A day of activities in your workplace structured around a particular theme.   

Activity days are an opportunity for staff to engage more fully with students using skills that they employ in their work.  They also allow for staff to develop their own skills and interactions with colleagues. The model is easily replicable once delivered. 

Quick Stats – Activity Day
Time commitment
Half a day or full day
Age group
Any year group
Volunteers needed
Varies by format
Complexity
Medium — replicable once set up
Timetable – Careers/Enterprise Activity Day
Example timetables
Example A
Business Challenge Day
A key challenge is threaded through the day, such as preparing a pitch or responding to a brief.
10:00 am
Welcome & icebreaker
Settle students in, introduce the day's challenge and the teams.
10:30 am
Workplace tour
Students visit departments to understand where their challenge fits within the organisation.
11:00 am
Challenge workshop
Teams work on the central brief — e.g. designing a product, solving a business problem, or building a pitch deck.
12:30 pm
Lunch
Ideally in the staff canteen — a valuable experience of workplace culture.
1:15 pm
Presentations, debrief & awards
Teams present their work to a panel of staff. Judges give feedback and announce winners.
2:45 pm
Depart
Early finish allows students to avoid rush hour.
💡 Delivery tips
1
10:00–10:30am is a good start time to allow for transport issues.
2
Start with a tour so students understand where each department fits before the challenge begins.
3
Having an overarching challenge gives the day structure and helps join up the various insights and skills.
4
A prize-giving or awards moment at the end works well — it gives the day a clear and satisfying conclusion.
5
Finish at 2:45pm to allow students to avoid rush hour on their return journey.
Arrival
Core activity
Lunch
Debrief
Depart
Example B
Departmental Rotations Day
Students complete a series of discrete challenges in different departments across the day.
10:00 am
Workplace tour
Students are introduced to each department they'll be visiting during the day.
10:30 am
Introduction
Overview of the day's structure, ground rules, and team groupings.
10:45 am
1st rotation
Each group completes a task linked to the work of the department, plus a chance to speak with staff.
11:45 am
2nd rotation
Groups move to a second department for a new task and conversations with different staff.
12:45 pm
Lunch
Ideally in the staff canteen — a useful experience of everyday workplace life.
1:15 pm
3rd rotation
Final department visit with a task and staff Q&A.
2:45 pm
Debrief & student reflection
Structured reflection activity and personal action plan — students record what they've learnt and their next steps.
3:15 pm
Depart
Early finish to avoid rush hour.
💡 Delivery tips
1
This model suits workplaces with distinct departments — each rotation should feel clearly different.
2
Each rotation should include a small task related to that department's work, plus a chance to talk to staff about their specific role.
3
Brief staff in advance and allocate a lead volunteer for each department.
4
Liaise with the school beforehand so students arrive with some prior knowledge and prepared questions.
5
The personal action plan at the end is a great way for students to consolidate what they've learnt across all three rotations.
Arrival
Core activity
Lunch
Debrief
Depart
 

Conditions for success

  • A range of staff – role and seniority 

  • Large enough room for students, volunteers and necessary equipment (tables, chairs etc) 

  • Staff briefed in advance and allocate a staff member to lead the activity 

  • Liaison with school over the activity to help student preparation. 

  • A proper conclusion – prize giving or review activity 

“Staff welcome opportunities to network and share skills with colleagues. ”
“We enjoy taking part in real-life examples of the work the employer does. ”
“We appreciate authentic and meaningful conversations with employers, as we struggle to offer these. ”
 

Maximising Impact

Additional components you could include 

  • Follow-up session, for example, inviting students to return to present the findings of their day to senior staff members and offer support in developing presentation skills and provide them with feedback on their performance particularly those who have shown an interest in your organisation/sector 

  • Additional skills workshop to develop their LinkedIn profile, perhaps employing a professional photographer to take professional photographs of them so that students can evidence and demonstrate what they have learnt as part of the experience. 

  • Mentoring opportunities for particularly engaged students 

Priming and debriefing support 

  • Provide the school/college with detailed feedback of the performance of the students – which skills they excelled in – areas for improvement.  

  • Send key information on the challenge to schools/colleges in advance so the young people can prepare in advance.  

  • Provide schools/colleges with information about opportunities at your organisation/in your sector which they can use in follow-up careers conversations with students 

Learning Outcomes – Activity Day
Introduce and Inspire

By using the feedback session, volunteers can help students identify their passions, skills and work preferences and understand how these could fit into a career choice.

Investigate and Explore

Create a quick quiz with flash cards getting students to identify different roles and match them to the key responsibilities of that job.

Apply and Demonstrate

Encourage students to keep a record of activities they are taking part in — both in school and extra-curricular — and the skills they are developing.