Pupils take their Next Steps at careers event

“What a fantastic day! Our annual careers event at Penwortham Priory Academy was a great success.” said Mr Ficorilli, Priory’s independent careers adviser.

The school was a buzz of excitement when over thirty employers, colleges, training providers and universities arrived at Priory eager to talk to pupils about the career opportunities they offer. 

The Next Steps Careers Event was organised with the aim of raising Priory’s young peoples’ awareness of post-16 options in their quest to find their perfect career path, get them thinking about life beyond school and asking the right questions to those in the know. Pupils were given a list of questions as prompts when approaching the visitors to ensure they were getting all the right answers.

Organised by Mr Ficorilli, pupils were invited into the sports hall with their year groups to gain age-appropriate guidance on a wide variety of job sectors and post 16 options.  Employers such as the NHS, Forbes Solicitors, Network Rail, The Eric Wright Group, the Armed Forces and Preston North End lined up alongside UCLan, Preston’s, Runshaw, Southport, Myerscough and Blackburn Colleges.  Training providers from Training 2000, Preston Vocational Centre and North Lancs Training demonstrated practical skills and the benefits of apprenticeships.

The event was positive all round for the pupils, school and community. Mr Ficorilli said, “It was a fantastic success in lots of ways and certainly the pupils got a lot out of it. The feedback I got from professionals was our pupils were a credit to the school and all the attendees commented on their willingness to ask questions and get involved”.  He thanked all the visitors, staff and pupil ambassadors for their help on the day and support with event preparations to ensure that it all ran smoothly.