Rugby High School has many amazing opportunities in relation to careers and these are mainly run and organised by Mr Marley – a History teacher and Head of PSHE and Careers.  When we spoke to him, he explained the opportunities available to students from Year 7 through to Year 13 and how vital it is for students to be thinking about their futures from a young age but also important to keep an open mind. 

What career based activities are available at Rugby High School? 

Mr Marley was excited to answer this question because activities that young people experience as they grow up, can introduce new job prospects and ideas for them, as well as reinforcing the thoughts they may already be having as to what the future holds for them. He said there is a Careers Fair for Year 9, 11 and 12 which allows students to ask questions to representatives in different careers to gain insightful knowledge.  However, not all careers opportunities come from times like this. Mr Marley explained “Quite a lot of careers education is delivered through PSHE and form time activities. The things that you do become more focused as you get older and choose your GCSE and later A level options” and “as you start to think of what you really want to do, there are things like work experience. The process starts in Year 10 and is completed in Years 11 and 12.  Then in Sixth Form there is also the opportunity for volunteering.”  

Is it important for students in Year 7 to think about their careers? 

Yes, because it is important for students to start thinking about their careers at a young age as there are so many opportunities and having even a vague idea of what they might want to do will help when choosing their options in Year 9. He explained that this is useful because, “GCSE’s are now taken much more into consideration by universities and businesses,” and that, “It is important to get that process started from Year 7.”  

Does this importance increase as they get older? 

According to Mr Marley, it does increase as they “become more aware of what they want to do” and “their plans for the long term change.” He explained that it is important to keep options open as the career path they want may be hard to follow, especially concerning careers in medicine. He also mentioned that over time, what students want to achieve from a career may change from being more materialistic and finance based to what they actually want to do and what they aim to get out of life. 

Do your GCSE choices matter? 

Many people have the conception that GCSE’s don’t matter or are unimportant. These choices may seem like they do not affect anything as they still allow space for open mindedness or career changes but, at the same time, can they restrict your A level choices to some extent? “You can still do some A level subjects without doing the GCSE, but it is a lot harder.” Yet, this may not be the case for all A level options as he went on to say “It may be easier if you have actually done that subject, but this varies depending on the subject, and on how easy it is to pick things up… It tends to be the skills which are important.” He gave the example of History and said that while it would be possible to do History A level without the GCSE, it would be easier with the background base of skills developed through the GCSE which would then be built up on and reinforced rather than introduced. From GCSE – and before, it may be good to think about your future because a lot of jobs require specific A levels which are easier to do if you have the solid knowledge that a GCSE may provide. 

In an ideal world, is there anything that you would like to introduce in Rugby High School? 

In an ideal world, Mr Marley wishes students would have much more interaction with employers. However, he explained that, “It is extremely difficult to organise as they need to give up their time,” and the staff, “would need to take people off timetable and it is difficult to organise and do repetitively without impacting curriculum time.” 

In conclusion, everyone should consider their career options from young age, but not become fixated on particular jobs or aspects of the future. It is good to consider and plan though, but your job should also be one that you enjoy – not just one with a good income or flexible working hours.  

 

Eve Lawson and Ruby Ward, Year 9

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