On the 9th of December 2016 we set off on a short 50 minute flight to the gorgeous city of London to get an insight into the different ways Career Ready motivates students in the UK as well as Ireland.
Myself and eight other Transition Year girls accompanied by two of our teachers met up at the school gates in the early hours at 4:30am. We arrived at the airport at around 5:00am and went through customs, Duty-Free and made our way to the departure gates. We got to London around 7:00am and met up with the other schools from Dublin who were also part of the trip and Yvonne, the Career Ready organiser for Ireland.
We got the Gatwick Express to Victoria station and then got a train from Victoria to Oxford Street, we had a lot of travelling in one day! When we reached Oxford Street underground we walked up the steps and made our way out onto the street. We were all amazed at the beautiful decorations around the street that we saw. Nearly every shop we could think of was on the same path! We got a few minutes to stroll around and check out some shops, shop a little bit and take in the experience. At around 10:30am we made our way to the Dominion theatre where lots of different schools from around the UK were gathering for a motivational talk with ‘Action Jackson’ and other inspiring people.
To wake the crowd up Action Jackson rapped out a song about Career Ready and everyone was up on their feet in no time! A lot of his quotes inspired us, “Your brain is like a parachute, it’s no use if it isn’t open” After he talked a bit, he then made everyone write down which speaker they found most inspiring and hand it to the Career Ready team on the way out.
Click here to watch the Career Ready students rap with Action Jackson
After the theatre, we then went to a recruiting company with the other schools and they showed us how they worked and what skills were important to keep in mind when interviewing for a job and what most employers are looking for. They did communication activities that got the whole room talking and gave us food & drinks which we all needed after a long day of travelling.
When we were finished at the company, we went and did a bit of sightseeing and shopping. We took pictures beside telephone boxes, pictures of beautiful buildings and bought souvenirs for our families.
After a long day we headed back to the train station and hopped back onto the Gatwick Express to the airport only to do more shopping in every girls favourite shop ‘Victoria’s Secret’ and other places, we also went to Nandos for food before flying home. On the flight back to Dublin we talked to the other school from Dublin, St. Pauls and made good friends with them which was a good end to the day.
We all had a brilliant time in London! We saw new things, learned new things and shopped till we dropped. It was a great experience and we are all thankful to be a part of Career Ready.
Ciara Mullins – 4th Year
