Discover! Creative Careers Week is the flagship event that aims to inspire and inform young people about careers in the creative industries. King Edward VI Handsworth School for Girls wanted their school to shine a spotlight on creativity generally as a valuable and ‘futureproof’ tool for our students to consider, no matter their intended future pathways or aspirations. They have many students who excel at creativity through their curriculum and beyond but also wanted to do some myth busting and encourage students to recognise that you don’t have to be ‘creative’ in the traditional sense of the word, to work in the creative industries! The school has curated a range of events to participate in which included the below exciting opportunities, along with assemblies and discussions about staff career ‘roadmaps’ with creative links to subjects made and signposted during lessons.
Students took part in daily virtual insight workshops with industry experts. These included; ‘Heritage meets New Technology’ with the Shakespeare North Playhouse, ‘Gaming’ with the University of Huddersfield, and ‘Careers in Film and TV’ with Sky Studios Elstree.
We invited student alumna Madeleine Upham (now studying Medicine at Liverpool University and a former A level artist) to deliver an inspirational and thought-provoking keynote speech which covered the juxtaposition between Medicine and Creativity.
The school welcomed a local architecture firm, Gruhe, to deliver a workshop to aspiring architects in Key Stages Four and Five. Students worked on a garden design activity and planned a real brownfield site with a school, shops, and housing.
“The Architecture Masterclass allowed me to gain an insight into the various things that architects must consider at work, for example how spaces can be manipulated to establish a certain atmosphere, creating feeling, as well as how cost inevitably plays a part in the design choices”. - Year 12 Attendee
A trip was arranged to BOA Stage and Screen Academy to undertake a broadcasting masterclass which was hugely inspirational for the students;
“When we went to BOA we were given a brief tour of the beautiful premises, we looked at classrooms such as lighting, sculpture, makeup and radio broadcasting. The workshop that our school did was Radio Broadcasting and it was really interesting. We were told about the different camera angles and presented a show and practised editing the sound. I found the opportunity to be quite eye opening as BOA showed an array of creative careers in areas such as costume design, sound and lighting. This BOA trip has definitely informed any future career prospects I may have, and supports creative individuals in a variety of areas. I would say that this trip was very exciting and would be open to making use of any creative open days in the future". -Year 10 Attendee
“I found this opportunity very useful as it showed me the wide variety of career and job opportunities that are available in the arts, film and tech field. We were also able to practise and use these skills, finding out what it would be like to use them in a work environment by filming our own set, using cameras, scripts etc”. - Year 10 Attendee
Creative Careers Week provided students with engaging insights into careers which can be difficult to explore. The industry-led webinars provided a helpful menu of activities to build the week around. The school-led events and the BOA visit were vital real-life experiences which greatly enhanced the virtual offer. King Edward VI Handsworth School for Girls are now looking at taking a similar approach for other career areas, and how to build on the Creative Careers theme in future.
