National Apprenticeship Week (NAW) with activities in tutor time including the apprenticeship quiz and giving students up to date information as well as hearing from people who have chosen this pathway when leaving school and the many benefits this has to offer. Apprenticeships are certainly not the easy route and there are more and more students opting for this pathway so it is important that students can stand out with strong grades, work experience and an impressive CV. 

Prior to NAW, the STEM Roadshow delivered an interactive performance / workshop with our Year 7 & 8 students. This year's theme was Artificial Intelligence. Here’s what they had to say... ‘’Artificial Intelligence is already making a tremendous impact across the globe. Our presentation introduces the topic of Artificial intelligence as a tool that can be embraced with just as much gusto as Google was 5 years ago. The Roadshow demonstrates some useful applications of AI for both teachers and pupils and stresses how important human skills are to ensure that we can maximise the effect of Artificial Intelligence in our lives. We demonstrate some already well-established tools and illustrate how to spot deep fakes and other dangers surrounding AI. We demonstrate how AI can be a valuable learning tool for both teachers and pupils - all with the assistance of our AI robotic dog, Lexi. It is a show full of surprises and insight that is designed to promulgate the safe adoption of AI tools in the public domain, today and tomorrow.’’  

The students were also made aware of the different job roles surrounding AI, the skills required and routes, particularly with a focus on apprenticeships, into these.