St Paul’s excels in aiding career choices

Teachers and pupils at the school have been actively engaged in a wide range of activities to highlight the importance of careers education and advice.

Last year the school became the first post-primary school in NI to achieve the Investors in Pupils Award. This year the school aims to achieve the prestigious Investors in Careers Award.

Principal Sean Flanagan said: “The school has developed a clearly designed action plan as a route map to achieving the award.

“Teachers have refocused their lessons to highlight the significance of their subject in terms of career prospects. Visitors from a wide range of professions, businesses and trades have visited the school to provide presentations on their workplace and to be interviewed about their career choices.

“Teachers have visited many past pupils in their workplace to record their accounts of their working lives after leaving school.

“Mrs Mawhinney, the Head of Careers Education in St Paul’s JHS, has organised a programme of visiting speakers and visits to businesses to provide pupils with the opportunity to experience at first hand the realities of life in the workplace. Videos of the interviews and presentations were recorded and relayed to the pupils in the classroom. A forum for pupils has been established to ensure that the pupils are actively involved in promoting their ideas and interests to expand their knowledge of local, regional and global career opportunities. The feedback from pupils is very positive with many expressing their excitement and enjoyment of participating in the many study visits to industries.”

Mr A McCormick, the SELB Schools Careers Advisor, has commended the school for its active promotion of careers education and guidance for its pupils. The Investors in Careers Award is the quality standard for the management of careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) and is now the most widely used quality award of its kind, recognised across the country.

All Investor in Careers Award holders have demonstrated a commitment to provide impartial, independent careers education, information, advice and guidance to all young people.

“This really is one of the highest accolades an organisation can receive for excellence in this area of work and is definitely something of which the award holder can be very proud,” said Mr Flanagan.