Careers event gives Two Gates students a glimpse of the future 

Pupils at Two Gates Primary School enjoyed an inspirational day hearing about everything from artificial intelligence (AI) to mechanical trees in a fascinating careers event. 

The students were encouraged to think, ‘Who am I? Who could I be?’ during the occasion, which launched the school’s ‘Start Small, Dream Big’ Department of Education-funded project.

The Tamworth school, which is part of the respected Arthur Terry Learning Partnership (ATLP), welcomed visitors from a range of different careers who shared interesting information about their jobs with the children.

Careers Co-ordinator and Year 2 teacher Sabrina Williams said: “The aim of the day was to encourage our pupils to have high aspirations of themselves. Even though they’re still very young, it’s important to expose them to a range of careers that they might never have been aware of so they can begin to dream big.

Among the visitors were Fatima, a civil engineer and design co-ordinator at SYSTRA, who spoke about her experiences working internationally, and Ian, an account manager at DHL, who amazed pupils with all the different methods of transportation the company uses.

Pupils then heard from Harry and Tommy from Tyseley Energy Park (TEP), who spoke about climate change and the important work TEP is doing to improve its sustainability. The children were told about the incredible innovations TEP has been working on, including hydrogen-powered buses and even mechanical trees to purify the air.

Years 5 and 6 met Kingsley, who works in the creative design sector. They were interested to learn how AI can amplify human creativity and even got to try using AI themselves.

The ATLP is currently rolling out the ‘Start Small, Dream Big’ project across many of its schools. At Two Gates, it forms part of its ambitious new careers curriculum, which is being launched to help primary school children consider their future from a young age.

It will include employer encounters integrated into the curriculum and standalone lessons that focus on key issues within employment such as gender stereotypes, socio-economic barriers and developments relating to the AI revolution.

“We’re really thankful for their time and look forward to future projects with them, as we move ahead with our careers curriculum. I hope our children look back on the day and future events when they’re older as formative moments for them.”

Main picture: Fatima, a civil engineer and design co-ordinator, told pupils about her work for SYSTRA.