Developing the Young Workforce

Alva Academy

August 2017 Vol. 1

Our Pathway to Positive

Destinations. . .

Here at Alva Academy we have been busy with activities and events designed

to help Develop our Young Workforce and take steps to ensure our leavers go

on to become Effective Contributors in a Positive Destination. Take a look at

our newsletter to find out a little more about what has been going on!

S6 EMPLOYABILITY AWARD

This year saw the launch of the New S6 Employa-

bility Award. This subject is offered to all S6 pupils

in order to allow them to prepare themselves for

the World of Work.

The course offers pupils the chance to develop

their employability skills, prepare a CV and cover-

ing letter, practice their interview technique and

take part in employer-led mock applications and

interviews.

Each pupil who completes the course not only

gains a brilliant skills set to help them prepare for

life beyond the school walls but an SQA qualifica-

tion—The Employability Award. An excellent addi-

tion to their CV!

The course has been so successful we are now en-

suring school leavers in S4 and S5 have the oppor-

tunity to attend.

The Employability Award — Pupil Feedback

This course was such a great help to me this

year—it has helped me gain skills for work and I

have now been given an apprenticeship with the

council after a successful Interview—the Mock

interviews I got from businesses really helped me

build my confidence for the real thing!

Robbie Watson, S6 2016/2017

This course has really helped

me finding jobs and developing

life skills to set me up for the

future—Thank you!

Ben Murray, S6 2016/2017

MOCK INTERVIEWS

One of the highlights of the course was the mock in-

terviews conducted by businesses. Pupils had to com-

plete application forms, attaching their CV and then

prepare model answers to common interview ques-

tions.

Many local businesses came along to help us with the

Interviews to make the experience as real as possible

for our pupils, helping them develop their confidence

and communication skills.

A huge thank you to all the businesses who supported

us with the Employability Award this year—we are

looking forward to working with them again next year!

ALVA PATHWAYS — CAREERS FAIR

We hosted a Future Pathways Careers Fair here at Alva Academy. The event saw repre-

sentatives from over 30 business—local, national and multinational come in to speak to

our S3-S6 pupils. The event was a huge success with many of our S4 pupils securing

some work experience on the day and all pupils benefitted from gathering information

about the opportunities available to them beyond Alva Academy.

The full event was organised by the Future Pathways DYW Team—all contact with busi-

nesses was made from the pupils and we received great feedback about this!

Thank you to all who were involved and made the day a great success!

ALVA PATHWAYS — CAREERS FAIR

S4 STUDY LEAVE PROGRAMME

This year saw a fantastic programme for all S4 pu-

pils who were not taking full study leave.

We had a huge range of activities planned in order

to help them develop their Core Employability

Skills and gain qualifications where possible. Each

department hosted and activity and we had many

local businesses involved to bring the programme

to life.

S4 Study Leave Programme — Pupil Feedback

I really enjoyed the Driving

part of the programme—I

loved driving the car and I

think I will be more prepared

for lessons next year now!

Anonymous, S4 2016/2017

THANKS

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all the

staff and business representatives who helped with

the programme and made it such a success!

PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS

Cycle and Bike

Maintenance

Police Terrorist

Threat Project

First Aid

Certificate

SQA Driving

Award

Blairdrummond

Safari Park

Employability

Award

Ski Lessons

John Muir

Award

Low Level Leader

Training

Sporting

Activities Awards Ceremony

FORTH VALLEY COLLEGE

Our links with Forth Valley College continue to strengthen. Session 2016 17 saw the introduc-tion of the CJET programme for pupils in S4. The CJET programme is a school / college / local business partnership initiative. Each week throughout the session it involved pupils spending two days in college working on vocational and life skill activities, two days in school working on SQA qualifications, and 1 day in the workplace gaining vital work skills through involvement in the extended work experience programme. Subjects taught in the college included hair and beauty, childcare, construction, engineering to name a few, but also included the development of other vital skills for the pupils such as CV writing, Application form writing, and interview tech-niques. All pupils involved have gained a positive destination for next year, either through offers of full-time work, unconditional offers at college, or in the case of one pupil, returning to school for S5. In addition to this course we had four pupils on the ACE course at the college too - this is a full-time course for pupils in S4. The majority of pupils on this course gained 5 SQA qualifications, work experience, and developed many other interpersonal skills, allowing them to successfully continue on at college or enter the world of work. This session we will continue to send pupils to these two courses and also to the skills for work

courses two days per week. In addition we expect to have some pupils working towards an HND

at college next year whilst also working towards Higher level exams at school.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES — HAIRDRESSING

With the support of one of our local busi-

nesses, S3 pupils were given the opportunity

to gain knowledge and experience of the

role of a hairdresser. This was carried out in

one of the vocational hairdressing rooms,

specifically designed for this purpose, within

the school. Following a short taster session,

a number of pupils then carried on working

with the hairdresser for two periods per

week throughout the remainder of the ses-

sion. It is hoped that a similar opportunity

will be available for selected pupils in S3 in

session 2017/18 and this will be an accredit-

ed course designed to help them access to

the hair and beauty industry.

A big thank you to Hazel Waine for giving up

her valuable time for this great project! And

continuing to offer her support for the com-

ing year!

