Wellingborough infant school pupils set sights on future with Aspirations Week
Pupils at The Avenue Infant School in Wellingborough were given the opportunity to see a possible glimpse into their future by being visited by people from a range of different job backgrounds.
Children had visits from people in a variety of roles including graphic designer, robot engineer, vet, author, illustrator, hairdresser, gymnast, paramedic and police officer.
Students at the school were given the chance to quiz visitors about their day-to-day jobs, and the work that goes into them.
School headteacher Helen Morrall praised the ‘fabulous’ week as a key step in the children’s early years development.
She said: “Our Aspirations Week has been a fabulous week of fun and learning for our children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2.
“The visitors really brought to life their professions and helped the children’s understanding. We believe it is so important for the children to see the wealth of opportunities available to them in their futures and how skills such as collaboration, resilience, problem solving and communication, which we value and work hard to develop in the children, are vital in many jobs.
“They also learned important lessons about the value of money and considered decision making with their spending.”
During the week, learning included tasks related to different professions, like designing illustrations for a book as an illustrator and looking after ‘animals’ as a vet.
The children, earning pretend money for each task they completed, were taught about money management, spending, saving and budgeting. At the end of each day, they were able to choose to spend or save their earnt money on a range of rewards like extra playtime, or real items like toys and books.
When Aspirations Week came to a close on Friday, one child said: “We met paramedics. I liked seeing the ambulance and the stuff they had inside.”
Another added: “There was a big board of decisions for spending our money. We had to work hard to earn our money.’
A third said: “I liked experiencing all the different jobs so I can think about what I want to do when I am older. I liked learning about what different people’s parents do.”