Post 16 students were invited by ex-student and BBC's Steph McGovern to visit the skills show at Birmingham NEC; an event that attracts over 75,000 people each year with over 600 exhibitors taking part.



Several of our Post 16 students were invited by ex-student and BBC's Steph McGovern to visit the skills show at Birmingham NEC; an event that attracts over 75,000 people each year with over 600 exhibitors taking part.
The event encompasses five skill areas: the building, the street, the work, the studio and the business. Each of these areas had a range of activities to engage visitors to explore a variety of careers that are accessible through vocational work.
The building was an area all about skills in construction, with employers giving out information and advice on apprenticeships and work experience within bricklaying, carpentry, plastering and more.
The street focused on beauty, retail and cooking. Ashley Dyne said "having worked in retail part-time for almost two years now it was interesting to hear the advice employers gave on how to enter the industry".
The works gave details on opportunities in engineering and manufacturing, having recently begun exploring apprenticeships in engineering, Georgia Crosby said she valued most "talking to employers about apprenticeship opportunities in engineering".
The studio provided information for those wanting to enter creative careers, even though aspiring to become a paramedic, Fern Alton said "as a very creative person, one of my favourite parts of the day was meeting people from the fashion industry and chatting about the difference between making your own clothes and buying them from stores".
The business area covered many jobs within business but had a section focused on careers in IT, web and software. Maria Azam spoke to GCHQ and said "finding out more about their organisation and the opportunities they offer young people was really helpful as I don't often get the chance to talk with the leaders or managers of national organisations".
After exploring the event and discussing the different opportunities employers offer for school leavers, the students joined Steph at the spotlight stage for a debate linked to young people and employability.
Steph was joined by six panellists including two young students undergoing their A-levels and employers including the CEO of Nestle.
Ella Henderson said she "loved meeting Fiona Kendrick, Nestle's CEO as she's not the kind of employer you get to meet on a daily basis" while Jacob Bacon commented that "the advice the panellists gave about work experience was really useful, and Fiona noted how even if you emailed someone within the company, for example the head of HR, you would get a response as companies value work experience".
Supriya Malhotra said "for me the debate was the most useful part of the day as it gave me an opportunity to hear exactly what employers look for in terms of core skills". Our students were able to pose questions for the panellists and to become actively involved in the debate.
With the debate including the opportunities through vocational work like higher apprenticeships, Jack Collins said that "meeting the developers of Google and finding out about opportunities for young people within their organisation was his favourite part of the day."
The majority of our students aspire to go onto university or another form of higher education, yet some of the students that visited the skills show were surprised to discover how any other opportunities there are available for young people. For example, Supriya commented that she had always had her heart set on going to university, but she had never considered doing so through a company whilst undergoing paid work at the same time.
From the animated conversations on the journey home it was clear that the students had found the day extremely valuable.

Skills Show 2014
Skills Show 2014
Skills Show 2014