2023-2024 Cycle 1 Employability Day & Stretch Finals

Every cycle at Dixons McMillan we hold our Employability Days. These are days off timetable where all students follow a carefully constructed plan from our careers team to broaden their horizons and consider the summit of their personal mountains.

Our focus during this cycle was ensure that students had a broad understanding of the world of work outside of the doors of the academy - especially in the local Leeds City Region, which includes Bradford.

All year groups took place in a number of different activities this cycle. Year 7 visited the University of Bradford for a campus tour whilst also taking part in the Spotlight Festival on Mathematics. Year 8 took part in the Edit - a project-based workshop from Sky and Adobe which teaches students about the work of broadcast journalism. Year 9 created amazing small business projects that could be used at the Trinity Kitchen at the Trinity Leeds shopping centre. Year 10 worked together in advisories to find out more about life working at Amazon. Year 11 used the day to research more about their further education and employment options.

All students in Years 9 - 11 also visited our Careers Fair, with stalls from organisations as diverse as the National Health Service and the Royal Air Force.

Later in the afternoon, Year 8 Stretch Finalists presented to their year group on the theme of culture, with presentations ranging from the Vikings to Japan. A big well done to Olivier Mikolajczyk in 8B who was declared the winner by our expert panel of Mrs Bowley and two Year 11 students.

Special thanks is also due to Miss Jenkins, who after many years leading our careers education and our Employability Days, moves onto a new school in January 2024. We wish her the best of luck.