How we support our students to succeed after they leave Harris

National Careers Week is an exciting opportunity to showcase the range of career pathways available to young people. Of course, supporting our students with their future options is something our Careers Team do throughout the year, and it is a crucial part of the education they receive from us. 

At Harris, we are proud of the incredible work that our Careers Team do to support our students as they embark on their post-school journey. From offering expert advice and guidance on higher education options to organising work experience opportunities, the team goes above and beyond to ensure our students have all the tools and resources they need to succeed.

We spoke to some of the people involved in supporting our students with planning their futures:

• Lesley Tannock – Head of Careers
• Matt Osborne – Principal of Sixth Form
• Dill Anstey – Vice Principal of Sixth Form

 

More than just higher education aspirations

Traditionally, Careers Teams can be focused on getting young people into their chosen universities. And whilst, with 19 Oxbridge offers in this year's Year 13 cohort, that is part of what the team do, apprenticeships and other destinations are also a priority for the team. Lesley explained, “We’re actively looking for apprenticeships for our students, and then we help them with applications, CV writing, and their interview technique”.

 

The focus for our Sixth Forms

Our Sixth Form students study with us for 20 months, and this coming September, we will have 28 Sixth Forms across London, serving 5,500-6,000 students. It is a cycle from the recruitment of students through to preparation for their exams, and eventually to their destinations, and everything that happens within that. 

Matt summed up the work of the Sixth Form teams as, “Everything we do supports students to meet their potential and prepare them for a safe, happy, and successful life after school. We focus on preparing our students to make the best of all the opportunities presented to them throughout their future academic and vocational career.”.

 

Harris Experience: broadening the academic and cultural experiences of our students

One of our biggest initiatives for our young people is ‘Harris Experience’, a cultural and academic enhancement programme that aims to support Harris students to get into the top UK universities and degree apprenticeships. 

Dill explained the details of the programme, “The programme starts in Year 9 and for our younger year groups, it involves trips to cultural and academic institutions, as well as academic enhancement such as lectures back at their academy. In Year 12 and 13, the programme becomes more tailored to the needs of the student but a big part of what we do is advising on university entry including working on high-level personal statements, supporting aptitude exams, and interviews. We also run some big conferences and events”. 

 

The impact of the pandemic

The Covid pandemic had a significant impact on students; the widespread closure of schools disrupted their education and forced them to adapt to remote learning. Matt described some the of biggest issues that his team faced, “Throughout the pandemic, some of our most disadvantaged students were at home, in challenging circumstances with very limited access to educational resources. We provided students with laptops and found additional space and resources so they could access education remotely. We did a lot to maintain the quality of education that we would normally have, whether that be in online lessons, masterclasses, support and mentoring or making arrangements for online assessments and invigilation for those who couldn’t get to school”. 

Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, our staff pulled together to adapt and support the students. Matt explains the hard work and dedication shown by his team, “We were committed to safeguarding the achievement and destinations of the students despite not having external examinations, but also ensuring there were robust assessment systems in place and students achieved the grades they deserved. We made sure that their education was not affected in the way that it might have been if they attended school elsewhere. It was incredibly fulfilling because everything that we were doing was having direct impact on the academic and personal achievement of our learners. We are incredibly proud of the endeavour and resilience shown by our students during such a challenging time and of the incredible outcomes they secured”. 

 

Working in a supportive team

What is clear is that the resilience and dedication of staff has been essential in helping students to navigate recent uncertain times. But Lesley also shared how the team support each other even when working apart, “As a Careers Adviser, you don’t usually work together as you’re working very independently, but to be part of Harris, you are part of a team. We don’t often meet due to the nature of our roles and being in different schools, but the support is still there, everyone is very supportive, and we work well as a team”. 

Dill had similar sentiments about her colleagues, “They are supportive, smart, funny, incredibly dedicated, and quite brilliant at their jobs”. 

 

The qualities that a Careers Adviser needs

Careers Advisers play a crucial role in guiding students towards their future career paths by providing support and advice on the different education and training pathways available to them so they can make informed decisions about their future careers. When asked what are the most important traits that a Career Adviser should have, Lesley responded that they should be, “A good listener, someone with empathy, someone who has some willingness to continue to learn – we’re always faced with young people who are looking for different jobs that we haven’t always come across before”. 

With the guidance and support of a skilled Careers Adviser, students will have the tools and resources that will set them on a path towards a fulfilling and rewarding career. Lesley says, “The biggest impact that a Careers Adviser can have is to open up ideas for the students to think outside the box which will push them to do additional research”. 

 

Our incredible students

We’re really proud of our students and how much they manage to achieve despite coming from some very difficult backgrounds. 

When asked to describe the students they work with, Dill said, “Delightful, I think they are aspirational and hard working”, and Lesley summed it up with, “They are a credit to Harris”. 

Matt went on to say, “Our students are incredibly positive, resilient, really professional, and a pleasure to teach. They’re fantastically impressive individuals who are very open, receptive and ambitious. They are incredibly grateful of the support provided to them and engage really well in extracurricular opportunities. It’s lovely when you walk into the school and meet the students who are mature and positive individuals with excellent interpersonal skills”.

 

Student success stories

The students are the reason for everything we do and it is wonderful to see them go on to succeed. Dill shared with us some of her favourite success stories from the students that she has worked with*:

• Nadim – he came to the UK with no English from Afghanistan, and started formal education in Year 9, then joined Harris in Year 11 and whilst studying in our Sixth Form, got an offer to study History at Oxford and graduated three years later, then going on to support Afghan refugees after the fall of Kabul. 
• Fiona – a looked after child who went on to study English at Cambridge.
• Bodhi – had to redo a year because of supporting an alcoholic father and ended up becoming a medical student (and is just about to qualify).
• Helena – was hospitalised with anorexia for three years and graduated from Harris at the age of 20 and has gone on to study medicine at Exeter.
• Zoe – failed to get into medical school because of low grades, and came back to us during the pandemic, retook her exams, worked with a medical charity, and got into her first-choice medical school a year later. 
• Samuel – hated A-level English at first but went on to study English Literature at Queen Mary University of London, got a first-class degree and now has ambitions to become a teacher. 

*To protect the privacy of individuals, all student names have been changed.