By Jade Archer, Make Happen collaborative outreach officer
The Future Ready programme has now passed the halfway delivery mark for equine management students at Writtle University College.
With a completion date of early March, this progress means that the cohort of students taking their Level 3 Advanced Technical Diploma in Equine Management are on their way to better identifying their skills and interests, increasing their self-confidence, and exploring the possible route to university through open days.
Future Ready offers a range of interesting, engaging and free workshops and events inside and outside of college life to open students’ eyes to the opportunities that lie ahead. The final sessions at Writtle will cover how to write a CV, covering and their personal statements – adding the final touches to ensuring Writtle’s students are prepared for whatever comes next.
Future Ready is specifically-designed to be delivered within Further Education institutions, and at present the Future Ready team operates in six Further Education colleges across Essex.
Future Ready sessions are extremely interactive and include many different tasks. For example, students can explore their personality type through the Myer Briggs personalities tool.
This helps them better understand where their energy is drawn from, how they process information and how they make decisions. These results then help them better understand their preference, values and personality; all important factors when making decisions about one’s future plans.
Another session helps students understand the importance of enjoying what they do, and understand how a combination of their individual passions and skills can help them find the best career for them. Students are also coached on study skills, plus they can find out more about university life including the difference between studying at a campus or city university.
The programme has been running very well, and over the course of the curriculum, it’s become more apparent to us as outreach officers that many students who initially said no to going to university have become a lot more receptive to the idea, and several have asked for further information.
Every secondary school that works with Make Happen is designated a dedicated Make Happen officer, who works closely with the school’s own coordinator to oversee all Make Happen activities, workshops and funding.
If your school would like to benefit from some of the valuable opportunities Make Happen can provide, please contact us.