MORE than 300 school children from across West Devon descended on Princetown recently to discover the path to their future career at the inaugural Dartmoor Aspirations Day.

Organised by Princetown Primary School, and sponsored by the Dartmoor Classic, the event saw children from seven schools — Meavy Primary, Horrabridge Primary, St Peter’s Junior School, Tavistock Primary, Gulworthy Primary, Lamerton Primary, Mount Kelly Prep and Princetown Primary — come together to discover what it takes to make it in their dream job.

Representatives from more than 20 different disciplines were on hand to give the children an insight into their careers and the skills they need and use on a daily basis.

Among the professions and disciplines were engineers, an artist, journalist, photographer, archaeologist and a theatre nurse. There were also representatives from the military forces, the fire, police and prison services, national park rangers, caterers, boat designers and estate agents.

There was also an opportunity for the children to discover what it takes to make it in the world of sport and event management from the Dartmoor Classic representatives.

Phil Whittley, executive head of Princetown Primary School, said: ‘It was fantastic to see so many school children coming together to think big and discover their aspirations. Our aim was to motivate children to strive towards their future goals and to make sense of why it’s so important to have high expectations.

‘Working with local businesses we were able to create a unique, hands-on experience for the children, who had passports to fill with stickers from the various trades and professions.

‘The children were able to discover the skills and qualifications they need for different careers and they found out why each role is fun and exciting.

‘The children were also able to try out boat building, testing their designs in a large tank of water. They used breathing apparatus and learned about fire safety.

‘They iced chocolate brownies and learned about the daily life of a chef. They took part in science, technology, engineering and maths projects where they had the opportunity to build, design and draw.

‘They learned about waste management and even had the chance to make their own volcano.

‘More akin to an expo, the Dartmoor Aspirations Day lit the imagination of the children, helping them learn about the workplace, connecting that with education experience in the classroom, giving relevance to the subjects that they study on a daily basis. It was a huge success and one that we’ll aim to repeat next year.’