The first ever Coventry Primary Aspirations Week launched last week, running from Monday 4 March to Friday 8 March.
Over 500 primary school children took part in the week’s events, with volunteers from businesses and organisations across Coventry visiting schools to talk about job roles, what the organisations do, and to encourage the children to think about their possible careers in the future.
The children, aged between 7-11, were given the opportunity to learn about things such coding and how it can be used in job roles, how gaming organisations use project management and about roles that include art and creative skills. Children were given the opportunity to ask questions and talk about their possible future career choices too.
Councillor Dr Kindy Sandhu, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, said:
“I am really proud of this initiative and the feedback we’ve had from schools and children has been nothing but positive.
“We really wanted to give the children an opportunity to think about their futures and imagine the type of careers they might want to purse. We know that children’s aspirations are shaped by their life experiences and the theme for this year was “To be it, you need to see it”, so we wanted to create an event that gave children the chance to broaden their horizons.”
The Primary Aspirations week was launched to coincide with National Careers Week, which aims to support young people in their awareness of future career pathways. The aim for Primary Aspirations Week is to encourage primary school-aged children to think about possible career choices in the future, and how to develop some of the skills they might need to get there.
Jo Stanley, the headteacher at Little Heath Primary School, which played host one of the events, said:
“It was a fabulous opportunity for primary children to hear from external speakers who brought their own experiences and skillset to inspire the children. The morning had an immediate impact on the children to think about their own skills and future aspirations outside of the classroom too.”
Quotes from the children who attended the events included:
“It really opened my eyes to what jobs are actually out there.”
“I really liked the different challenges. They were fun but we were also learning lots of new coding skills.”
“It really helped me think about what I want to be in the future”.
Organisations taking part included Coventry Careers Hub, Coventry City Council, Crisis, National Grid, NFU, The Royal Opera House, Tech She Can, Transport for West Midlands, University of Warwick, West Midlands Fire Service and the West Midlands Rail Executive.