NEW OPPORTUNITIES — S3 VOCATIONAL CURRICULUM

This year sees the development of the first S3 Vocational Curriculum at Alva Academy—the

Rationale behind creating this alternative curriculum is as follows:

To create a curriculum designed to meet the needs of individual pupils at Alva Academy

To reduce class sizes to allow greater support for pupils who require it

To ensure pupils gain a wide variety of skills / qualifications

To provide a timetable which allows Learning Assistants to support pupils in as many classes as possible

To provide a two-year curriculum with clear routes for progression

The pupils will be completing a wide variety of courses and gaining qualifications including:

RMPS

Police Terrorist

English

Lifeskills Maths

Personal

Development

Administration

Science

Social Subjects

Enterprise

Employability

Physical

Education

Personal

Achievement

SDS CAREERS SERVICE

Chris Thom is based right here within Alva Academy to give you the careers support you need throughout your time with us.

Through a combination of group sessions, one-to-one interviews and drop in clinics, Chris will help you understand how your personality, interests and values are key to making the right career decisions. They can also help you understand how to develop and use your tal-ents and skills, explore where they could take you, and identify who can help you along on your career journey. By way of establishing, developing and understanding these Career Management Skills, will help you plan for and manage your career and future!

To find out more about the support on offer please contact Chris in the school library or at chris.thom@sds.co.uk

You can also visit SDS Forth Valley Facebook for further information on local training and job opportunities, job search hints and tips, or to contact your local centre. Alternatively you can call the Alloa Centre careers team on 01259 215 214 to speak with an adviser.

IN THE NEWS

Check out what school leaver Ben Craw-

ford had to say about the careers ser-

vice at www.thescottishsun.co.uk

Science

CAREER READY 2017-2019

We are very excited to announce that we have our first Cohort of Pupils from Alva Academy accepted on to the Career Ready Programme for 2017-2019.

Career Ready is a UK wide charity linking employers with schools and colleges to open up the world of work to young people. Career ready gives pupils the confidence, skills and networks to achieve their potential. Through volunteer-ing for Career Ready employers get a rewarding opportunity to develop their own presenting, coaching and mentoring skills, and find the next generation of talented employees.

Career Ready is a 2 year programme for pupils in their 5th and 6th year here at Alva. The pro-gramme includes:

6 Masterclasses which focus on developing the skills required for the World of Work alongside opening up opportunities for networking with pupils from other schools and employers.

A designated Business Mentor who participants will meet with every 4-6weeks to help them in their journey throughout their final years at school an on towards an positive destination.

A 4-week paid internship within the business of their Mentor at the start of the Summer.

Student Selection is now complete for this session and we are please to wel-come our 5 pupils for this session!

The first Masterclass took place at Diageo, Menstrie in September and pupils are now looking forward to meeting their Business Mentors at the Launch Event in October!

ALVA ACADEMY SUCCESS STORIES…

My name is Joe Marriott, and I left Alva Academy in 2012. I am

currently living in Thailand and employed as a full time King

Cobra Tracker. My job involves going out three times every

day to track individual King Cobras and map their distribution

and movement patterns. I regularly visit Thai schools and talk

about our work to promote conservation and our project.

I acquired this position after leaving Alva Academy on comple-

tion of my 6th year in 2012. I moved to Aberdeen later that

year to study Zoology for four years, graduating in June 2016; I

secured my position in Thailand in September 2016 and moved

out here in February 2017. I will be out here for six months.

During my time studying at university, I was given many oppor-

tunities to participate in conservation projects around the

world, including studying butterflies in Barcelona, and wild

dogs and rhinos in South Africa!

Joe Marriott

Ryan Douglas

I left school mid-way through S6 (as Head Boy) and worked as a Business Support Apprentice for Clacks Coun-cil. Basically doing admin work for various teams at Council HQ. I did that for two years before moving within the Council to the Democracy Team where I helped organise elections (including the Referendum) and oversaw Freedom of Information and Data Protection requests.

From there, I joined the Ambulance Service in 2015 as their Patient Experience Coordinator at National HQ in Edin-burgh. I handled complaints, claims, DPA and FOI work-loads for SAS which subsequently led me to the job as a Student Technician I hold today. School gave me the quali-fications to get the apprenticeship.

The apprenticeship gave me experience and work-based qualifications which got me a job with the Ambulance Ser-vice.

THE TERM AHEAD. . .

The DYW Pupil

Team are continuing

to work on the

schools Corporate

Image and Skills

Framework.

S6 Employability

Mock Interviews

will be held in

December

All S3 Pupils will be

participating in the

ESH—Building my

Skills Project this

year!

CTSI will be hosting a

variety of volunteer-

ing sessions with S6 in

October.

SDS Quick Queries

Have a career

question? Available

in the Library every

Mon and Wed

3.10pm-4.30pm

UCAS/College

Application Support

October 2017

Weekly update of local

opportunities Stored in

Public Share

Employability Courses

Continue in S6 and

with all S4/5 Leavers

Skills Scotland Careers

Fair

29th November 2017

BUSINESS LINKS

Career Ready Launch

Event

4th October 2017

We are excited to be continuing to work with our business partners throughout the

school year offering many opportunities from presentations and activities to mock

interviews and workplace visits. This year we are developing a strong link with

Omega Diagnostics who are helping us with a variety of initiatives—starting with

our pupil group who will be going along to have a look at their

corporate image!

A huge thank you to all our Business links for their continuing

support!

S4 Work Experience

November 2017