With another year ending, we are delighted that so many pupils were engaged in career related activities this year.
The year started with a magical roadshow event from the RAF who came to Bloomfield with their jet engines and drone helicopters. The junior pupils were entertained and educated about the Science of flight and careers with the RAF.
Dr McBride accompanied several girls from Year 12 and Year 13 to a Science Awareness Day at Belfast Metropolitan College in October. They attended workshops and listened to various speakers outlining the many possibilities that exist in STEM for students from Northern Ireland. Year 12 pupils also attended the Invent Awards showcase event at Ulster University, which offered pupils the chance to review innovative ideas and pitches from candidates.
In October, the University Roadshow came to school and Years 13 and 14 were given a flavour of what University life can offer. It was an enjoyable and informative afternoon.
All Year 12 pupils attended the Northern Ireland Skills event in November at the Titanic Exhibition Centre. This showcase event enabled the pupils to meet and mingle with various employers and to discuss career options that were open to them.
Well done to the Convocubes and ArmSafe Young Enterprise teams in Year 13 for their valiant efforts in starting up and running their own companies. Convocubes received an award in the Social Enterprise Category at the finals event in the Titanic Exhibition Centre. Both companies were busy selling their products at St George’s market before Christmas. Well done to both teams for all their hard work!
10 girls from Year 10 took part in the PwC Hive Academy in early June. They attended PwC’s headquarters with one team winning the Creativity Award along with Amazon vouchers. Their workshop focused on cyber security and artificial intelligence, two areas which offer exciting growth opportunities for Northern Ireland businesses.
Young Enterprise events were hosted in School for Years 8 to 12 this year. Lots of fantastic work was produced across all year groups and the seeds of entrepreneurship have been sown. The East Belfast Area Learning Community organised a Digital Masterclass event at Our Lady and St Patrick’s College with 5 girls from Year 11 attending.
The Year 10 Futures Day in May was another great success. Pupils attended mock interviews by staff members who remarked on the maturity of the responses from the pupils in their interviews. The girls also worked on the 5 Steps to Success Project – which finished with amazing presentations from all of the groups.
The Year 14 mock interviews earlier in the year also benefitted the senior pupils and prepared them very well for their university interviews that followed. Congratulations to each pupil in Year 14 who all managed to receive an offer of a place at University through UCAS. We wish them every success when the results are released in August.
Year 11 work experience took place in June with many of the girls attending interesting and challenging placements. Throughout the last 10 months Year 13 pupils attended individual work placements which helped them develop transferrable skills and to support their UCAS applications. Thanks to Mrs Morrison for the large amount of work she does organising the work experience programme at school.
The Aspire Event, organised by the Modern Languages Department in June, was an inspiration for all those pupils in Year 10 who took part. Pupils listened and questioned volunteers who work in the creative industries and who showed the girls the varied and interesting career pathways that they can aspire to.
The year finished on a high with the Inspire Me event for Year 11 pupils. This event, a first in Northern Ireland, focused on opportunity and choice and brought together business people, the pupils and a company called KareerHub which provides a careers information portal. We were delighted to welcome Mr Justin Edwards, CEO of CCEA, along to the event to offer his support and advice.
With many of the departments running their own career events, we hope that the pupils at Bloomfield are more aware than ever of the tremendous opportunities that await them after leaving school. Thank you to all the staff for their efforts in supporting careers provision at school.
Mr McEvoy, Mrs Hutchinson and Mr Mulholland – the wonderful Careers Team.
