This week Year 12 students had the chance to engage with local employers as part of their Careers provision.

Members from the DWP came into school to conduct panel interviews with selected students to help prepare them for university and employer interview styles. Students were engaged and responsive to the interviews and the DWP again commented on how courteous and knowledgeable our students were.

Alex Brightman from Northern Gas ran a workshop for potential lawyers, project managers, engineers and those interested in the financial sector. The session looked at the different career pathways available through green energy which is one of the fastest growing sectors in our area. The students created mood boards during the workshop. Students commented on how useful the workshop was and were interested in the many different career opportunities available with Northern Gas.

Finally, Health and Social Care students attended a workshop by former student Zeta Bikova. Zeta is currently completing her PhD at the University of Sunderland where she also teaches. Zeta spoke to the students about the BSc Health, Wellbeing and Care in Society course that is offered at Sunderland and is underpinned by sociological and psychological theories. The workshop explored the different career avenues the degree can lead to, as well as being a great opportunity for our current students to meet with one of our previous students to be able to discuss her career journey.

The Careers partners who came into school were excellent and all of our students benefitted from these different interactions. We are very grateful to all the employers who came into school to work with our students. 

As part of Work Experience Week, Opencast attended Jesmond Park Academy to deliver a practical and engaging workshop for BTEC Applied Science students. The session was run by Scott Axon and Laura Martin and focused on introducing students to the fundamentals of Agile delivery and the key roles involved in a technology project.

They worked with a cohort of 20 students, split into four teams of five. Each team was assigned the following core Agile delivery roles:

• Business Analyst (BA)
• Developer
• Quality Assurance (QA)
• User-Centred Design (UCD)
• Client

The session began with an introduction to the Business Analyst role, with a spotlight on how BAs collaborate with other team members and stakeholders to understand and translate business needs into actionable solutions.

Each group was then guided through four different scenarios, designed to simulate real-world delivery challenges. Using LEGO as a creative tool, students were tasked with fulfilling client requirements by:

• Collaborating in their defined roles
• Communicating clearly to gather and refine requirements
• Testing and iterating on their LEGO builds based on feedback
• Presenting their final solution back to the “client”

During the session we encouraged the students to use key transferrable skills such as using questioning as a method to ensure that they fully understood the clients needs. This encouraged good understanding of the requirements they were working with and showed they fully understood the ask.

The hands-on format allowed students to step into the shoes of each role and experience first-hand the importance of teamwork, iterative delivery, and user-centred thinking.

Award winners:

Confidence Award to Sara. Confidence is a tough thing, Sara has demonstrated confidence throughout NUF lessons by always volunteering for activities, giving everything a go, and being a huge supporter of her classmates.

Commitment Award to Shea. Shea has tried to verbalise a continuing commitment to the Praise code and is always striving for on-going improvement.

Outstanding Student Awarded to Jacob. Jacob has been brilliant throughout all NUF lessons, even when he was injured, he was able to finish all booklet work with his weaker hand. He was always a positive influence on the group and always offered insight into what he thought the soft skills in use were.

Recently we took some very lucky pupils to participate in @NUFoundation and @NUFC Annual 1892 Cup held at NUFC Academy.

Through our engagement in NU Foundation Partner School programme, supported by @HarrisonCentre, we were able to give students an opportunity to play in the tournament and receive their own 2025/26 NUFC kit.

What an afternoon!

https://www.nufoundation.org.uk/news/silverware-surprise-for-newcastle-united-foundation-community-at-annual-1892-cup

On Tuesday 1st of July, we had 2 of our Year 8 Food Technology classes taking part in the world’s largest cooking lesson led by Jamie Oliver. 

Together with thousands of other schools, we smashed the Guinness World Records™ title for the largest cookery lesson in multiple venues — and we are officially record breakers!
Drumroll, please. The final numbers are in…
Contributing to this record there were 10,515 cooks, across 6 continents and 42 countries helped smash the record!

This was done with students demonstrating their passion, energy, and love for food. Together they were chopping, stirring, and tasting a homemade pasta with basil and tomato sauce and we have helped make history!

Why we did this:
At the heart of this record attempt is a simple belief: every child, everywhere, should leave school able to cook confidently and take care of themselves — no matter what life throws at them. That’s why Jamie Oliver has developed ‘Jamie’s 10 Skills Programme’ , to give young people the essential skills in nutrition, knife safety, budgeting, and so much more.  

Keep cooking, keep inspiring!