This year’s event was our biggest ever: delegates of over 85 organisations joined us to set up a stand and offer advice and guidance to students from years 9 to 13 across a wide range of employment sectors. Particularly notable was the number of organisations attending for the first time, which helped to extend the range of sectors represented.

The main aim of the event is to provide as broad a range as possible of career and further/higher education opportunities for students to explore. It also provides students and their parents the chance to talk directly to employers about the qualifications and skills that are valued in the workplace.

We would like to extend a huge thank you to all the organisations that participated on the evening. We really appreciate the contribution made towards informing our students about their options for the future. As always, we were delighted to welcome back many past students who were representing a diverse selection of employment and training sectors including primary teaching, engineering, agricultural equipment sales, veterinary, sport and leisure and colleges.

Thank you to our fantastic site team and supporting sixth formers who transformed the school spaces and cleared classrooms across the Tyndale and Renishaw blocks in just one and a half hours ready to accommodate the visitors. A word of thanks, too, to the year 11 and sixth form students who helped to make our visitors feel welcome as they arrived and set up, or who helped with food and refreshments. Your support was invaluable to the smooth running of the whole event.

The majority of the students had a well formed plan and knew what sectors they wanted to ask me about, those that didn’t listened well to the information I gave them and used the event as a good learning curve.

Wonderful event with a great level of enthusiasm from ALL students. Had some brilliant conversations with those looking for Post-16 advice. Food was outstanding, and felt very welcomed by staff and the students who assisted.

The careers convention was very well organised and clearly detailed for parents and students to walk around and find the correct stands with ease.

Parents and students were intuitive and really interested. Was great to see students as young as year 9 exploring options at university and the atmosphere of the event was lovely. I really enjoyed the evening.

It was a pleasure to attend – well organised and with lovely polite students who were a credit to you.

I wanted to extend my thanks for the invitation last night – I had a fantastic time and have never been busier with some fantastic conversations.

It was a great evening, and I was incredibly busy for the whole duration chatting with students and their families about their future plans. The students and parents were fantastic and really engaged! Also, the helpers at the event were brilliant – friendly, polite, and incredibly helpful, which made the evening more enjoyable.

We met a lovely bunch of students, who asked good questions and were genuinely interested in what we do and could offer.

I would like to say it was a great pleasure hosting the careers event at KLB, especially with so many students being interested and keen on engineering and technology. I was amazed with the skills and knowledge the students were portraying and it was evident that KLB provides their students with lots of opportunities for the young bright minds to explore and develop their interests.

Thank you to the parents who completed feedback about what they feel they and their child gained from the event. To some extent, the responses are driven by the stage the students’ were at in their future planning but most had some helpful conversations as is evident from a small selection of the many comments provided:

Lots of information about grades and specific subjects needed. Providers’ offers and different pathways available.

Very informative and easy to navigate

[My child] understood that he needs work experience and which companies he wants it with. Also, we had fun during the event and now he will be happy to such events with me again.

An understanding of the vast number of further educational opportunities available.

Great to speak to enthusiastic people who love their jobs and the businesses they work for. It’s so inspiring.

It was very well laid out in all areas and it gave [my child] some confidence to go and ask questions rather than googling everything.

Good to speak with many different employers in one evening

Lots of really useful information about apprenticeships

We spoke to a couple of career options, both academic and apprenticeship routes, a uni and college as [my child] is unsure what she would like to do – there was a bit of everything there. She feels like she has a goal now, which is awesome!

[My child] could hear first-hand – from a non-parental source – that he could study subjects in which he was interested at university. Being able to talk directly to representatives made the idea of university study more ‘real’ for younger students … University representation alongside employers broadened the appeal of the event.

Really enjoyable evening, it got my child thinking about career paths she has never known before.

It was the best careers evening I have been too. The variety of businesses and colleges was fantastic. I’m sure there was something for everyone. There were ideas that we hadn’t even thought of. We had a really good evening chatting to many businesses. The new buildings at KLB enhanced what a fabulous school we have and we are lucky our children can learn in such a wonderful environment. Very pleased to be part of the KLB future.