Careers Education

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Careers Education

All students receive careers information and guidance throughout their time at St Bede’s.

At St Bede’s School our careers programme is an essential part of our personal development curriculum that focuses on preparing students for the next stage of their education, training and employment.

Our careers provision is inclusive of the needs of all our students to ensure that their transition into their future destination is as successful and seamless as possible. Implementing the Gatsby Benchmarks, a framework of good practise, we offer careers provision that informs students of the benefits of all aspects of further education and opportunities, including undergraduate university degrees, apprenticeships, technical education qualifications and more.

With the experiences, workshops and digital provision we provide for the students throughout their time at St Bede’s, we offer the pathway required to lay the foundations for future success.

Careers Lead: Mrs G Twigg
Email: school.careers@st-bedes.surrey.sch.uk
Tel: 01737 212108

Next review date: April 2024

Inspiring Students

Throughout the year we have events for different year groups including:

Talks by Oxbridge and other UK Universities
Visits to further and higher education establishments
STEM events encouraging students to investigate careers in science, technology, engineering and maths
Employability skills sessions
Enterprise activities
Drama-based presentations to inspire career choices
Careers talks by employers and alumni

Where can students find more information

All students have access to career related resources in the library and any notifications of external events or useful information will be shared via the student bulletin. From Year 9, students have an account with Unifrog, the online destinations platform, which provides a range of tools designed to support learners in making informed decisions about their futures. For any career or higher education related questions, Mrs Twigg, our Careers Lead is in school on Tuesday - Friday and can be contacted by email on school.careers@st-bedes.surrey.sch.uk.

Can you help to inspire our students?

We are keen to expand our involvement with businesses to help us inform and educate our students about the world of work and provide networking opportunities for the future.

If you are an employer and/or one of our alumni and would be willing to help with the development of the future of our students by coming in to present at careers events, provide networking opportunities, work experience, mentoring or would be happy to share your career experiences and talk about the choices you made in order to get to where you are today, please contact Mrs Twigg at school.careers@st-bedes.surrey.sch.uk.

We are members of the charity Future First - please join our alumni network here.

Support for Parents/Carers

Support for Parents

For parents, it can be difficult to know how to guide your child through their next steps and remain impartial while putting aside your own personal interests and experiences.

If you are unsure about how to approach the topic of careers with your child or would like some guidance on what is available, some of the following resources may be helpful:

https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/influencers/support-for-parents-and-guardians

Many young people and their parents/carers can find the different post-16 options and the different qualifications difficult to navigate. Throughout their time at St Bede's our students will be provided with a full and impartial view of the opportunities available to them.

Here are a couple of slides which will help explain the options:

What-are-the-options-after-Year-11.pdf

Parents Supporting Post-16 Options

What-are-the-options-after-Year-13.pdf

The Parents Guide To What's Next is available below to view. This comprehensive booklet outlines all the options available to students post 16 and 18.

The-Parents-Guide-to-whats-next-2023-2024.pdf

Additional downloadable information booklets are available to purchase at www.theparentsguideto.co.uk/guides, these include topics such as how to support your child with their revision and how to support your child on results day.

The Parent Perspective - A Careers Podcast (audio only)

The Parent Perspective is a podcast hosted by BBC presenter Rachel Burden, and created to help parents and carers support their children in making more informed career decisions with greater confidence, knowledge and understanding. Each episode shares experiences of navigating career conversations with children and provides insights into how the world of work is changing from trusted experts, organisations and employers already working with young people today.

You can access the podcast via Spotify, Apple and other podcast websites. See some links below:

https://amazingapprenticeships.com/the-parent-perspective-podcast/

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-parent-perspective/id1640030615

https://open.spotify.com/show/2ZK1qC3hipmvhPJUT1agXF

Year Group Career Programme

Every academic year we strive to extend our careers provision to each year group. The overview below is supported by a more detailed plan,available to view here.

Year 7 and 8

In Year 7 and 8 during Citizenship lessons, students are encouraged to think about their strengths, the transferable skills they already have, their interests and the world of work.

