Solent supporting Great oaks.

The Southampton Solent Rotary Team were given a warm welcome when they arrived for the annual Great Oaks School Careers Fair and were joined by a number of representatives from local organisations including the Police, Choices College and the Saints Foundation.

Our team consisted of SSR Members Nick Vaughan, Philip Brazier and Alice Nyamai, Corporate Members Simeon and Ade Agbonkhina, Global Scholar Thany Dykson, and four members of Empiric Student Property plc, Lauren Chambers, Robert Serban, Beatriz Lopes and Grace Betteridge, a company that we very much hope may join as a Corporate Member.

Great Oaks School is a secondary school for young people with a range of complex learning difficulties including autism and speech and language difficulties. Its pupils come from all over Southampton as well as from some other parts of Hampshire.

During the morning we met up with many enthusiastic young people who were eager to find out more about the career that might suit them and what they might expect when they enter the world of work. As you might expect, one of the most popular questions was ‘how much can I expect to be paid!!”

Since the event I received an email from Pam Campion, Great Oaks Careers Officer, thanking us for attending their Careers Fair and saying “I’ve been told by the teachers that lots of the students went back to class talking about the jobs they want to do in the future.  It really does make a difference for the students having ‘real’ people to talk to them”.