Careers

At Katherine Warington School we are committed to providing an outstanding Careers Education and Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) programme for all students. CEIAG can play a key role in promoting good learning by helping students to focus on appropriate action planning to attain their long term goals.

The following information is for students, parents, teachers and employers to help inform the details of our careers programme.

All CEIAG at The Katherine Warington School is aspirational, impartial and unbiased, so that our students are able to prepare themselves for a world of work that is changing rapidly; young people now are likely to experience five to eight major career changes in their lives in a variety of industry sectors. They will also be experiencing more fluid forms of working with increasing casual, contract and part-time work options.

We are committed to:

- Securing independent and impartial careers guidance for students in Yrs 7-13 that includes information on the full range of education and training options, including apprenticeships, approved technical education qualifications and vocational pathways (as specified in the Baker Clause)
- Using the Gatsby Benchmarks to develop and improve our CEIAG provision
- Recognising the importance of providing young people with real-life contacts and experiences from the world of work
- Working closely with Services for Young People and our Enterprise coordinator and Enterprise advisor.

Careers Programme

There is an extensive programme of events and lessons that are available to students from Year 7.

Year 7

Introduction to Unifrog
(Age appropriate) Unifrog psychometric testing
Form time careers activities, utilising Unifrog
Careers themed assemblies
Speakers for Schools from leading industry experts
Careers programme as part of PSHCE focusing on skills

Year 8

Unifrog research
(Age appropriate) Unifrog psychometric testing
Form time careers activities, utilising Unifrog
Careers themed assemblies
Speakers for Schools from leading industry experts
Careers programme as part of PSHCE focusing on skills
Guidance on appropriate Options choices (relevant to career aspirations

Year 9

Unifrog research
(Age appropriate) Unifrog psychometric testing
Form time careers activities, utilising Unifrog
Careers themed assemblies
Speakers linked to subject areas
Careers programme as part of PSHCE, focusing on career planning
Careers drop-down day
University visit for identified students
Oaklands College visit for identified students

Year 10

Unifrog – future planning
(Age appropriate) Unifrog psychometric testing
Work Experience
Period 7 careers activities – preparation for the world of work
Form time careers activities, utilising Unifrog
Careers themed assemblies
Speakers linked to subject areas
Careers programme as part of PSHCE, focusing on future planning
University visit for identified students
Oaklands College visit for identified students

Year 11

Unifrog – future planning
(Age appropriate) Unifrog psychometric testing
Period 7 careers activities – preparation for the world of work
Form time careers activities, utilising Unifrog
Careers themed assemblies
Speakers linked to subject areas
Careers programme as part of PSHCE, focusing on future planning
‘Beyond Y11’ Drop Down Day (focussing on post-16 options)
Opportunity to join ‘Young Enterprise’

Year 12

Unifrog – Courses, MOOCS, Experiences / webinars, Talent Pool
(Age appropriate) Unifrog psychometric testing
Work Experience
Form time careers activities, utilising Unifrog
Careers themed assemblies
Speakers linked to apprenticeships and universities
Careers programme as part of PSHCE, focusing on future planning
Preparation for post-18 education
Opportunity to join ‘The Dragon’s Apprentice’

In addition to planned year group events, students across all year groups will be involved in ‘Careers Month’, during which all subject areas deliver lesson content based upon careers related to their own subjects. Throughout the year, students from all year groups will also have the opportunity to opt in to group talks from speakers from a range of industries.

Students also experience at least one activity per year which meets the PAL agreement criteria. Please refer to the Provider Access Policy for further information on when activities involving technical providers will take place.

Please refer to the Provider Access Policy for further information on when activities involving technical providers will take place.

Who we work with

The following organisations support our Careers and IAG provision:

HCC Services for Young People	Source our Year 10 Work experience placements including site risk assessments. Provide qualified personal advisers to deliver careers interviews with all students in Years 11, 12 and 13.
Young Enterprise	Deliver a range of enterprise activities for Key Stage 3 and 4 students
University of Hertfordshire	Provide direct interventions for targeted students in Year 10 to promote university/higher education as a post-school option
Inspiring the Future	Deliver a range of workshops around apprenticeships as a post-school option.

