Nationally-acclaimed actor, producer and director, Andrew Ellis, recently visited Saint Paul’s Catholic High School in Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester where he gave an inspirational talk to students there about his life and achievements as part of the school’s Aspirations Day.
Andrew Ellis was born in Wythenshawe, Manchester and found a passion for acting in high school. His major break was in Shane Meadow’s BAFTA winning film ‘This is England’. Andrew has since gone on to star in a number of film and television productions, reprising his role as the lovable ‘Gadget’ in ‘This is England’ television series.
Andrew commented: “Visiting St Pauls was an absolute pleasure, the pupils listened and responded well and the staff were brilliant. It’s a joy to show young people of Wythenshawe that there are opportunities out there for the taking”.
The students in Year 11 had the opportunity to reflect on their future path once they leave Saint Paul’s during the school’s Aspirations Day. They were able to gain valuable help and tips from ex-students, colleges and employers in a series of workshops.
Representatives from a cross-section of industries gave up their time to support and inspire the students teaching them concrete skills linked to the careers. The careers workshops received an extremely positive response from our students. The workshops were delivered by a variety of professional businesses including aviation, tech & computer engineering, legal, law enforcement, sales & marketing, hospitality/event management and hairdressing.
The students had the opportunity to learn about each industry and career path as well as more practical applications of skills including: computer coding; understanding of entrepreneurship and what it means to ‘disrupt the market’; confident sales and marketing strategies to adopt in personal interview and business scenarios; events management and design/plan logistics for their own school prom; aviation security searching bags for prohibited items and metal detecting wands; the Theft Act and how it can apply in the real world; physical arrest procedure; hair styling and nail painting; ethical legal dilemmas with real life case studies; growth mindset and social theories about power, choice and autonomy; the acting and performing arts world and listening to St Paul’s students share their experiences of Year 11 and subsequent career trajectories.
The students were highly engaged throughout the day and developed a wider skill set to compliment their academic curriculum as well as enhance their own cultural capital and knowledge into opportunities available to them post-high school. Parents were then invited into school during the evening with their child for subject presentations and revision activities to guide them in how to succeed and how parents can best support this.
Feedback from students included: “I enjoyed it because it was fun to listen to and have a different experience and I think the next Year 11 pupils should have this opportunity” and “It was a nice change from normal lesson and I learnt something new. The speeches from past students were very interesting and inspiring.”
Craig Poole from Cardinal Logistics said: ‘It was a great experience being able to give something back to the pupils.’ and Kathryn Balogun from Browne Jacobson added: ‘It was an incredibly rewarding experience. It was truly inspiring to see the level of engagement and enthusiasm from all the students.’
Laura Fannon, Assistant Headteacher, said: “The day was a fantastic opportunity for the students to gain some extremely valuable skills, learn some important information and raise their aspirations. Our visitors provided a great deal of “food for thought” and the Saint Paul’s alumni added extra inspiration about what you can achieve if you focus and put in the effort.”
Mike Whiteside, Headteacher, explained: “Our students found this to be a very valuable day where they were able to discuss their future paths with ex-students, college students and with employers. Students were able to broaden their horizons and aspirations and returned to school next day extremely motivated to work hard and do well.”
Mr Whiteside added “We are very grateful to those employers, ex-students and other organisations who are kind enough to offer their time to provide our students with the opportunity to make a more informed choice about what career route is best for them.”