Our Careers team have rolled out some fantastic initiatives during the last few weeks. It has been encouraging to see so many students engaging with these events and starting the all-important task of planning their future pathway.
Head of Careers, Lucy Rogers says, ‘There are so many things for students to consider when they start to think about their future career pathways.’ Things like interests, values, skills and even personality come in to play when guiding young people on their career journey. Lucy explains that the changing career landscape and evolving nature of future work means it can be overwhelming for students and parents alike. ‘We like to guide students to understand more about themselves, what skills they already offer and what aspirations they have so that they can self-manage their careers throughout their lives.’
Year-round, the Careers team provide support and Careers guidance. This includes • Assisting students making the transition from school to tertiary
• Organising career opportunities for students
• Faciliating student career decision-making
• Developing career programmes with students
• Running the Gateway Programme which gives students real on the job experience. (Past Gateway participants have worked in the health sector, trades, early education and the construction industry)
• Providing STAR taster courses
Careers Expo
The Careers Expo was held on the evening of Tuesday 22nd June. This was a well-attended event with most of our senior students taking up the opportunity to see the different exhibitors and speakers. This year was Sancta Maria College’s biggest yet with over 30 exhibitors. The exhibitors included many of the large universities as well as career training across hospitality, construction, health, media and many more.
Families heard from guest speakers from The University of Auckland, AUT, ETCO, Victoria University and University of Canterbury. These were very popular sessions and students gained key information about things like enrolment and entrance requirements.
Y10 Careers Day
On Thursday 30th June, students in Year 10 spent an in-depth day looking into career pathways and life skills. The purpose of the day was to encourage and support students to begin looking into future career options and also consider what skills they may need for their future. Year 10 has been identified as an important time to think about what NCEA subjects will be relevant to their future studies.
Students interacted with a number of speakers
Sue Blair – Personality Dynamics
Sue is a professionally trained personality coach who works with many workplaces and schools. Sue gave insights to students about how we are all differently wired and have different personality preferences. Sue has developed a ‘Personality Puzzle’ which helps students identify their Myers-Briggs personality type. This is very valuable as a tool when young people consider different career pathways and empowers them to begin their career discovery process.
Patrick Sherratt
Patrick is a speaker, trainer and author of the book ‘How to Pass Exams’. Patrick communicates on the human brain and gives tips to students to help them get the most out of study. Our Year 10 students enjoyed hearing from Patrick and learning ways to overcome real-life obstacles to study such as motivation and distraction.
Techtorium
Margaret and Stefan from Techtorium gave students a fun and interactive session on programming and coding. Techtorium are a provider of software development and computer engineering courses in Auckland.
SavY
We welcomed back three Sancta Maria College graduates – Liam Sutherland, Jacob Garbarek and Calvin Quezet. These three young men are part of the financial education trust ‘SavY’ which is an organisation that promotes financial literacy among young people.
AUT University
Students also had the opportunity to hear about student options and general university questions during the session with Auckland University of Technology.
Health & Wellbeing Careers
Did you know that the health industry is the biggest employer in New Zealand? There are many opportunities across the board in this growing industry. Some examples include nursing, pharmacy, aged care, disability support and mental health.
Several students from Sancta Maria College who are strongly considering careers in the health industry are working towards their Gateway training in this field. Some students have had work-based training at Somerset rest home and others will have the opportunity to work in a local pharmacy.
On the 27th May, these students attended a ‘Health & Wellbeing’ Careers Expo followed by a visit to the New Zealand Medical Association to hear about their Pharmacy Technician course. A future trip is planned to go to the University of Auckland to look at their Medical Imaging and Pharmacy facilities. We wish these students all the best on the future career journeys!
Defence Force Talk
On Wednesday 16th June the some of the Careers Team from the New Zealand Defence Force came and gave a talk about what it looks like to have a career in the New Zealand.
- Nadia Pou-Edwards (New Zealand Army)
- Andy Hall (Royal New Zealand Navy)
- Samuel Munday (SMC graduate and now Aircraft Technician in the Royal New Zealand Airforce)
