Last Tuesday was the launch of Futures Week 2019 for our Year 12 students.  The aim was to provide students with a wealth of information to help them make a well informed decision about their future beyond JFS.

Students had the opportunity to hear from leading professionals about how to construct an effective personal statement and how to use comparison websites when choosing university and courses. They also were able to visit our first ever JFS University and Apprenticeship fair, which was attended by 20 universities and employers from around the country including Bristol, LSJS, Birmingham, Nottingham, GSK and St Andrews.

The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and Arts/Humanities days were split into morning and afternoon sessions. In the morning students were able to choose from a number of taster lectures including Biomed, Business and Marketing, Psychology, History, Creative Industries  and Politics which were delivered by universities and training providers either face to face or via online webinars.

The afternoon sessions were run by a host of returning Alumni and JFS Parents including Johnny Seifert (Showbiz Editor – Talk Radio), Joel Salmon (Parliamentary Officer – Board of Deputies of British Jews) Dr Ellie Cannon (GP and Media Doctor) and James Garner (Gleeds Property and construction consultants) to name a few. They spoke about their industry, opportunities within and entry routes in to sectors, including alternative routes i.e. apprenticeships, graduate schemes.

St Georges, University of London came in to speak to aspiring medical students about the application process and preparing for the MMI interviews (Multiple Mini Interviews). They highlighted the academic and non-academic requirements which medical schools look for in potential candidates and the skills and qualities they would expect candidates to be able to demonstrate through voluntary work or work experience.

For students who are considering undertaking an apprenticeship as an alternative route through education, Andy Gardner (JFS HE consultant) delivered a workshop which included students completing a range of reasoning and situational judgement tests.

The week concluded with an Oxbridge workshop for students who are considering making applications to Oxford or Cambridge. They heard from a representative from The University of Oxford who spoke about interview techniques and test preparation.

Futures Week was a great success and is an important event in our higher education programme that we hope helps students make the most of the choices they have.