Isabella Lindoe, Olivia Wierzba, Esmie Hague and Grace Warneford, aged 13, have been named North East regional winners in an annual contest designed to highlight the range of roles within the NHS, and encourage young people to consider a health or care career.
Isabella, Olivia, Esmie and Grace, pupils at St. Bede’s Catholic School in Durham created a video job advert for the role of speech and language therapist. You can see the video on YouTube here.
Health Education England (HEE) runs the Step Into The NHS competition in secondary schools each year to highlight the many career paths in health and care.
This year’s competition saw an impressive 840 entries from students in 134 secondary schools throughout England, with an estimated 18,000 secondary students taking part. The competition, which asks students to create a job advert and description for a chosen NHS role, raises awareness of over 350 career opportunities in the NHS and supports the career aspirations of young people in education.
The winners were awarded top prize for their region, each receiving a certificate and a £25 Amazon voucher to spend.
The judges for the secondary school competition were DNA investigator and England netball player Rachel Dunn, 2020’s UK Career Leader of the Year Stacey Drake and Health Education England’s Director of Skills Development and Participation, Laura Roberts.
One of the winners, Olivia said: “We enjoyed learning about careers that we weren’t aware of.”
Class teacher, Mr Antony Swales said: “I’m very proud of Isabella, Olivia, Grace and Esmie; their excellent creativity and motivation helped them to produce a thought-provoking animation for their advert and their Teams presentation to the judges was very impressive! They are a credit to St. Bede’s. This initiative from the NHS has been excellent to encourage careers in STEM subjects.”
Useful teaching resources were provided to help raise students’ aspirations and understanding of the many careers available in the NHS.
The resources help students learn about themselves by encouraging them to explore the wide range of jobs in the health service.
Dr Navina Evans, Chief Executive, Health Education England, said: “This year’s entries for the Step Into The NHS contest have been imaginative, fun and inspiring. I am absolutely thrilled to congratulate Isabella, Olivia, Esmie and Grace on their video! Well done – keep up the great work.”
Developed in partnership with teachers, the Step Into The NHS website includes a careers quiz, real-life stories from NHS staff, work experience tips and learning resources to help young people explore the hundreds of roles within the NHS:
https://www.stepintothenhs.nhs.uk/
For details of all the career opportunities the NHS can offer, visit the Health Careers website here:- https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/
Photo, Left to right: Esmie Hague, Grace Warneford, Antony Swales, Olivia Wierzba