Year 9

In Year 9 we focus on the students' option choices. Students receive lessons on what to think about when exploring their options and are introduced to Unifrog, the universal destinations online platform designed to support learners in making the most informed decisions about their futures. This is also the year when students take part in an Enterprise challenge to introduce them to employability skills.

Year 10

Year 10 is a time for students to develop their skills and research their next step options in more detail. Each student is tasked with writing a CV and takes part in a mock interview. Employees, universities and apprenticeship providers support students with aspirational talks throughout the year. An Oxbridge and East Surrey College taster day is also available.

Year 11

In Year 11 students explore their post-16 options with talks from further education providers, and look at where their chosen further education route could lead. At this stage students are encouraged to make one-to-one career appointments in order to create an action plan.

In August, a results day clinic is available for students requiring immediate advice. The careers adviser will be in school the day after the students receive their results and appointments can be made on results day via reception.

Sixth Form

Year 12 is a busy year for our students with more aspirational talks from employers, universities and apprenticeship providers. Students are encouraged to attend an organised taster day at a local university which provides an insight into what university is all about. A taster day at an Oxbridge campus is also available.

Futures Day is a dedicated day of workshops relating to higher educational options, future life skills and employability. The workshops are run, in the main, by external providers who are experts in their fields.

Work Experience takes place every In June for one week. This allows students to develop their employability skills and experience the reality of the workplace. This is independently arranged but must be authorised by the school and follow the school's process.

In Year 13, students update their CVs and participate in another round of mock interviews. This, along with support with writing personal statements, applications for universities, apprenticeships or work and improving on their employability skills, are all sessions provided with the intention that every student leaves St Bede’s ready for the road ahead.

For more information on Sixth Form careers and higher education advice and guidance, please click here.

Careers support for SEND students

It is important that every young person has access to careers education, no matter what their background or circumstances. We ensure that each student has access to careers advice and is provided with tailored resources and training where needed.

Please see below some resources to help students and parent/carers with next step decisions.

https://www.surreylocaloffer.org.uk/young-people/preparing-for-adulthood/booklet

Innervate - Guide to Post-16 and Post-18 SEND Options

Careers Appointments

An Innervate Careers Service Adviser is in school every Friday to offer impartial one to one guidance to students. They are happy to advise on any aspect of careers whether it is advice on options, university, apprenticeship or job applications or "what can I do with a specific subject?"

Students can book an appointment via the 'St Bede's School Careers Appointments' system. These appointments are open to the whole school, but the main focus being on Year 10 and above.

These appointments are popular, so book today!

Provider Access Requests (Baker Clause & Provider Access Legislation)

Provider Access Requests

A provider wishing to request access to St Bede’s to promote careers education should contact Mrs Twigg

Email: school.careers@st-bedes.surrey.sch.uk

Any opportunity to broaden our Careers Education programme with information, advice and guidance is welcome. Providers are also encouraged to send a copy of their prospectus, relevant information about courses, apprenticeships or technical job opportunities.

These will then be shared with these students either in the careers library, through the student bulletin or in our weekly sixth form careers and higher education bulletin.

St Bede’s endeavours to ensure that all students are aware of all routes to higher skills and are able to access information on technical options and apprenticeships (In line with the Department of Education, July 2021: “Baker Clause”: supporting students to understand the full range of education and training options, and the Provider Access Legislation, January 2023).

Provider Access will support the St Bede’s policy for Access to other education and training providers to achieve the following:

To develop the knowledge and awareness of our students of all career pathways available to them, including technical qualifications and apprenticeships.

To support young people to be able to learn more about opportunities for education and training outside of school before making crucial choices about their future options.

To reduce the drop out from courses and avoid the risk of students becoming NEET (Young people not in education, employment or training).

Evaluating the Careers Education at St Bede’s

At St Bede’s we recognise the importance of monitoring, reviewing and evaluating the careers provision for students. Every term, we use the Careers and Enterprise Company’s Compass tool to evaluate how our careers programme performs against the Gatsby Benchmarks.

We regularly ask students, staff, parents and external providers for feedback via questionnaires and surveys after careers-orientated events and activities which are then evaluated to ensure any required improvements are identified and actioned.