Careers and Jobs Event at St Augustine's High School

About the Business Leaders

These business leaders have been chosen because their companies are growing quickly.

About the teacher and students

The event was created by Bláthnaid Quinn for 25 students at St Augustine's High School aged Age 16 - 18.

Event description

Enterprise Skills - What's Involved in Starting a New Business

St Augustine’s Roman Catholic High School has a school roll of approximately 1000. It is one of the most ethnically diverse high schools in Scotland. One third of the pupils are not yet fully fluent in English. Half of the pupils do not have English as their first language. There are 67 languages in the school – Arabic is the most spoken followed by Polish and Spanish. It has a large catchment area, covering a lot of the west of Edinburgh.

Many students come from immigrant or new Scots families. Their families/ carers may lack knowledge of Scottish society and the local labour market. They may also lack knowledge of alternative routes and pathways such as apprenticeships or FE college routes. Families are often very aspirational for their young people in their new country, Scotland, but may be unrealistic in their aspirations sometimes, expecting their young people to end up in the classic professions (doctor, lawyer etc.) through university. 80% of the pupils of St Augustine’s live in the SIMD 1 and 2 areas (SIMD = Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation), i.e. the most deprived areas.

These students are pursuing a qualification in Enterprise and Employbility. Their backgrounds, very probably as New Scots, means that they or their families have few networks and connections in Edinburgh. They often have little knowledge or experience of what it means to start up a new business, getting an idea through from inception to reality.

It would be really helpful if you could share insights from your own career of experiences you have of start ups and making a new business idea a reality.

Speakers will ‘tell a story’ about their career journey:

• Subjects they studied and how these are relevant now

• What inspired them to choose their career path

• Their failures, as well as successes

• What their company does and why this is important

• What they enjoy most about their career

• Skills currently relevant in the jobs they are doing now."