Are exam grades 'worthless' ...?!

Lazlo Bock (Senior Vice President of People Operations at Google) says “Grade Point Averages are worthless as a criteria for hiring and test scores are worthless. ... We found that they don’t predict anything.”  What is he looking for?  Read the full article here.

Thinking of a Gap Year...?

Outreach International is a successful gap year organisation and has been responsible for sending young people overseas since 1998. They aim to match the needs of local communities with the skills and interests of their volunteers. Their projects are ideal for volunteers wishing to help small, grass root initiatives and immerse themselves in an interesting foreign culture. Opportunities include:

· Orphanages and street children

· Medical

· Teaching English

· Disabled children

· Sports coaching

· Animal rescue and conservation

The projects are directly related to gaining work experience which can help with future careers and CV enhancement.

Click here for videos of Gap Year activities.

 

Increase in university applications

Demand for university places has bounced back, with 35% of 18-year-olds in England applying for a university place this year (up 4% on last year), while in London this rose to 44%.  The total is just 3,500 lower than the all-time high reached in 2011, when young people scrambled to start a degree course before higher fees took effect.  Girls continue to seek university places in much higher numbers than boys: 333,700 to 246,300.  There were big increases in applications for engineering (11%), computer sciences (13%) and biological sciences (8%)  However, demand for European languages fell by 5%, and for non-European languages by 6%.  Architecture also slipped slightly by 2%; surprisingly Law also dropped, but only by 1%.  [ source:  GTassociates ]

Who earns what...?

The UK Office of National Statistics has published figures for the average earnings last year in a range of careers. Here are some examples:  Chartered Accountant, £41,500; Civil Engineer, £39,000; Nurse, £31,900; Solicitor, £48,200; Vet, £38,800; Electrician, £30,400 and Plumber, £28,400.  Just don't forget to factor in work-life balance and job satisfaction!

Degree or Apprenticeship...?

Do graduates always earn more than non-graduates?  Figures obtained by Labour MP Frank Field show that, between April and June last year, 27% of graduate employees were paid a gross hourly wage that was lower than the average £11.10 earned by non-graduates with an Apprenticeship. [ However, Office for National Statistics figures do show the average gross pay for graduates in the period was £15.18 an hour, and they were also slightly more likely to be in work. ]  Of the 12 million graduates, 10.5 million (87%) were in employment, compared with 2 million (83%) of the 2.5 million non-graduates in Apprenticeships. ‘Successive generations of young people have been shoe-horned into universities on the promise of improving their lifetime earnings', Field stated. ‘But, as well as being saddled with eye-watering levels of debt, more than a quarter of them now work in part-time roles earning lower wages than workers with an Apprenticeship under their belt…  We need to encourage more young people to think hard about the best ways of achieving their goals in life.’

[ source:  SSAT Policy & Curriculum Radar ]

Year 9 Options Evening

The PowerPoint for last night's Parent Information Evening is available here.  Further details and resources, including the Options Booklet, are available on the school website.  Remember that you can get additional Impartial Advice and Guidance from Jackie Duffy, our Youth Connexions Personal Adviser and from the 'quick links' on the left of this page.

Advice on uni courses, training & Apprenticeships

Getting-in.com is a useful addition to the many free websites out there, providing Impartial Advice and Guidance for your future.  You can search for Higher Education courses by type and location and it also has extensive revision notes for most GCSE and 'A' level subjects as well as a selection of past papers.  The site provides information about 'distance learning' and studying on-line; personal statements and even post-graduate opportunities.  It really is a "one-stop-shop" for advice ...