Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance at Stephenson (MK) Trust

CAREERS PLAN

The Stephenson (MK) Trust is committed to providing high quality Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) to all of our students.

In line with the new statutory guidance produced by the Department for Education, we offer a varied programme of careers education embedded within all areas of the curriculum and delivered through our project based learning, princes trust lessons, tutorials, assemblies and careers activities, trips and encounters with local employers. The careers programme is delivered from years 7-13.

We actively encourage and welcome outside agencies, employers and education & training providers to come and meet with our students and believe that all interactions of this kind can help our students to gain a wider understanding of their options and the labour market. These positive and meaningful encounters encourage our students to consider new ideas, which can help to raise their aspirations. Please contact our Careers Advisor to make arrangements for this.

Chloe Batchelor:- chloe.batchelor@bridgeacademy.org.uk

Our careers provision is planned in line with achieving the eight Gatsby Benchmarks of good practice for careers delivery:

The Gatsby Benchmarks

1. A stable careers programme
2. Learning from career and labour market information
3. Addressing the needs of each pupil
4. Linking curriculum learning to careers
5. Encounters with employers and employees
6. Experiences of workplaces
7. Encounters with further and higher education
8. Personal guidance

Our provision is revaluated termly using the Careers and Enterprise Company compass tool and our careers plan has been approved by our senior leadership team and our board of governors. The careers plan is reviewed every year and is part of a strategic improvement plan to achieve all benchmarks of good practice and the requirements of the careers strategy.

The views of students and parents are very important. They are welcomed and actively used in all evaluation and planning of the programme. Parents can contact our Careers Team via email or telephone or meet face to face at annual reviews / parents evenings / coffee mornings. Students are encouraged to give feedback about the careers programme at student voice meetings. Parent are encouraged to contact the Careers Advisor for advice, guidance and to discuss their young person’s future.

The careers delivery for each year is summarised and reviewed in an end of year report by the Careers Advisor that is sent to the senior leadership team and the board of Governors.

Leavers intended destinations are provided to the Local Authority in July each year. Actual destinations are provided in September and again at October half term.

Details of our student’s destinations are counted and published each year in the Activity Survey.

The Activity Survey is a statutory report that Local Authorities provide to the DfE each year and it is finalised on the 31^st January. It provides initial destination information of young people who left school the previous September and is based on their activity on 1^st November.

The information is gathered together by the Youth Faculty by working with schools, local colleges and training providers. The Youth Faculty team also track young people by contacting them by phone, email, letter, and in some circumstances, home visits.

HOW WE MEASURE AND ASSESS THE IMPACT OF THE CAREERS PROGRAMME ON STUDENTS

At Stephenson (MK) Trust, we work closely with the Careers and Enterprise Company. They are an external organisation, which supports schools to ensure they are following the Department for Education’s newly devised Careers Strategy.

The following statement is an extract taken from this guidance:

“The careers strategy sets out that every school and academy providing secondary education should use the Gatsby Charitable Foundation’s Benchmarks to develop and improve their careers provision. This statutory guidance has been restructured around the Benchmarks with information on what schools need to do to meet each one. The Gatsby Benchmarks are not statutory framework but who by adopting them, schools can be confident that they are fulfilling their legal duties; the existing duties to secure independent careers guidance and provide opportunities to a range of providers to inform pupils about technical education qualifications or apprenticeships and the new duty to publish information about the careers programme on the school website”

As an education establishment, we ensure we use the eight Gatsby Benchmarks as a building block when planning our Careers Strategy. We are able to measure our performance using the Compass Careers Benchmark Tool; this tool is used by schools and colleges in England, to support the analysis and evaluation of careers activity against the eight benchmarks of best practice (known as the Gatsby Benchmarks). The Careers and Enterprise Company coordinate the Audit deadlines; this ensures the development of our careers strategy is ongoing to ensure best practice.

WORKING WITH EMPLOYERS - THE FRIENDS OF STEPHENSON (MK) TRUST (FOST)

Stephenson (MK) Trust is committed to increasing the opportunities that our students have for engaging positively with adults from the ‘world of work’. We know that young people benefit from activities such as work experience, work shadowing, workshops, careers talks, workplace visits and mentoring.

We are currently looking for mentors to join the Friends of Stephenson (MK) Trust Network, to help build young people’s confidence and self-esteem when it comes to thinking about their future and what they are capable of achieving, working alongside our current mentors.

All volunteers are trained; insured via the STEM Ambassador scheme and undergo a DBS check.

The FOST are a group of positive role models, people with interesting jobs, people who would like to inspire, motivate and encourage young people to reach their potential. They are currently supporting our students with a variety of activities across all year groups.

If you would like to find out more about the FOST or if you are an employer who would like to work with our school, please contact our Careers Advisor Chloe Batchelor – chloe.batchelor@bridgeacademy.org.uk.

Full training and support is provided.

LABOUR MARKET INFORMATION

Students and parents are encouraged to access information about the local labour market. This forms part of all careers work that is delivered in school. A helpful Link to labour market information for the South East Midlands region can be found here:

https://www.semlep.com/labour-market-information/

PROVIDER ACCESS LEGISLATION

The updated provider access legislation (PAL) has now been enacted. It specifies schools must provide at least six encounters with approved providers of apprenticeships and technical education for all their students:

Two encounters for pupils during the ‘first key phase’ (year 8 or 9) that are mandatory for all pupils to attend
Two encounters for pupils during the ‘second key phase’ (year 10 or 11) that are mandatory for all pupils to attend
Two encounters for pupils during the ‘third key phase’ (year 12 or 13) that are mandatory for the school to put on but optional for pupils to attend

This new legislation will become a key mechanism to further help learners understand and take-up, not just apprenticeships, but wider technical education options such as T-Levels and Higher Technical Qualifications.