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A “soft skills” day for Wheeler students saw pupils discussing who inspires them in life and how to put their skills and interests to good use.
The Year 12 students were on a study day at Wellington College that featured a talk from Nikki Coleman of the Prospect Trust careers services team and a series of sessions from Talk About, an organisation that provides bespoke training with a focus on soft skills.
Talk About mentors Venandah Madanhi and James Wiley encouraged the group to consider various styles of communication, as well as asking them to think about the skills that make people successful.
Also on the agenda was how to sell themselves in an ‘elevator pitch’ and a debate on the merits of a job versus further education, with half the group taking the position of a student wanting to go straight to work after sixth form and the other half taking the position of a teacher trying to persuade them to go to university instead.
Established in 2017, the Wheeler Programme is a fully-funded educational programme for around 100 selected state school pupils.
Twenty-four students are selected in Year 9 and the college helps support them until their graduation from the programme at the end of Year 13.
Partner state schools include St Crispin’s, The Holt, Ranelagh and The Piggott.
The programme includes a mixture of group activities, visits to workplaces, universities, organisations and people; talks, lectures, workshops and discussions; individual coaching, and tailored mentoring.
