Ensuring inclusion and impact for each and every young person is one of five key themes that emerged from Gatsby’s two-year review of the Gatsby Benchmarks. Woven through multiple benchmarks in the resulting updated benchmarks are refinements that emphasise the importance of tailoring careers programmes to individual needs.
Particular attention is given to inclusion and, within this, the need for schools and colleges to challenge misconceptions and showcase a diverse range of models, including alumni. It’s inspiring and motivating for young people to meet alumni – people like them, who have sat where they are and are a few steps ahead in their journey. This is especially true when alumni and students share similar backgrounds. It shows what can be achieved and that success can take many forms.
The benchmark updates also expand on what is needed to make encounters with employers and employees meaningful and impactful, including highlighting the need for young people to be supported to prepare for these encounters and to reflect on them once they have taken place.
Thousands and thousands of students that have passed through our doors over the last 60 years and many have gone on to very successful futures – we are always looking to really embrace these futures to inspire our current students.
On Friday 7 March, as part of National Careers Week 2025, we held our first ever Southmoor Alumni Breakfast. We wanted to celebrate our former students and get to know them a bit more, giving them the opportunity to come back into school (many for the first time since they left it) and also providing an opportunity for our students to engage with former students who have all been in the same school hall and sat in the same classrooms over the many years.
We wanted our young people to be inspired and to really believe that they ‘can’ go on to many successful careers, no matter what their backgrounds. We wanted to give our visitors the opportunity to network with each other but also to speak to all our Year 7 students, as part of a speed-networking event. We chose our Year 7 students, the youngest in school, as we really wanted to get them inspired from their very first year in school so that they can think big!
What did we do?
- Reached out to former students through all different channels: We have an Alumni database which we encourage all former students to sign up to via a link on the dedicated alumni page on our school website. We created events on Facebook and LinkedIn and sent out an email to everyone on our database. We also advertised the event in the weekly School Blog (as many of our parents are former students) and through the school’s other communication channels. Potential attendees were encouraged to show their interest in attending the event by completing an online form.
- Set-up the event: We made sure our alumni felt very welcome in school by providing a light breakfast. Our school catering team put on an impressive show with a wide range of breakfast items, fruit, pastries and so much more. We also asked a member of support staff to be ready to serve refreshments and talk to the visitors as they arrived. In the hall, we created a presentation of old school photos and decorated the stage with balloons in our school (and also our Careers department) colours. The hall was set-up in small clusters of tables and chairs all around the room.
- Briefed the students: It was important that the Year 7 students knew what was going to happen on the day so they were prepared and ready to ask questions. During Aspire AM (our name for form time), tutors worked with the young people to ensure that they were prepared with questions to ask – we also provided a prompt sheet on the day to ensure that the conversation flowed. We informed the students in advance about the range of alumni who were attending and their backgrounds.
- On the day: Our alumni were welcomed into school for informal networking over breakfast. We had colleagues greeting them at the door and a very informal atmosphere in the hall. Our Executive Headteacher gave a short welcome presentation and then I, as Careers Leader, outlined the plan forthe morning and how alumni can support moving forward. We then welcomed approximately 130 Year 7 students into the hall who all sat at different tables together with at least one or two of our alumni visitors. We asked the visitors to give a brief introduction and then students could ask questions. After 10 minutes, we rotated the students around to a different visitor and across 45 minutes they heard from about five different alumni. We then invited a further 130 Year 7 students into the Hall for a second round. We ended with a thank you from our students and colleagues.
As a result of the morning, our Year 7 students have all met with representatives from a huge range of sectors including health, retail, engineering, construction, civil service, higher education, and so many more! We also have many more organisations added to our database who are willing to come in and engage with our students with further initiatives, including mock interviews, careers fairs, and within subject teaching.
More on ensuring inclusion and impact for each and every young person
Read about the updated Benchmark 3: Addressing the Needs of Each Young Person here and in section 4 of the Good Career Guidance: The Next Ten Years report.
