Destinations Development Day – an online success! – July 2020

On Monday 6 July, Salisbury 6th Form College held an online development day. S6C holds Development Days each term, each with a different focus. The days are run off timetable allowing students to attend workshops run by visiting speakers as well as S6C teachers. This term the focus was on careers and destinations after S6C. This is the second development day run entirely online since the College had to close earlier this year but this is the first online development day to use live interactive workshops and talks from guest speakers.

The day started with live talks from the University of Portsmouth and ASK Apprenticeships service to give all students an overview of how to research and search for opportunities in higher education and training after their level 3 studies – the sessions had a particular focus on conducting that research online using virtual events and online resources due to the current situation. All students were encouraged to attend these talks which they could log on to from their own homes and attendance throughout the day was good.

S6C Pastoral Lead, Rebecca Anderson said, “We are so proud of the resilience our students have shown in lockdown; they have remained committed to their studies, whilst also using their time to research future options and develop their personal skills. Our students know that there are always people who will help, whether we are choosing next steps, or looking after our mental or physical wellbeing – staying connected is so important.”

Students also heard about university student life from an S6C alumni, who is graduating this year from a Russell Group university, and participated in an employability workshop with practical advice about applying for employment from DSTL.

The afternoon session welcomed employers from across all sectors who gave students an insight into their own careers and their workplaces which helped students understand the range of job opportunities linked to their current studies. Students met with employers, S6C alumni and CEOs of companies through live online meetings and pre-recorded videos covering careers ranging from Flight Test Engineer, to Hypnotherapist to Sports Analysis to Space Mission Scientist! Many of the videos and all of the live talks were created specifically for S6C students.

One year 12 S6C student said about their live Q&A session, “I attended the session with Matt Goddard on running a business within the UX and design industry. All questions I had were answered in good detail, and I also had time after the session to receive feedback on design work of my own.”

Throughout the day students also had access to a wealth of online information about future career and study options, including online webinars and links to virtual work experience opportunities.

The day ended with a live information session for parents who logged in online to hear from the University of Bath and ASK Apprenticeships about how they can support their young people to research future options and make successful applications.