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About Us

FutureSmart Careers

"Our mission is to provide young people with the skills, knowledge and resources they need to make confident and informed choices about their futures and achieve their full potential."

At FutureSmart Careers, we pride ourselves on providing highly effective, impartial and inspirational careers guidance programmes to young people delivered by advisers that are qualified to Level 6 or Level 7 in careers guidance. 

We have built a strong track record of delivering services that are flexible, reactive and relevant to the unique needs of schools, students and their parents.

Our range of support services includes one to one guidance sessions, psychometric assessments and action plans as well as workshops, talks, online resources and regular newsletters.   

We are proud to have achieved the Matrix Standard and, as an affiliate member of the CDI (Career Development Institute), FutureSmart Careers is committed to the highest standards of professional conduct and service delivery.

We are also a Morrisby strategic partner and a recognised provider with the Careers and Enterprise Company. 

We use our specialist knowledge to work in partnership with schools to support the Gatsby process ensuring that the student journey remains at the centre of all that we do. To find out more about how we support meeting the Gatsby Benchmarks: Click here

The road to success starts here.

Your road to success

Testimonials

"I wanted to say a huge thank you for being a fundamental part of our Year 11 Futures Day. The workshops you delivered were engaging, inspiring, and motivating, and the feedback we’ve received from students has been excellent."

ASK Delivery Event, Hertfordshire
"Thank you so much for the amazing support and help over the last few years, Alex, you and Vicky and the team have been so amazing and everything you do is incredibly appreciated!"

Cathedral School, Llandaf
"The advisor was professional and approachable throughout the session, making parents feel comfortable to ask questions without judgement."

ASK Delivery Event, Devon
"It was amazing overall. Discussing my careers and my future. It was a good opportunity to speak to someone about my future."

Year 11 student, Buxton School, Leytonstone
"Thank you to you and your team. Our students have raved about their appointments and it is apparent in the conversations that they felt comfortable enough to open up considerably. I am so impressed by the quality of the service you have provided."

Assistant Headteacher, St Thomas the Apostle School and Sixth Form
“There are so many options and ways to get onto specific careers that I was unsure about beforehand. It's reassuring to know the amount of options.”

Year 12 student, Torquay Girls Grammar School, Torquay
"Thank you so much for sharing the feedback with us and it is totally deserved!

We feel very fortunate to have such an amazing team working with and supporting our students."

Careers Coordinator, Exmouth Community College
“I have a clearer idea on how to approach my A levels and university options.”

Year 11 student, Christ’s School, Surrey
"The advisor following the session made herself available for parents to ask further questions, giving all adequate time to understand and absorb the information in relation to individuals circumstances."

ASK Delivery Event, Devon
"Thank you for all the work that you and your team have done for our students this year."

Careers Lead, Highworth Warneford School, Wiltshire

Latest Blog Posts

Essay and writing competitions - it’s not just about winning!

25th April 2022

Want to develop your writing skills? Or are you keen to show that you can work beyond the school syllabus? Competitions are a great way forward.

Essay competitions or writing competitions?

The main difference is that an essay competition will usually have an academic focus while a writing competition is for fiction writing or journalistic fact-based writing. Entering something like the BBC’s Young Reporter Competition, for instance, could also give you the flavour of a professional career.

If you are interested in a writing career, then either type of competition will provide an excellent way to develop and showcase your writing skills and demonstrate your creativity. Both can also enhance your university application or CV.

For university applications to a wide number of courses, essay competitions have some advantages and can help you to:

Structure your time

Essay competitions have strict deadlines and if you are prone to procrastination this can be helpful. With a concrete timeline for you to follow, it is much easier to organise yourself to study a particular subject when there is a purpose and an endpoint.

Think critically and learn

When it comes to learning, writing is better than reading. You will consolidate your understanding and remember details more easily when you have had to frame them into an argument. Having a word limit can also help you to communicate your point with concision. In writing an essay, you become an active learner.

Develop writing and research skills

Research and writing are the key skills you will be using at university, but they are not always easy to develop within the confines of the school curriculum. An essay competition will enable you to dig deeper. You will go beyond textbooks to complete your academic research, and in doing so your research skills will grow. You will also demonstrate to admissions tutors that you can do well at higher-level study.

Make decisions

Essay competitions are an excellent way to explore different fields. The earlier you start the more areas you can explore. Can’t decide between Art History or Classical Civilisation at university? Why not enter the Write on Art essay competition and the Mary Renault Prize to help you decide? Which one do you enjoy more?

Getting started

Essay competitions

The University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge both offer an extensive range of essay prizes and subject focus competitions. You can look directly at the university websites. Minds Underground and Open Oxbridge have compiled lists to make the search easier.
Student Room list a range of competitions beyond Oxbridge. While the list was compiled in 2020 and hasn’t been updated, it is worth doing an internet search for individual competitions for current information and deadlines.
Search by subject and by the university. Both the University of Sheffield and the University of Nottingham have several prizes. The University of St Andrews has a theology and science essay competition linked to a significant scholarship. Searching for competitions by subject identified the British Sociological Society’s competition as well as the Young Science Writer of the Year Award.

Writing competitions

The School Reading Lists website has a page dedicated to children's writing competitions. There is a fiction focus, but we spotted some great opportunities for budding journalists. Look out for the Youth Orwell Prize, The Political Studies Association student blog competition, and the First News Young Reporter Award. There are also a number of essay competitions - Royal Geography Society and Goldsmiths, University of London.
The Walter Scott Prize website has several competitions for young people. The Young Walter Scott Prize itself is for historical fiction which gives the opportunity to demonstrate historical research and insight.
Neon Books has an extensive list of UK writing competitions. These are not specifically aimed at young people. Many are open to all ages as well as having youth categories, such as the Bridport Young Writer Award. There are also competitions linked to geographical areas, such as the Frome Short Story Festival, which has a category for local young writers under 21.

Top tips

1. Read the instructions!

If you want to have a chance of winning you need to write to the brief the competition has set.

2. Look at previous winners.

This could give you an insight into what the judges look for.

3. Leave time to proof and polish.

Ask somebody else to read your work both for sense-making as well as for spelling and grammar.

4. Enjoy it!

Immersing yourself in a subject you enjoy is valuable in and of itself but will also help your work to shine.

Good luck!

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If you want to arrange an appointment to discuss your requirements in more detail please do contact us. We would love to hear from you.

0330 311 9509

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