Careers

The Careers department plays an important part in preparing students for the world beyond Shrewsbury School.

Given that each year more than 98% of our Upper Sixth go to university, we believe that the choice of an ultimate career is rarely made at school. It is therefore important for the majority to keep options open by a series of well planned decisions and to accept that an ultimate choice is best made with a good and broad educational base, and as much practical experience as possible. Nowadays, many, if not most, people have a number of varied jobs in their lifetime which require varying skills. We therefore target our advice at the more immediate decisions which need to be made, particularly:

• Choice of A-levels
• Higher Education
• The Gap Year
• Sponsorship and Scholarships

We also make the students aware of employment trends, and the skills required in becoming an employable graduate.  As a general principle we encourage students to identify their strengths, play to them, and to pursue excellence in their chosen fields. We provide extensive material to enable them to do this.

The Careers Library is situated centrally and contains information about careers, Higher Education, sponsorship and the Gap year. Text resources (books, magazines and prospectuses), videos, and computer software are available. The latter is also available on the school network. This is supported by the Careers Master, three assistant teaching staff and the Careers Secretary, all of whom are involved in giving professional advice and guidance to students either on request or by referral. Several booklets on particular aspects of careers have been produced by the Careers Department for students and parents.  The school is an "ALL-IN" member of ISCO.

Choice of AS and A levels
In the fifth form the focus is on the choice of subjects to be taken at AS-level in the Lower Sixth. Morrisby psychometric tests and interest questionnaires, administered by ISCO and followed up by interviews with trained school staff, provide the formal start to this process, which begins in the Michaelmas Term. At the end of the Summer Term students return after their GCSEs to begin their AS courses. In this period many doubts about choice of AS subjects are resolved. Throughout this process the careers department is involved in giving advice and guidance to individual students.At the end of the Lower Sixth advice is given on which subjects should be continued to A-level. Most students will continue with three subjects, but a significant proportion of the year group will take four subjects at A-level.

Higher Education
In order to help with the choice of Higher Education, Coursefinder (administered by ISCO) is offered to all the Lower Sixth students. Much advice is given and discussions take place between students, parents, Tutors, Housemasters and the Careers Master. A full range of prospectuses is available in the Careers Library, a range of careers related software is available on the Network, students have access to the internet, and visits to University Open days are encouraged. Virtually all students proceed to Higher Education. A large number of students apply to Oxford and Cambridge every year. Much thought and advice is given to the choice of course, university and college. All students now apply to university through UCAS Apply (the web-based application system). A great deal of time is spent on helping students with their applications. Many students apply to Higher Education post A-level, and all careers advice is also available to them as Old Salopians. Over the last few years, the most popular university destinations for Salopians (in alphabetical order) have been: Birmingham; Bristol; Cambridge; Durham; Edinburgh; Leeds; Manchester; Newcastle; Nottingham; Oxford; Oxford Brookes and Warwick.

Over the last few years, we have experienced a growing interest in American universities, and that has translated into a small but increasing number of students applying to the USA.  As a consequence, we have had to find out a great deal about the American system, and also the application mechanism.  In the last two years, we have introduced a structured SAT Prep course for our students and we have also become an SAT test centre.  In June 2009, we held our first USA Universities Information Conference, which covered the key areas of information necessary in order to consider and successfully apply to higher education in the USA.  This was open to students, parents and careers staff both within and outside the School.

The Gap Year
Just over 50% of our students take a year out between leaving school and entering Higher Education. Whilst recognising that such a year may not be of benefit to everyone, we take the view that a constructive well-planned Gap year can provide a wealth of experience and responsibility which can be of tremendous importance in: enabling students to make the most of university; giving practical back-up to some Higher Education courses; making the students more employable. The last claim rests on the Gap year providing a chance to grow up and produce more mature students; opportunities to show initiative and take responsibility; opportunities to develop general and specific skills e.g. languages, IT, communication, organisation etc. and enabling students to become more interesting people. The Careers Library has an extensive supply of resource material to enable students to organise a Gap year - some of it is commercially available, and some is generated within the School, making use of the experiences of our old boys. Various Scholarship schemes are advertised to help fund people in their Gap year. All of these require the students to invest time and effort in planning their year out. Old boys have undertaken various exciting and challenging ventures including: sponsored cycle rides across the USA and through Vietnam, teaching in Argentina and travelling in South America, teaching in South Africa and researching Boer War sites, teaching Tibetan refugees in India, sailing across the Atlantic and trekking in Nepal, teaching in rural Africa, and even researching race courses across the world.

In recent years the School has hosted a Gap Year fair (organised by ISCO) in order to showcase a range of options available to students.  This takes place at the end of the Lent term and around 40 companies regularly participate.  Pupils of all ages may attend although it is particularly appropriate for the V and VI formers, and their parents are very welcome to attend too.

Please also see 'Further Adventures' which gives a few examples of some of the more intrepid exploits of Old Salopians, achieved with the help, encouragement and - in some cases - sponsorship of Shrewsbury School.

Sponsorship
Details of Sponsorship schemes for Higher Education courses and Gap schemes are advertised in the Careers Library, although such opportunities are now limited.

Employment Trends
In the Sixth Form there are a series of Careers talks given by the Careers Master and outside speakers, and a programme of workshops which keep students up to date with the opportunities and demands of the world of work.  Please see our current Programme of Careers Events.

Becoming an Employable Graduate
Through the talks and workshops, students are made aware of the skills they need to acquire to become more employable. The general School curriculum provides many opportunities to achieve this, but further opportunities are given to undertake Career experience courses and acquire work experience, practise and develop presentation skills including interview and application experience, and develop team-work and leadership skills.

There is a lot more information about Careers in our booklet Sixth Form and Beyond.  We also produce a number of information leaflets that are updated annually.

The careers department may be reached by email at careers@shrewsbury.org.uk.