Careers Related Learning
National Careers Week 2025
At Hipsburn Primary School, we embraced National Careers Week (3rd–7th March 2025) with enthusiasm, exploring an exciting variety of careers and inspiring our pupils to think about their futures.
KS2 began the week with a fascinating session led by Caroline Forster a seismic navigator. The children loved listening to her insights into life offshore and they had great fun popping balloons to mimic the underwater guns that use echoes to locate oil beneath the ocean floor.
Tuesday was a busy day for KS2, with two engaging career sessions. First, Rachel Wilson from Jobsons shared her experience of running a successful shop. Pupils explored the essentials of retail, from marketing strategies to managing premises, before putting their creativity to the test by designing their own shopfronts and merchandise. Later, Stephen Siddorn introduced the children to the world of farming. Pupils enjoyed a hands-on experience, feeling and identifying different types of grain, learning about farming processes, and discovering the many roles within the agricultural industry. Both sessions were incredibly engaging, allowing pupils to think practically and fully immerse themselves in these careers.
Wednesday saw the entire school getting involved! Emma Smith discussed farming and surveying with an interactive session where pupils took on the challenge of evaluating different elements of a farm and calculating their costs, a real eye-opener into the financial side of agriculture. Following this Jeron James, a train driver, gave an exciting glimpse into his career. Pupils were amazed by the incredible speeds trains travel at and the specialist equipment drivers need. A highlight of the session was the surprising fact that train drivers must sit a five hour test every two years- something that even Miss Cromarty couldn't believe! Both sessions were insightful, engaging, and sparked a real curiosity in these fields.
To finish careers week, Collette Pryer came in to talk to the pupils about fitness and physiotherapy. The children loved being able to try out different exercises and think about how they engage their muscles. Collette provided an insight into studying and how she is studying to support women following pregnancy. The children left super inspired with lots of pupils mentioning that they would love to have a go at strength training as they get older.
Etal Class visit to Nissan
We went to the Nissan Factory, Sunderland on 14th December. When we arrived, we were warmly greeted by Andrea and Robin – our activity leaders. First, we were led to a classroom where we were then told about Nissan and its history and career opportunities. We then had some tasty cookies and juice, before we connected tablets to robots and programmed them to drive around the room. After lunch, we went down to the workshop and saw real robots! One had a pen in his hand and drew a Santa, a snowman and Christmas tree (all drawn very well) along with ‘Hi Hipsburn’! The other robots all danced- it was awesome! We went back upstairs and coded the robots to follow obstacle courses. Once we had completed those, we drove them around and even raced them.
We all had an amazing day!
By Finley, year 6