Recently, Venerable Bede CE Academy and Castle View Academy in Sunderland have hosted AMSP career talks for Year 10 and 11 students. These talks were delivered in different formats.
The first was in a 30 minute assembly for around 80 Year 11 students who are following the Higher GCSE specification. The second was delivered during regular timetabled classes, taking up 30 minutes of each lesson, mainly for the top two-three classes in Year 10 and 11. Whickham School in Gateshead will host the next one hour session.
We found that most students are not really aware of post-16 maths pathways and career possibilities, especially in 11-16 schools. With the Gatsby Career Benchmarks and Core Maths now really high on the governmental agenda, and with a big shortage of mathematical skills in the country, this could be an ideal opportunity for students to start to think early on about which post-16 maths option is best for them. We hope to see a shift in the years to come from, “Should I take maths post-16?” to, “Which maths should I take?”
If you are interested in having a similar talk at your school, please get in touch.