Be Inspired Careers Programme

Preparing Today for Tomorrow’s Workplace

We’ve been inspiring the next generation of women to follow their own path for more than 130 years. We want our pupils to be free to pursue their dreams and passions and to never feel restricted by gender when making choices about their future career.  

Our Be Inspired programme is designed to support and guide pupils towards their chosen career.

“At Harrogate Ladies’ College my main love, academically, was Physics – not that common for a girl at the time. School took the attitude that I should pursue what was right for me and not worry about what anyone else thought.”

Professor Sarah Thompson MBE, former pupil and Physics Professor, University of York

Some pupils will already have a clear idea of the career they want to pursue when they join us. We’ll be there to equip them with the skills and knowledge they need to achieve their dream job. Other pupils may still be searching for their passion and we’ll be there to inspire them and open their eyes to all of the incredible possibilities that lay ahead of them.

Either way, it will be a personalised and very individual journey for every pupil. 

1-to-1 Support and Guidance

Throughout their time at College pupils receive individual support and guidance from our experienced staff. From U3 (Year 7) onwards all pupils have regular 1-2-1 meetings across the year.  We’ll help them to discover and develop their passion through both curricular and extra-curricular activities. As pupils progress through College they’ll receive specialist support to guide them through subject choices and university applications. 

Careers Fairs and Careers Talks

Our annual Careers Fair brings together higher education providers alongside employers from different industries giving pupils and parents the opportunity to explore a huge range of potential careers paths.  The size of our school means that everyone has the opportunity to speak on a 1-to-1 basis with the attendees and build valuable contacts and insights.

Pupils and professionals networking at Harrogate Ladies’ College careers fair

As part of our Be Inspired programme, we also run careers talks by professionals working in a wide range of careers and industries – they’re also frequently involved in recruiting new staff, so understanding what they are looking for in future employees can be priceless.  Again, the size of our school means that pupils get to talk to the speakers, many of whom are Alumni of our school, individually, ask questions and find out what it’s really like to do a particular job. These talks help pupils to hear real life career stories; gain an insight into career development paths and again, build a network of contacts to help them along the way.

Sally Cahill (left) provided real life insight into her career in the British legal system.

Curriculum Links

Our focus on Careers is interwoven across our core curriculum subjects to give pupils an understanding of the real life applications of the subjects they’re studying. From the annual Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) day run by the Science Department; and workshops with professional artists, milliners, musicians and chefs; to Business School visits to companies such as Morrisons and Sky; we aim to connect academic subjects to the world of work in a creative and inspiring way.

Visiting Sky is one of the many external trips that the Be Inspired Careers Programme facilitates.

Employability Skills

We know that the workplace of tomorrow is likely to look different from that of today. Some of our pupils will go onto careers that don’t even exist today and we know that many pupils will have multiple careers across their working lives.  We aim to ensure therefore, that pupils leave us with the career and life skills that future employers will value and will actively look for in their future employees including:

• Communication skills
• Leadership experience
• Creative thinking
• Analytical skills
• Digital skills
• Networking and collaboration
• Time management
• Adaptability
• Problem solving
• Strong work ethic

Finding your passion isn’t always easy and developing a successful career that embraces that passion can be even harder.  But we’ve been helping pupils do just that since 1893.

“When I was at school my teachers encouraged and inspired me to follow my dreams of pursuing a career in the aerospace industry.”

Samantha Crawford Monroy, former pupil and Aerospace Engineering Student.

Samantha Crawford Monroy (centre), former pupil and current Aerospace Engineering student