Support from CEC/Hertfordshire LEP and HOP

We are signed up to The Careers and Enterprise Company – The Enterprise Adviser Network – programme. This is a free provision managed locally by Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership to support us to achieve all 8 Gatsby Benchmarks – a target set by the Department for Education in their Careers Strategy (Dec 2017). Meetings take place on a regular basis to discuss progress.

We are using the Hertfordshire Opportunities Portal (www.hopinto.co.uk) and would encourage all students, parents and carers and teachers to use this portal to seek current live job or apprenticeship vacancies within Hertfordshire as well as being a one-stop shop for a variety of information about the Hertfordshire Jobs Market providing information and inspiration about a variety of careers.

You can also follow HOP via their Social Media platforms as detailed below:

Make the Future Yours! Magazine

You can view the latest Make the Future Yours! Magazine by Clicking Here – you can also view previous editions by Clicking Here.

Choices Magazine

You can view the latest Choices Magazine by Clicking Here

National Careers Education Organisations

Further information about The Careers and Enterprise Company can be found here:

https://www.careersandenterprise.co.uk/

Further information about The Gatsby Benchmarks can be found here:

http://www.gatsby.org.uk/education/focus-areas/good-career-guidance

further information about The Government’s Careers Strategy can be found here:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/664319/Careers_strategy.pdf

Employer Engagement

We recognize the importance in working with local employers in order to support our Careers Education and IAG provision. We are very keen to establish links with employers who will be able to open our students’ eyes to the world of work.

For this academic year we are seeking employers to support the following events:

Year 9 and 11 Careers Days	Year 9 and 11 students will experience a range of talks from employees and classroom based activities.	Annual Event – Autumn Term
Careers Talks	We invite an inspirational speaker to discuss their career and work history with a selected group of students for 30 minutes. This may be ‘in person’ or via webinar.	Throughout the academic year.

If you are able to support any of these events or would like to work with us in any other way please contact the Careers Team on (01582) 314777 or c.careers@kwschool.co.uk

Careers Evaluation

We plan to evaluate the quality of our careers provision and its impact on our students in a variety of ways. The School will monitor and evaluate the destinations of students to help inform our future decisions and to support our curriculum development. The provision and evaluation of the Careers programme is part of the yearly School Improvement Plan. Our evaluations focus on a variety of matters including:

what benefits students gain from particular CEIAG activities
whether students have proper access to the programme
whether we are making the best use of time and other resources

Guidance for Parents/Carers

Clearly parents and carers play a very significant role in helping students to make informed choices about their study options and decisions about their future careers. Parents and carers should be encouraged to discuss with their child about options and future aspirations. We welcome parents and carers’ input and recommend that you always attend activities such as GCSE and A-Level Options’ evenings.
There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach and we recognise that all students must be able to make informed decisions avoiding pre-conceived ideas or stereotypes.
Should you wish to discuss your child’s future options please contact their form tutor in the first instance, our Careers Advisor, Lorna Rainer, or our Careers Leader, Michelle Phillips.
The Skills Builder Homezone can be accessed at https://www.skillsbuilder.org/homezone This platform provides easy access to free resources to support building essential skills with your child or young person.

Finding out Further Information (this section provides key information for students, parents and carers and teachers)

National Apprenticeship Service	https://www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship	Allows you to search for live apprenticeship vacancies across the country
Amazing Apprenticeships	https://amazingapprenticeships.com/	Find out about apprenticeships as well as live vacancies
HCC Services for Young People	https://www.servicesforyoungpeople.org	The leading provider of CEIAG provision for young people both inside and outside of school in Hertfordshire
UCAS	https://www.ucas.com/	All you need to know about applying for university and the courses available for you.
Hertfordshire Skills Framework	https://www.hopinto.co.uk/explore-careers/resources/hertfordshire-skills-framework/	Produced by Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership this displays the skills most required by employers across the county
Hertfordshire Labour Market Information	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxEnwYjtk5w If you want to learn more about specific employment and skills information from (your District) take a look at this infographic poster	An infographic video to explain the types of jobs available and skills required in Hertfordshire